| JEMC said: Hard to say, and the most sensible answer would be none of them. It's a very lucrative business. But, since there is no fun in that, I'll guess and say that it will be Nintendo who leaves the home console hardware market. Both Microsoft and Sony see their consoles not only as consoles, but also as multimedia devices that can also be used to sell some of their other products, gadgets like Kinnect and software like Win8 in the case of Microsoft and TVs, HiFi, etc as well as their music and movie services in the case of Sony. That leaves us with Nintendo, which sees the consoles as a way to sell their games. What effect does the hardware side of their business have? As of late, it only makes them lose money. Sure, having their own console was a good move in the past but now it's going against them. Because of this, and the pressure of their shareholders to develop for other devices (mostly smartphones), they are the most prone to quit the hardware side of the business and go third party. But as I said, I don't expect anyone to leave anytime soon. |
Nintendo makes alot of money on royalties, and their hardware usually yields profit (even their latest ones, the 3DS is breaking even in August).
Also, having a console gives a developer much more presence in the industry, hence bolstering the sales of their games.
So I really disagree with this post, especially bold. Anyways "now" stands for what, the 3DS? The DS also staggered to take off in the west, so the current trends are indicator of nothing yet, other than that it's a sensation in Japan.
