Asriel said:
ps4tw said:
Dreamcast sold quicker and yet was still seen as a failure. Begs the question why Nintendo are still flogging a dead horse.
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Because if they cut and run now, they can't recoup any of the losses they incurred in the last few years of 3DS/Wii U. If they keep Wii U on the market and act to maximise profitability rather than marketshare, they can rescue some kind of financial positive from what is otherwise a poor generation for them. Launching a new console will be expensive, as would going third party. Better to make what money they can before they have to sink even more money into a change of direction.
What's better for Nintendo launching their next home console? 15 million Wii U owners who received a lot of quality Nintendo software, and who were happy that Nintendo continued supporting the system? Or 7 to 11 million (assuming they cut and run sometime in the next 12 months) unhappy consumers who spent several hundred pounds/dollars on a system Nintendo weren't willing to stick with?
What looks better to a consumer buying the next home console from Nintendo? Nintendo, the platform holder who couldn't make Wii U succeed so they dropped support within three years of launch (and who cut the 3DS price massively after launch)?Or, Nintendo the platform holder that continued to bring their biggest, best titles to Wii U despite a small userbase?
What's a better bet for publishers and consumers? A platform holder who stands by their hardware, or a platform holder who runs at the first signs of trouble? If publishers and consumers are going to invest in new Nintendo hardware, Nintendo's decision to stick by or drop Wii U prematurely will play a major part in how well their next system does, at least initially. There are a lot of other factors Nintendo will need to nail, but sticking by Wii U and grinding out profit is far more sensible than dropping the system prematurely.
Cutting and running will be a disaster for Nintendo. It's what Sega tried when they saw Genesis sales declining, quick-fix solutions to eroding marketshare rather than making long-term decisions based around the future profitability and health of their platform business. Nintendo won't be happy with Wii U's peformance, and Iwata did say at the beginning of this year that so far Wii U and Nintendo have failed. But they won't be panicking about marketshare the way Sega did. Change is a-coming, it just isn't going to come while Nintendo have a niche of Wii U owners they need to keep happy and stockholders who need to see profits posted.
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