The gaming industry is ready yet again for a major change. Every five years or so, gamers are asked to toss away their old hardware and buy the new stuff. The cost, of course, is high, and the effort to actually get a new console is somewhat ridiculous in the beginning, but like good, trusting gamers, we oblige.

The so-called “next generation” is starting now. Nintendo has launched its Wii U, and that device delivers HD graphics and a vastly improved experience compared to the company’s previous console, the Wii. For now, the console is sold out and likely will remain so for the next few months.

Although the Wii U will continue to dominate the console market for the next several months, there’s trouble on the horizon. Microsoft is expected to launch its next console, the Xbox 720, next holiday season. The PlayStation 4 from Sony will likely follow close behind. Both of those consoles are expected to come with better graphics than the Wii U and have more features. In other words, they’ll probably be better all-around consoles than Nintendo’s option.

Realizing that, I don’t think Nintendo has any choice but to launch a new console in 2014. Call it the Wii U 2 or something else, but whatever Nintendo does, the company must deliver a new device in 2014 that’s capable of competing against the actual “next generation” of consoles.

It’s almost laughable that Nintendo would say that the Wii U is a next-generation device. In my own time with the console, I find it to be a nominal upgrade over the Wii. And although HD graphics is a nice addition, we’ve had those for years now from Microsoft and Sony.

Oddly, Nintendo doesn’t appear willing to launch a new console in 2014 that can actually compete against the PlayStation 4 and Xbox 720. The company is hiding behind the Wii’s success to prove that it doesn’t need all of the bells and whistles to be successful. After all, Nintendo says, the Wii had fewer features and lacked HD graphics, and dominated the console market.

But let’s not pretend that past success can inform our understanding of future market dynamics. After all, if we assume a console will be successful because its predecessor was, shouldn’t we also assume that a failure like the GameCube would spawn another loser? Obviously that didn’t happen.

Nintendo needs to consider the changing market. Today’s consumers want more-capable products in the living room, and like the idea of having consoles that are meaningfully better than those that came before them. The Wii U isn’t that device. And I’m still not convinced that third-parties will embrace the GamePad the way Nintendo hopes. Add that to the Wii U’s lofty price tag and the impending obsolescence at the hands of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox 720, and I think there’s a recipe for disaster being cooked up as we speak.

With a new console in 2014, however, Nintendo can change all that and put itself back in a position to control the hardware market. The Wii U should be an iterative step to whatever major upgrade might come in 2014. Without that launch schedule, Nintendo might be in serious trouble.

Source: http://www.slashgear.com/why-nintendo-must-launch-a-new-console-in-2014-07260003/

I don't get why people refuse to think that the WiiU is not next-gen, or that the other consoles will be a marked improvement over the current ones...

The problem with articles such as this one is that it takes no amount of courage or insight to produce them.

Anyone can guess that the Xbox 720 and PS4 will blow Wii U out of the water, but where is the evidence? Wii dominated the seventh-generation with an underpowered console, and lost badly the sixth with an overpowered console.

This article would have been a lot more useful to Nintendo in 2008. Nintendo probably should have released a Wii HD in 2009 or 2010. But I believe that the Wii U is built to weather the storms Wii never could.

Hmm. Interesting read. I would say that ninty could do it and be successful but I doubt we'll need it. Coming off a nearly 8 year old gen.... Who knows really though? No one.

Somebody else had a deja vu?

Nintendo won't make a console without making profit from it at beginning end of story don't ever think about it they will make a new console to complete with next Xbox or ps

So where's the proof Wii U isn't a next gen console? Because so many people (fanboys) say so doens't make it true (religion?). Always put sources in your articles and statements.

yeahhhhhh... that's never going to happen and for a good reason.

haha good laugh! Thanks :D

People just assume PS720 will look all that much better, but as of now there isn't any evidence for that. And considering Sony's financials they can't afford loosing too much money at the get go. And I don't care if PS4 isn't made in Japan; Wii U isn't produced in Japan, but in China. The bottom line is that Sony is a Japanese company and ALL money they make will go to the mother company, meaning the exchange rate will eat up a bit of the profits!

MS on the other hand could make a beastly console, which powers will go largely untapped by 3rd parties since they'll produce the same games for the WiiStation as well. Just read the link in my sig... *sigh* Wii U will be the weakest console, but not so much that it'll be a huge difference in graphics, AND it'll be cheaper. So, a console that's cheaper and almost has as good graphics... Geeee I wonder which console will sell better...

What PS720 needs is unique features, like those VR glasses that's supposed to come with the PS4 or that holographic capability of the 720. But making multiplat games for that is just crazy!

.........the Wii U is sold at a loss. >.>

so, no, I guess that's not the end of the story.