They've rounded the corner on the Wii U. Sales are up YoY, they're making a profit, and things are actually looking up thanks to Nintendo remedying their biggest problem: The 2015 lineup is solid and doesn't have two 4 month droughts of significant retail games.
A common theme on these forums is that Nintendo should announce a new console by 2016. How about no, because that's the dumbest thing they could do. The Sega Dreamcast's death is partially attributable to its early release. The Wii U has been significantly damaged by releasing before the PS4/XB1. The point is, an early release is more often than not a handicap. You release too early and the hardware gets trumped in an age where everyone is pushing resolution and fps like snake oil salesmen.
So the smartest thing Nintendo can do is continue to make a profit with their current consoles until PS and XB make the move to the next console generation. They're no longer in trouble. They have no reason to go third party. Nobody has ever gone under for making a profit. So they should just bide their time while making their upward trending profits. Nobody's messing with them and as far as Sony and MS are concerned they aren't worth competing with. Perfect.
Wait until the specs for next gen PS/XB are hammered out and then focus on making a box on par with them. Nintendo clearly has the advantage in exclusives, and having a console on par with the competition, that's just as easy to design for, will bring in multiplats. If that happens, Nintendo wins. Even if it's not a slaughter, it's better than releasing a new console early only for it to have its head cut off a year or two later by vastly superior competition.
Also, here's a major benefit for supporting the Wii U up until the next gen: Players have become far more accepting of HD rereleases. Make the games for Wii U, and just upgrade the assets. That gives you a hell of a library that very few of your new audience has experienced. Imagine a rerelease of Zelda U in 4k and 60fps, and that could be a launch title.
Hell as it is now, Sony and MS are going to console war. MS has shown they're willing to pour gasoline on hundreds of millions of dollars and light it on fire to appease the gaming gods. PS4 was humiliated last NPD because the rest of Sony is too screwed to perform the kind of price shenanigans that the XB1 can with it's M$ money. Players are benefiting by this price war, but if Sony gets drawn too into it one miscalculation can put them out of business.
If you're Nintendo let them fight it out and you just continue making your profits like you're Australia in a game of Risk. It seems to be what they're doing too, Nintendo is going above and beyond the call of duty to support the Wii U. They're also recruiting for a graphics intensive console next gan, and working in their architecture. The Wii U is giving them a lot of experience with HD development, improving online functionality, and DLC. The groundwork has been laid for an absolute monster if Nintendo just bides its time and produces a strong enough box when next gen comes around.
Also, the only early release that wasn't curbstomped into the ground was the XB360, and even then it placed last at the end of the generation. I know that doesn't mean much because it was profitable, but fanboys won't shut the f*ck up about "winning" so take that I guess.
