The Verge: "Why The Wii U Failure Wont Change Nintendo"

[zorg1000]

Augluae said:

And the ONLY thing I hope for, is that the Wii U console cycle won't last long so that Nintendo release a true new and powerful console in 2/3 years.

Why do people say this? What does Nintendo gain by releasing a PS4/Xbox clone in 2015?

If Nintendo were to release a console on par or slightly more powerful than PS4 in 2015 that wouldnt help them in any way and would likely hurt them. Basically any Wii U game not scheduled for 2014 would have to switch development to the new console immediately unless u want another huge first party game drought, meaning that Wii U would still get DKC/Mario Kart/Smash Bros and the smaller titles like Yoshi/Bayonetta/X/Hyrule Warriors but that would be the end of it. Zelda U isnt likely coming until 2015 anyway so I guess they could pull a TP and make it on current and next gen.

Lets go ahead and say Wii U sells about 12-15m by the time this new console is announced, will they be thrilled to hear that the console they spent $300 or so dollars on is getting support cut off and they only had 1.5 years of steady support to begin with? I doubt it. Also how much will this console cost and what will it have to differentiate it from PS4/Xbox? if its on par or more powerful than PS4 it will probably still cost $300-400 at launch. And its very possible that the install base of PS4+Xbox is around 50m by the end of 2015 and will already have the mainstream/hardcore crowd that plays COD/GTA/Battlefield/Assassins Creed/Madden/FIFA and whatever other big third party titles are out then.

So basically Nintendo pisses off current and future Wii U owners while making a console catered to people that just bought a console in the past 1-2 years that already caters to them. Since u claim to be sometime of analyst u should realize that this isnt a great plan. The best option for Nintendo is to try getting manufacturing costs down as much as possible so Wii U is sold at a profit and to keep supporting it with a consistant and quality release schedule. Its likely Wii U will only sell GC/N64 numbers but if they make a profit and sell a bunch of first party software then that is much better what u propose.