Serious Question. Is it time for Nintendo to...

Dump the Wii-U and begin work on new hardware that can match/exceed Sony and MS, or go third party and get out the hardware business altogether? Or can you see a third alternative to turning this thing around?

For me, I think Nintendo needs to take a good long, hard look at getting out the hardware business. The Wii sold amazing, but the Wii-U is just tanking badly and a new Mario and Zelda might e short-term fixes for a year, and then sales tank again. Just speculation mind you, but thats how I see it. Personally if the N went third party we'd see some incredible games and they'd see sales through the roof.

Thoughts?

Nintendoboy thinks they should go 3rd party, so I'll stick with that.

What a stupid idea.

Those are my thoughts too. It takes a ton of cahs to be in the hardware business. Thiurd party though, Mario and Zelda, Metroid would sell like crazy.

I think the best they can do is make this "gen" for them a very short one.

Yeah lets have them get out of the hardware business all together when the 3ds is printing money

Just wait for the big 4 to release. (Mario Kart, Smash Bros, Bayonetta and X)

If WiiU doesn't pick up ANY speed after those games then Nintendo will scrap.

It's sad that Nintendo's best offerings don't seem to sell well. It would probably be in their best interest to go back to targeting casuals. I personally hope they continue to make quality consoles for core gamers despite struggling with sales, though.

Well, after every console launch, work immediately begins on the next console. But yeah, they won't wait as long as they did with the Wii for the next console to launch. Unless Wii U starts selling a lot, for their expectations anyway.

Wii U is a complete misfire, clearly "hardcore" gamers have been the focus with the games, but the hardware was designed for casuals. The games are great (they just took too long, they weren't ready) but they should have designed the hardware around the games like with Gamecube instead of tossing a shitty gimmick in.

Hopefully, next time Nintendo will not underestimate their hardcore following.

Ugh, must I play that tape again?

There are enough Nintendo fans and they are having kids that they will start on Nintendo systems, to make the wiiu profitable. Only if Nintendo lays off production competing with PS4 and X1. Too much capital has been invested in this console. Even if its a gamecube like gen, they need to see it through. As for their future, either play ball or don't continue with console hardware.

They should concentrate on Nintendo handhelds while bringing their big franchises to the PS4 and/or XBONE.
After the Wii and Wi U. I doubt they could get any Sony or Microsoft fans to jump ship at this point. Their non-handhelds will fail every time. They basically screwed themselves and it is not fixable at this point.

agreed, only thing going on with nintendo consoles is their exclusives, their hardware is terrible, is obvious they cant compete with other consoles at this point, but their franchises are still incredibly strong, they woulkd make a great third party company.

That's what one of Nintendo's biggest critics (not counting the SW crowd) hopes for.

HINT: He has the initials: S.M.

Yep. And something like Zelda or a 3D Mario game would not lose sales on the PS4 and XBONE. They would probably make more $ actually.

lol NO!

The Sony/XBOX crowd won't even give a damn for Nintendo's games (like they claim they do). Elder Scrolls and GTA would outsell Zelda, LittleBIG would outsell Mario, Persona would outsell Pokemon, and Smash would be outsold by the next Mortal Kombat/Dragon Ball Z games.

That's total BS. I would be all over Metroid or a new Zelda on the Xbox One.

maybe not at all but bad news for you, some of the games you mention already outsold nintendo games by A LOT. Wii u has a terrible user base, they would sell better going multiplat even if they arent number 1 sellers, i can bet the games you mention from zelda would make great sales.

I think Sony should go 3rd party will it happen probably not...

No. You don't just crank up hardware like going to Best Buy and grabbing a computer off the shelf. That's going to take a ridiculous investment and they'd lose all types of people with the abandonment of the Wii U.

Exiting the hardware business entirely is moronic. Everyone saying this seems to forget about their portable division that, outside of the Virtual Boy like 20 years ago, sees nothing but smash success. They can't go 3rd party (to Android and iOS?) there because they'd obliterate their hardware sales. If I were them, I'd consider making one or two exclusive IP for Android/iOS but Nintendo is so "we don't want to rip off the kiddies" that they wouldn't include all the F2P hooks that would get them pulling in millions of dollars a day on microtransactions so it'd be pointless.

They won't. Nintendo's games would sell so bad, they'll fade into obscurity. Something SEGA has suffered.

This Generation was abit of a learning curve for Nintendo, the positives are that the next console will be better thought out.

Nintendo exclusive will help the Wii U get through its lifetime, no need to have concerns. when smash bros is released sales will go up big time

Suggesting Nintendo would go third party is such a moronic notion, some people have no idea. Nintendo have so many exclusive franchises, they could go to sleep for a decade and still come back and compete

I can tell you with 100% certainty they are already working on the next console and it will likely be released in 5 years from now. Wii U is a dud and will remain a dud. All these Nintendo fans thinks Mario Kart and SSB's is going to save the Wii U, but they won't. Those games didn't save the Gamecube, so why would it be any different for the Wii U?

sega suffered from going to obscurity because they stopped making great games, right now i dont think that has happened to nintendo yet.

GameCube had Mario Kart and Smash Bros., yet it still ended up in last place. The Wii U is going to sell around 20-25 million units tops in its lifetime.

Its time for them to admit their FAILURE, assure everyone that support is still going to happen for at least 3 next years and start building a new powerful machine. We all know the specs of next gen, make it even more powerful, buy RARE back, make them work in a basement 18h/a day and you won't fail as you did with Wii/WiiU to gamers and sales *cough* wiiu *cough*. If you release a system that is as weak or weaker than Xbone, it won't be noticed so it has to be powerful, 3rd party won't just ignore you.

what do you define as 'save' if sales steadily improve that will be enough, which will probably happen. Nintendo will just keep dropping the price until one sticks. still abit early to draw conclusions IMO

Or they made some critically great games that hardly anyone bought. When was the last Shenmue, Panzer Dragoon, and Jet Set? Why is SEGA refusing to localize the new Yakuza?

Nintendo is not built on third party. there is obvious reasons for its weakness and it isn't third party games. the Wii U hasn't failed because its not powerful enough or lacks third party games its because of a dreadful advertising campaign and lack of early first party releases..... simple. il take a guess and say most people that own a Wii u/Wii also have an Xbox/Ps3/PC not having third party ports on the Wii U really isn't as big a problem as its made out

They just need to rework the Wii U in such a way that it can be used without the tablet gimmick. Then they can sell a cheap Wii U with no tablet and gain back some marketshare...

**** no.

I just bought mine.

Agreed. But by next summer third party are focusing on X1 and PS4 and WiiU is a lot less in terms of tech, so the support is gone for the most part.

They'd lose even more marketshare if they killed the tablet. It wouldn't stick out much compared the PS4/XBOX ONE (except for weaker hardware).

It really is. Even Sega stuck with the disaster that was the Saturn through its console cycle. Dumping the system early would assassinate consumer confidence among the Nintendo faithful and there would be a nasty backlash from investors, which can effect everything from game development to hardware R&D. The best thing Nintendo can do is work to turn the system around. They can either bear down and deal with the current state of things or go with a really nasty plan B.

Nah, I guarantee that a Wii U with no tablet for $100 less would've sold far better than the expensive Wii U with a tablet. Hell, I would buy one today if there was a $199 SKU with no tablet...

Nintendo go third party is the best choice.

Lol this thread is a big "I wish I could play Nintendo games on the console I have" thread

Nintendo would be well-advised to go mobile only. That is where they succeed. Wii may have sold a crap ton but DS also sells a crap-ton and that's where they release all the good games anyway.

No, sticking to one thing would have them wobble and fall.

@farrell2k: The PS3 was always going to come good, because it was powerful enough to compete.

Nintendo has a first party limited in quantity and no third party once the next gen gets going. No one is buying it, and it's dead in the water.

2014 will make or break the Wii U as the console has numerous titles lined up for that year. I say give it another year.

The wii eww has no chance at succeeding. People simply just dont give a shyt about nintengodno anymore. The wii only sold well due to consumer interest and casuals and that's it. The wii ewww isn't interesting to any group of ppl accept the few die hard sheep that didn't ditch them yet.

Dumping the Wii-U would be a giant middle finger to everyone that bought one.

Until Ninty starts losing money big time they are going to keep making consoles.

/thread

The video game climate of today is much different then a decade ago. Not only that but Nintendo is in a much different position coming off a highly successful Wii and the current on-fire 3DS. You saw what was done with Mario Kart Wii and S.S.B.B. on an extremely underpowered system with a paltry online system. If (and that's a big IF) Nintendo can take advantage of what can be done on the Wii U they can potentially give two huge incentives for gamers to buy this system. The hand holding an babysitting has to go though.

Nintendo needs to listen to 3rd party developers, and also not be completely oblivious to consumer trends.

The Xbox One and PS4 will see success because they're built like PCs, and they are feature-rich to accommodate the consumer love of multimedia devices.

The Wii U doesn't even have bluray playback despite using a bluray disk drive. Way to save a few pennies per console, Nintendo.

Would love to see Nintendo go 3rd party personally, but cant ever see it happening. It would interesting to see the direction games like Zelda and Mario would go down if they ended up in development for Playstation or Xbox.

If Wii U continues to flop hard over the next couple of years I'd predict that they'll ditch it and start solely focusing on the handheld market.