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Soundwave on 19 August 2014
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Scharfek said:
Soundwave said:
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. 

If the next handheld launches in 2016, why would this mean an end to the Wii U development? I know Nintendo can't make games for two completely different systems at once, but if the 3DS successor absorbs the Wii U architecture, then Nintendo could make games for both systems (Wii U and 4DS) with no droughts. I also expect the next handheld to receive many of the Wii U games announced for 2015 (Kirby, Yoshi, Splatoon and Mario Maker would fit very well) and to support Amiibo as well.

And considering that the VitaTV is not selling well, why should Nintendo make something similar?


It usually means a slowing of development. Look at the actual game releases for the GameCube in 2005 and 2006 and you'll see Nintendo basically bailed out on it in favor of the DS and just supported it with a lot of farmed out projects (ie: Geist). For example I think Mario Galaxy 3 (or 3D World 2), Animal Crossing Next, Luigi's Mansion 3, and Mario Kart 9 are already in development at Nintendo ... but not for Wii U. They will be for this new handheld/home fusion platform. 

There could be some games that are dual released where the Wii U gets a port of some games sure. But even that will probably be phased out fairly quickly after 2016. Nintendo is going to want people to shift over to their new unified platform as quickly as possible. 

I think the next handheld is almost certainly a lock to a have a NFC reader built-in too ... so Amiibo will be fine.

VitaTV doesn't have the full weight of Nintendo's software development behind (same as the Vita) it. That's a big, big difference. From Nintendo's POV the net result is more like a game such as Mario Kart 9 having access to say 60+ million handheld owners + 10-15 million home TV owners ... that sure beats the puny 6-10 million userbase the Wii U has for MK8 for example. That's going to be the big win for them.