gaming Could the Wii U be Nintendo's last console?

[CastletonSnob 3,077]

The Wii U is currently flopping. I don't think Nintendo has ever had a console do as poorly as it is right now. Will they drop out next gen?

[mysticdash 5]

at the rate they are going it looks like it but don't forget the 2DS came out after it so that will be the last one 

[FoxyCryptid 4,330]

I hope not, if PS4/XboxOne becomes king the industry is screwed to a future of nothing but CoD clones. Nintendo is about the only company that takes risks anymore.

Edited January 15, 2014 by Shoboni

[Serbon div 386]

NO! Why would they? There will always be someone on the world who can't afford an Xbox/Playstation.

[Sazama Ichida 2,367]

Not a chance. Nintendo is way too popular.

[Megas 27,726]

 

Nintendo is pretty much schooling with their handhelds, and even if the Wii U completely flops, they still have a Scrooge-sized stash in the bank.

 

Even with that all said and done, the Wii U is picking up in sales as of late, at least in Japan. And it's also worth noting it apparently sold better than the Xbone in the US

[Moonlight 7,287]

I doubt it. Even if the Wii U isn't doing well, they still wouldn't give up seeing as how they have extremely popular franchises to make console games for such as Mario, Pokemon, and The Legend Of Zelda.

[Sazama Ichida 2,367]

@, Yeah I also heard The Xbox One is the console that hasn't been doing well this time around.

[silvadel 1,393]

Things do not exactly look very good for nintendo consoles in the future.  I mean lets skip ahead a generation.  It is 2019 and the new portable system is...  If you said a smartphone you win.  There is less and less of a need for a dedicated game system as a handheld. 

 

It has always been the portable systems that have driven Nintendo (at least post NES, and that was because atari dropped the ball).

 

As for consoles, Nintendo has tended to leverage Mario and make systems 1/2 generation behind that do not lose money unlike other companies that tend to burn money on new systems.  PS4/X1 are the first generation where consoles were decidedly worse at playing games than a mid-end computer would play games. 

[Envy 6,170]

Things do not exactly look very good for nintendo consoles in the future.  I mean lets skip ahead a generation.  It is 2019 and the new portable system is...  If you said a smartphone you win.  There is less and less of a need for a dedicated game system as a handheld. 

 

Yeah, right. We were told that was going to happen this generation, and that the 3DS would flop. Please. More people I know own a 3DS than ever owned a DS.

 

Smartphones will never be an adequate replacement for handheld systems. I need the physical controls, and no, I don't want a video game controller on my phone. My phone is a phone. My 3DS is a video game system. They are not compatible.

[Starstream 182]

Nintendo would have to majorly F*** up multiple consoles in a row to get to the point where they're at a serious risk of going out of business, and for the sake of clarity, let's just all remember that "not selling as well as your competitors" is not the same as "having bad sales numbers". Sure, it's possible that they go out of business before they get to create a next console, just like it's possible for any company, but do I think it's something we should be expecting? No.

 

The worst case scenario I can imagine, and this would also apply to Sony and Microsoft, is that technology progresses to a point where dedicated gaming consoles are no longer necessary, and should that be the case then we'll most likely see much cheaper to manufacture streaming boxes that provide a cloud gaming experience from those same companies. And even when that happens, and you can mark my words on this, whether you like them or not, there will always be a market for handheld dedicated gaming consoles. And if anyone thinks that smartphones hold the future of portable gaming I challenge them to give their phone to a five year old to play with for an extended period of time.

[CastletonSnob 3,077]

Things do not exactly look very good for nintendo consoles in the future.  I mean lets skip ahead a generation.  It is 2019 and the new portable system is...  If you said a smartphone you win.  There is less and less of a need for a dedicated game system as a handheld. 

 

It has always been the portable systems that have driven Nintendo (at least post NES, and that was because atari dropped the ball).

 

As for consoles, Nintendo has tended to leverage Mario and make systems 1/2 generation behind that do not lose money unlike other companies that tend to burn money on new systems.  PS4/X1 are the first generation where consoles were decidedly worse at playing games than a mid-end computer would play games. 

 

The NES, the SNES, the N64, and the Gamecube weren't 1-2 generations behind their competitors. 

[Shanks 10,816]

The Wii U may not be doing well. but it is still too soon to be spelling the death knell of Nintendo consoles. If this trend continues though Nintendo may take a page from Sega and get out of the console business, but you need to remember that they are dominating in the handheld market. The Vita is the only other major handheld but the problem is it has no fraggin games, the 3DS had the same problem at first but Nintendo has made up for it big time especially with those like myself who bought it when it first came out (Ambassador Program). And the Wii outsold the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3 in the previous generation and broadened the base of gamers by appealing to families and casual gamers (although their 3rd party lineup was extremely weak). All Nintendo needs to do to still be a player in the console wars is to remember that it is the games themselves that are what is most important, Nintendo has a small amount of first party title that are going to be coming out but that is not good enough.

 

There is some improvement on third party but they sitll have a lot of catching up to do, Nintendo who ironically enough has been known for innovation has played it way too safe with its franchises. Don't get me wrong, I love Mario, Zelda ect but Nintendo also could use a few new faces as well. What made Sony successful with the Playstation 1&2 is that they did the same thing Nintendo did with the NES by locking up a bunch of exclusive deals with 3rd party companies to prdocuce games for them and only them. These days it would be a lot more difficult for Nintendo to do that, but Nintendo could still stand to experiemnent with a few new ideas regardless of how they go about this.

[silvadel 1,393]

The NES, the SNES, the N64, and the Gamecube weren't 1-2 generations behind their competitors. 

1/2 generation -- meaning half of a generation...

 

This can be expressed either through time or through power.

[Fhaolan 4,484]

They might, but Nintendo has a history of abandoning platforms and completely re-inventing it's console offerings where it's competitors were doing upgrades. So it wouldn't surprise me if they pull some completely left-field new console out of a back pocket somewhere, with no connection to the Wii.

 

Honestly, I'm surprised that the DS/Wii attempt to turn the controller into a fully independent device with the 'console' just being a hub for LANish-style games and a repeater for the big screen didn't go anywhere. That really felt to me like that was a winning concept, the games just didn't seem to catch fire in the market.

[Radiance64 7,053]

Probably not. The Wii U really isn't the greatest thing ever though, and I really hope Nintendo learns from their mistakes and makes a much better system next generation, something more equal in power to competitors and easier to develop for(and preferably not named Wii something).

[FirestormCAN 246]

These revenue numbers say otherwise.

 

Nintendo's not going anywhere, people. Sure, they slipped up a couple times *cough* Virtual Boy *cough*, but that doesn't mean they can't pick up the pieces and try again. But abandoning the Wii U now would get them in big trouble with consumers, much like what happened with Sega after the add-on and Saturn debacles. Though the 1st parties have been making some improvements to the Wii U's lineup, ultimately it's gonna have to be the 3rd party developers that push the Wii U to its limits.

[Mars Caramel 319]

With Nintendo being the company compared to Sony and Microsoft to bring the biggest amount of variety to the table, to see them fail would be the most speechless thing. Even though they are far from failure in their current state, I don't want to live in a world taken control by countless CoD rip-offs.

 

I'm just looking forward to the day when the Wii U eventually wins the 8th gen console war by default after the PS4 and Xbox One destroy each other.

[Neon Fire 473]

I doubt it, and I hope not.  I don't have a Wii U but imo it looks amazing.

[PoniesPlease 365]

I hope so. 

 

Nintendo haven't innovated anything worthwhile in a long long time. They've lost out to the other two major consoles, and as we all know, nothing will ever beat a PC.

[Forlong 1,726]

 

The only reason to believe or want that is to confirm to the rest of the world how ignorant you are on the state of reality.  In layman's terms: that's retarded.

 

First of all, Nintendo has had nothing but profit since they entered the video game industry 30 years ago.  30 years in the black, STRAIGHT.  I'm not sure if any other companies period have that kind of record, let alone video game publishers.  It's obvious that not a single one has enjoyed anywhere near the level of profits Nintendo has.

Source:

http://joannablackhart.tumblr.com/post/68646551374/jroddieq-okayla-seerofdoom-dear-xbox-and

 

Let's remember why Nintendo spends every year in the black.  They make all the best games.  This isn't just some Nintendo fanboy running damage control.  Objectively, Nintendo publishes more great games than anyone else.  Even if you only count games that came out in the last 12 years, more Nintendo titles won GotY than from any other publisher.  And, if you look at any list of the best selling games, Nintendo published more than half of them.  And before someone makes an idiot of themselves saying those must all be from Nintendo's golden age, four of them are for the Wii.  FYI: I excluded tie in games, as those made the top three.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_of_the_year

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_video_games

 

Even disregarding all that, the Xbox One sold WORSE than the WiiU did in it's best months.  It was only by about 60,000 units; but, unless your a bias moron, you have to apply the same logic to the Xbox One.  Stop being stupid.

Sources:

http://www.vgchartz.com/analysis/platform_totals/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii_U

 

Nintendo going out of the console market would be awful for everyone.  They'd have to compete with EA, Capcom, SquareEnix, and the like.  You think they will just be nice and polite?  No.  It's a cut-throat competition out there and Nintendo would be ruthless.  They would also have to lay off thousands of workers to keep in the black and expect every game they publish to sell over 10 million units.

 

Nintendo will stay in this business for a long time and thank God for that.

[SomariFeyWright 776]

Okay, let me make something clear: The Wii U's sales may not have been the highest we may have all expected, but the Wii U is NOT a failure.

 

Numbers and research have shown that the Wii U is selling much better and it has been doing so since September. Keep in mind that the Wii U has surpassed the Xbox One in terms of global sales. They're getting their money back, even if it isn't the extraordinary profit we all may have expected.

 

So no, this is not Nintendo's last console. FAR from it. Even if the Wii U really WAS a flop, Nintendo has money to make a lot of consoles that sell literally NOTHING and still have millions to spare.

 

Nintendo is a strong, dedicated company that is the face of video games. It is the absolute KING of video games and it's market, and it's consoles and systems are more prevalent than any other video game company's products EVER.

 

Nintendo's still going strong and showing no signs of stopping. And I promise you, it isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

[Scootalove 10,689]

The Wii U might not have been a success, but it is far from being the last console that Nintendo will make. Nintendo will still make more consoles even if the Wii U's sales are not living up to what Nintendo wanted.

 

They are not giving up yet, not by a long shot just yet.

[Judgement 445]

Sadly, I think so. I have a wii U and only have 3 games for it:
-ZombiU
-Ninja Gaiden
-Sonic Lost World

and none of those are "Amazing" games.

Nintendo needs to focus on the big picture rather than their tiny handheld.

My hatred at the top three console companies:

Microsoft HIGH
Nintendo MEDIUM
Sony LOW

I doubt that it would happen, but if Sega and Atari made game consoles again, they would totally kick Sony and Microsoft's butts. Micro$oft doesn't even deserve to exist in the gaming market in my opinion. Still disgusted that my best friend bought 3 Xboxones. -_-

The reason why I like Sony a little is because the PS2 was amazing. Though I hate them at the same time because the PS2 killed the Dreamcast, my first game console. Ugh. I can find hate in every game company.

 

The only first-party games that Nintendo has made for the wii U are party games. I have nobody else in my family that likes video games so buying a party game is just a waste of time.

Edited January 17, 2014 by Judgement

[Pomfritter 165]

Maybe the Wii U will be their last normal console, I doubt they would plan on stop making handhelds anytime soon.