"The mere thought of even a single generation without a Nintendo console seems unnerving and even blasphemous. Can the video game industry even exist without an active Nintendo system?"
Sega fans thought the same thing when the Dreamcast got dropped and Sega went multiplatform. It was a dark day indeed, but life went on.
Can the video game industry exist without Nintendo? Yes it can.
Before Nintendo there was Atari, people called all video games "Atari" because it was ubiquitous. If Nintendo dropped out of the hardware business it we would still get Nintendo games just like how we still get Sega games. It's not ideal, but life would go one. Even if Nintendo went bankrupt it's studios and IPs would just get bought by another company or companies. Again it's not ideal, but the industry would keep chugging along. When Atari fell from grace Nintendo jumped it. If the same happened to Nintendo another would fill the void too.
