| Osc89 said:
Eight years is a long time, especially for a Nintendo console. How is the Wii U expected to outlast every other Nintendo console when it is currently selling less than the Gamecube (which only lasted 4-5 years)? They would be better off launching something mid-gen anyway. Maybe test the waters with a hybrid console, as 2017 - 2019 is also when they would be expected to replace the 3DS. Another "third pillar" strategy, that keeps support for the other consoles. |
The Gamecube lasted five years from its launch to the Wii's launch. For comparison, the XBox lasted four and the PS2 lived six. Even a "failed" Nintendo console had an average lifespan for that generation's consoles. Average Sony's ten year plan and Microsoft's twelve years and you get eleven years. New Nintendo hardware due out 2023.
Even assuming the Wii U sales never pick up--which is questionable considering the titles in the pipe, the fuctionality, and price--Nintendo is likely to just stick it out. Sales don't determine how long a generation lasts so much as how much the company can make. Home consoles are just not lucritive enough a business anymore to justify the R&D for a console which Microsoft and Sony will make obsolete in three or four years.
And it's definitely not worth risking Nintendo's bread-winner portables on.
