| Cheebee said: I don't think it's just a matter of an unspecified number of games, but also (very much) a period of time. If they stopped supporting Wii U by the end of 2015 and revealed a successor around that time, I'm pretty sure a LOT of people wouldn't be satisfied, no matter if they'd released a truckload of AAA games in the meantime. That would mean a 3-year lifetime (at the most, since it would be even less for everyone who bought a Wii U after launch). I don't think that's acceptable. Imo Q4 2016 is the absolute earliest they could possibly stop supporting Wii U and unveil a successor, ad even that would be pushing it. Then again, I don't expect Nintendo to release a follow-up to Wii U until Q4 2017, at the earliest. 3DS will likely see a redesign sometime next year, and a successor in 2016. |
Once Nintendo announces a handheld successor, it's pretty much over for Wii U development IMO.
They will have to shift most of their resources to support the handheld, which will likely have Wii U level graphics itself.
The only upside to that is they might be able to port some of the handheld and Wii U titles back and forth.
But it will probably be a lot like what happened to the GameCube after the DS launched -- Nintendo's internal support for the GameCube fell off a cliff.
IMO the 3DS successor IS both the successor to the 3DS/Wii U also ... it's one and the same thing. Unified. You'll just be able to buy it in different hardware flavors (ie: a handheld, a VitaTV like box that lets you play the handheld games on a TV, etc.), but it will be one platform for most intents and purposes.
When the next handheld launches, Nintendo's next-generation (home and portable play both) effectively launches IMO. That will be basically the end of major Wii U development and they will throw all their resources into this new platform and Quality of Life.
