So how dire is Nintendo's situation, really?

Right? That guy has more common sense in his little pinkie than Iwata or Reggie put together.

Nintendo made a tablet? I guess you mean the Gamepad since it has a touch screen on it. I wonder why my tablet doesn't have analog sticks like the GamePad does.. my tablet must be inferior.

Two factors mean Nintendo will be alright for at least this gen:

1. They sell hardware at a profit.

2. They are sitting on a massive pile of money (must be still over $10 billion liquid cash)

Chances are they will make a profit off of this gen after the dust settles. They can't strike it rich every gen like they did with the wii and ds. I don't think this gen will have much impact on the company. They are learning lessons, many of them negative but good lessons nonetheless. They will invest a lot in research and development and reload for next gen.

Honestly, I think it's too late to save the Wii U. The time to do it would have been a year ago, when it first became apparent that they had a problem. They knew the system was getting creamed by the competition, and they were faced with a decision: hold the line, or take drastic measures. They chose to hold the line and it ended up not working out. What they should have done is slash the price of the Wii U down to $200, remove the tablet controller and offer it as a separate accessory for $80, and include a Pro Controller and a game. If they had done that last year, I think that the Wii U might have had a shot-- it would have still probably not done great, and Nintendo would have had to live with the shame of having abandoned their newest gimmick, but it would have been better than what they have now. The Wii U could have been a nice cheap $200 alternative to the other consoles, but now everyone just thinks of the silly tablet and they don't want the system.

Microsoft went through the same thing with Xbox One, and Sony went through the same thing with PS3. Microsoft had to drop the Kinect because it made the system look overpriced and no-one wanted that feature. Sony had to drop backward compatibility, two USB ports and a suite of memory card slots on the PS3 because they were making the system too expensive. Those were hard choices to make, but in the end they probably ended up saving their respective systems from Wii U-like failure. Nintendo was not willing to compromise their vision at all, and as a result it's selling poorly and third parties are abandoning it. The Wii U isn't even getting inter-gen multiplatform games like Destiny and GTAV, because in the eyes of the publishers the system is not worth bothering with.

I think Nintendo's plan is to just ride it out until the absolute earliest that they can release a new console-- my bet would be that it's going to be announced in 2016, and either released in 2016 or 2017 at the latest. 2016 makes more sense because I think Nintendo wants to be able to release their next system as a "true" Gen 8 console, and have several years to set up shop before Sony and Microsoft start planning their Gen 9 consoles (assuming both of them will be back, and I'm not going to assume they won't be). It will probably have specs similar to the PS4 and Xbone, and possibly backwards compatibility with Wii U games (really though, I think Nintendo will skip that feature like Sega did with Saturn backward compatibility on Dreamcast, and just release a few remasters of Wii U games since no-one bought Wii U anyway). I think Nintendo is just going to let the public forget about Wii U and then postulate the new console as the "true" Gen 8 Nintendo console. Basically, a stop gap between gen 8 and 9, with Nintendo's Gen 9 console coming sometime after Sony and Microsoft's. Skipping b/c would also free Nintendo from that horrific Power PC architecture and let them switch to X86 like everyone else, which means more multiplatform support.

@farrell2k: Neither Sony or Nintendo is going anywhere any time soon. The important question is what is going to happen to the Wii U.

At the rate Sony is going a few more years the company will likely be broken up and sold.

That was my first thought when reading the post. I was like: "No... they made a gaming console that just happens to have a controller with a touch screen built into it".

If it were a tablet, it would be a self-contained unit. Hell, over 90% of the games available on Wii U don't even need the touch screen controller and work perfectly fine with the Wii U Pro controller.

The fact that 90% of the games don't need the touch screen pretty much downplays the entire premise behind the controller itself, in other words a useless gimmick. ;)

This.

Such a typical response.

Or, like with the Wii, a nice addition to the plethora of available input options and only useful in certain applications. I'm quite glad Nintendo realized they can't force it's use down everyone's throat and just gave the option to use it. It's greatest benefit/advantage is integrated remote play (that doesn't require buying a separate device to make it work).

I've already used the function numerous times since getting my Wii U a month and a bit ago.

But go ahead, try again to downplay the Wii U's greatness.

Here we go again...

Not too bad, the 3DS was always bound to sell less than the DS, but still is selling pretty well. The WiiU is not doing great, but I think the year head start has given them a little bit more time to get some of their big titles developed. While the Xbone and PS4 are still finding their feet and waiting for the big third/first party titles to drop, the WiiU has time to release some big titles and shift some units.

I think the Xbone and PS4 will outsell the WiiU, but I also think this gen will only be 5 years max for all three consoles, so it gives Nintendo a chance to get a head start on the competition again by going a year early.

Last gen was a freak gen, the 360 and PS3 are both looking to have a full 10 year cycle, unlike the PS2 that had a few trickle titles here and there for the final years of its 10 year span, the PS3/360 have been the main consoles for the full 10 years. All the big titles are still coming out on both, and the next gen consoles still feel a bit secondary, so in a way the WiiU still doesn't feel completely dated and that should help it through the shorter gen we a likely to have.

I'm banking on the Wii U Mii ... Nintendo's next graphics monster console to be announced E3 2016. :P

Casuals don't like Nintendo's games. Kids don't like Nintendo's games. Kids would rather play GTA/CoD/3rd Party games. Only Man Children/Hipsters still play nintendo because they refuse to grow up. The only people that are buying the Wii U are hardcore Nintendo fanboys/Man children. I don't mean that as an insult, it is the truth and it's the only explanation that makes any sense on why they are selling so poorly. Nintendo's fanbase is shrinking as they get older because quite simply, they are growing up.

Want proof? Every Nintendo console(Minus the wii) has sold worse than the last one. The only reason Wii sold so much was hype and being showcased on Oprah.

The 3DS is on a fire and the WiiU will be locked in 3rd place for console gen 8 sales the rest of its life.

No need to sugarcoat it man. I mean, the touch screen is supposed to be the selling point of the system, isn't it? The very feature that distinguishes itself from the Xbox One and PS4. But according to you, its just an option, making it not so special to begin with. If there's not much use for it then there's really no point in buying a Wii U especially if I want exclusive features and cool perks not found on the other consoles.

I'm willing to bet diamonds to donuts that the touch screen function won't be in their next console, therefore making it a pointless feature.

If it were the selling point of the system, you'd think Nintendo would be focusing all it's games on integrating the touch screen beyond remote play.

They aren't.

It's not? No wonder they're doing such a horrible job marketing the thing.

You sound like a company shill. It's called franchise whoring my friend. They know if gullible idiots saw Mario 98729 with new and improved mustache they would buy it in a drop of a hat. Its called exploiting customer stupidity. See, I don't understand this obsession with companies making profits, or greedmongering if you will. You're not getting a portion of it, and neither is the rest of the Nintendumbs that slave away at their 9-5 minimum wage jobs wasting money on pointless shovelware while living in their mom's basement.

Tell me more company shill. Did you use that same line when you were trying to sell your grandma a Wii U but got turned off because of that smug attitude and bought a PS4 instead? No wonder nobody takes Nintendo seriously anymore.

It's not optional because you are still forced to buy it with the system. If Nintendo wanted to save the Wii U, the time to do it would have been a year ago, when they could have pulled out the tablet controller and sold the system for $200 with just a pro controller and a game included. They could have bounced back if they did that, like Microsoft is doing now that they've dropped the Kinect, but Nintendo decided to stick it out in hopes that things would somehow change without them doing anything differently, and it hasn't worked. Third parties see the Wii U as already dead in the water and they've stopped making games for it, and aside from Zelda (and maybe Star Fox, but it sounds like it's not exactly going to be a top-shelf title), Nintendo doesn't have anything big planned for the future. Nintendo's big games typically come out about 2 years after they're announced, so 2016 might not even have a big AAA game from Nintendo. 2015 is pretty much going to be the last year for real high-profile game releases for the Wii U before Nintendo moves all their focus to their next console and leaves the Wii U out to dry.