Today I was listening to the Metroid Prime soundtrack. And it hit me: Metroid Prime released at the same time as Halo. And then it hit me again! Halo 4 is releasing to grand expectations (15m unit sales, GOTY of 2012), while Metroid Prime is a blip in a sea of news, almost non-existent.

And then I thought about all those people that said the cube was a failure and that the red ocean (where the xbox competes in) is a useless market to Nintendo, and it suddenly slammed me in the face.

While Nintendo's red ocean went from 22m to maybe 15m this gen, Microsoft managed to grow from 25m xboxes sold to 69m 360s sold. Some would dare argue that a significant portion of that is due to kinect, but the sales of Kinect are known: a total of 15m units sold worlwide. 

Without considering Kinect, the 360 total amounts to 54m units worldwide.

Clearly Microsoft stole that marketshare from Sony, nobody in their right minds would argue that. But did Nintendo fear their competition (Sony) so much as to prematurely flee from the hypothetical opportunity that was the failure of their flagship console's launch??

I believe so. And in doing so, Nintendo made a grave mistake.

The PS3's launch failure led to the capturing of more marketshare by Microsoft. Nintendo didn't share in the booty.

This time around, I expect Nintendo to have all their bases covered, but I fear the opportunity against Sony and Microsoft has already been lost. 

Though the blue ocean has been a bounty for Nintendo this gen, the failure to capitalize on the PS3's downfall caused Nintendo to be a disputed winner this generation rather than an undisputed winner.

Denial is your choice, but I will not make it.

Post notes:

This is exactly what the editorial piece was not saying. I was not saying dump the Blue ocean. I was saying don't dump the red ocean.

So you think Nintendo went from 22m to 15m core audience from GCN to Wii? I don't believe that one bit. If that was the case Brawl would have sold less than Melee. I don't imagine that many casuals playing Brawl.  Metroid Prime 3 increased over 2 in sales which isn't saying too much.  People just aren't that interested in Metroid Prime series.  It is almost to the point of becoming another Fire Emblem sales wise.  It will still make money and there will always be a dedicated fan base but it won't ever be a smash hit.

Ah, good point. The Nintendo core gamers have defected to 360 or PS3. PS2 gamers defected to 360 and not Wii.

Leaving only the hardest or core Nintendo fans that stuck it out with the Wii.

Metroid Prime was my favorite Gamecube game, the reason I got one. Truly a masterpiece in gaming. Nintendo should have done better with its marketing. It could have been next to Halo in sales.

I wouldn't say Microsoft stole marketshare. Sony just screwed up really bad.

Yeah, Nintendo should have forgotten about all the innovation shit and just made Wii similar in power and price to Xbox 360. Would have ended well .

No wiimote, no Kinect, no Move , just 3 similar consoles fighting for a space on the market.

Nintendo innovates gaming through controls just as much as through graphics and game design.  They have focused on controls for awhile and made it an unique experience with other companies following suit.  They wouldn't get a break out hit with the Wii if they didn't have the Wiimote.  The controller is one of the most important aspects of gaming considering you use it to play the game so I am glad Nintendo is always looking for new ways to control games.  If not then Nintendo would be like Sony using the same damn controller every gen.

We can talk about what if's all day but reality shows that MS had a huge gain from its first gen to its second. Whether you want to say it's because of Kinect or RROD those points are irrelevant. It has sold 69 million to date and to MS that is a great success considering the competition of the Dominant Sony franchise and the long standing Nintendo franchise.

I don't think Nintendo COULD have competed in the Red Ocean against Sony and MS; Nintendo can't afford to loose that much on HW! They made the right choose with Wii: it was cheap and it was something new and it made loads and loads of money for Nintendo. This gen they could get back in the Red Ocean, but had they gone that route next gen the ocean would have been red from the bleeding Nintendo would have taken when launching a console on par with PS360.

Finding that Blue Ocean is what saved Nintendo.

That was never going to happen. There simply isn't as big an audience for slow paced, celebral single players games compared to simpler, quick-fix multiplayer ones. (Sadly)

Disagree.

Wii Sports/Resort/Play/Party, Mario Kart Wii, Mario Galaxy 1 & 2, Zelda Skyward Sword and Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime 3, all are among the Wii's biggest and/or best and are significantly enhanced by the Wiimote control scheme.

I refuse to buy another Playstation system until they update that thing, it's incredibly archaic at this point. The Move gave me hope, but then they failed to capitalise on it.

Halo 4 isn't going to sell 15m units to hardcore gamers exclusively.

It's as much of a mainstream franchise as Mario, CoD, FIFA et al.