Longstanding indie games developer Lorne Lanning, who founded Oddworld Inhabitants and created the '90s hit Abe's Oddysee, believes Nintendo has the staying power to remain in business for another 100 years.
"When I look at the history of Nintendo I say Nintendo is going to be here in one hundred years. I have no doubt," Lanning told Venturebeat.
"I doubt Microsoft will be here in one hundred years. I know Zynga won't be here in one hundred years. I've been here longer than Zynga."
Nintendo was founded 124 years ago in 1889 yet the corporation has managed to adapt and offer new ideas and products across different times. One of its most prosperous periods came long into the company's history, with the original Wii selling 11 million units worldwide in the October, November and December of 2009.
Despite widespread scepticism regarding the prospects of the Wii U, Nintendo carries about £6 billion in cash on its books and appears to have no debt - a suggestion that there is no major financial risks attached to the company.
Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter recently claimed that Nintendo's Wii U was at "the bottom of a huge mountain, with a huge uphill climb". He added that rival next-gen systems, such as Xbox Oneand PS4, will only intensify Nintendo's challenge.
Yet the Nintendo 3DS - a console which also had clouds of doubt hang over it - has managed to outsell the Xbox 360 and PS3 in the UK andacross the US, while the 3DS software sales are outperforming the competition too.
Lanning, who has gained a reputation as a passionate and outspoken games industry professional, was one of the eight indie developers spotlighted during Sony's E3 press conference.
Weeks later he made headlines by claiming that independent games developers "do not matter to Microsoft". In his most recent interview, Lanning said Microsoft will still be in business in 100 years' time too, but added that Nintendo chief executive, Satoru Iwata, has a business ethos which appeals to him.
"Iwata came out and said people were asking him 'when are you gonna lay off your development staff?' I don't remember exactly what he said, but it was basically, 'laying off development is not going to solve our problems. Building great games is what we do and we're going to continue doing it'.
"When he said that, in my opinion, he was immortalised in the creative community. I would work with him in a second. When a man in that type of position, in a world where the golden rule is the rule and that's what's expected at public companies, he stood up and said that's not what we're about. We're about building great stuff. We have great people to build great stuff. We're gonna do that."CVG
This is something people fail to understand. This is something they should have understood after the Gamecube era. A single console is a flash in a pan for Nintendo. The company has repeatedly made comebacks from adverse odds (NES, N64, Nintendo DS, Wii, 3DS), and one console's 'failure' will not spell dom for a company valued higher than Sony, and for a company with the most steady and ensured revenue stream out of all three thanks to its ensured properties such as Mario and Pokemon.
More importantly, remember that when a Nintendo system faces adverse odds is when it has the best library- see also: N64, Gamecube, 3DS.
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