There`s one very important detail in the article that now might not seem much, but in 5/10 years it`s really going to hurt Nintendo, Sony and MS: kids today are starting gaming on a device that is completely different than consoles. And not just that, there`s no Mario, Master Chief or Drake in this new world of gaming.
They are going to get used to getting some games for free and others for a cheap price.
They will know no brand loyalty, no franchise loyalty, only the likes of Apple will ring a bell to them.
These days, tablets and smartphones can`t even begin to handle console games. They don`t even have enough storage space to download them to the device. And even the biggest SD card won`t be able to fit more than a few of them.
In some years, as technology progresses, these hurdles will go away and better games will eventually be a common thing. 3rd parties will start bringing their CoDs, GTAs, Destinys to these devices and with the market being so big they might even charge less per game to break in to the mobile market, faster.
MS and Sony have smart devices, they can easily adapt to this change.
Nintendo doesn`t have smart devices, and as far as we know, there are no plans to start developing a new business internally.
Before it`s too late, Nintendo needs to find a way to attract it`s main market: kids and families.
And to me there`s only one solution.
Iwata already expressed the desire to have more form factors for HW, but if they tried that now, SW would be even more scarce than it is already.
The only option is to "become" a PC like developer: build games that can play in more than one device, be it a dedicated handheld or a home console.
Just think about how many games Nintendo can develop every single year... shortages would be a thing of the past.
If they do this, they can save enough staff to develop a new strategy: mobile devices.
With the freed staff, they can make games for the mobile, with the assets that they already have, and then port them, with the necessary changes, to the HH or HC.
They can also bring their catalogue to this new device aswell and bring kids to their side, while maintaining complete control of their HW and SW.
