Will Sony and MS have the courage to compete with Nintendo in 2016?

[zorg1000]

Normchacho said:

zorg1000 said:

DanneSandin said:

Normchacho said:

DanneSandin said:

I don't know how you would describe the DS... That's two consoles that's evidence enough that Nintendo might hit it big next gen. But like I said, they need the 3rd parties; it's a lot safer a bet than trying to find the next Wii.

I'm talking home consoles, they are a very different game. There is simply no reason to think that Nintendo will be able to just add the WiiU sales to the 3DS sales.  How many WiiU owners don't have a 3DS? Why would people who decided against buying a Nintendo home console just hop on board because the 3DS was more popular...

haha I've just had the same conversation in this thread with someone else! I also pointed out that there's quite a lot of cross buying between the two consoles... I think that both consoles need something special to differentiate themselves; how many would buy two consoles that plays the same games?!

U guys don't seem to understand, Nintendo doesn't need consumers to buy both. By having a console and a handheld that cost the same and have all the same games, it allows consumers to buy the device based on what their preferences are. Currently we have 3DS at 48m and Wii U at 8m, for a total of 56m. Even if 75% of Wii U owners have a 3DS, that's still 50m.

The point is some people will choose the handheld, some will choose the console but by having both devices share a library, it allows games like Tropical Freeze, 3D World, Mario Kart 8 to sell better because they are no longer hindered by being on a single device with a low install base. If those games were on 3DS they could easily sell 3-4x as much

This also allows Nintendo to pump out games at a faster rate by not having to develop software for two seperate devices and significantly reduced 1st party software droughts.

By the end of this generation 3DS+Wii U sales will likely be around 80m, 70m or so when taking out the people who own both. Nintendo's objective is to maximize software output and software sales while keeping these 70m or customers happy.

Cost the same and run the same games? Either one or both of them would be DOA. Cost and power would be impossible to balance. 

How powerful does it need to be to compete as a home console?  Would it be possible to make a console that powerful portable? How much would it cost?

Do they launch what is pretty much a Wii level home/handheld console so they can charge $200-$250 for it? (ie, making the handheld the main console) The home console would get crushed, I'm talking OUYA level sales.

Do they launch a console stronger than the WiiU to compete at home? How do they make that portable? How much would it cost to make that portable? Who's buying a handheld that costs as much as a home console?

Handheld version-$199, between Vita & Wii U in terms of power, able to run Wii U engines at a lower resolution.

Console version-$199, slight upgrade over Wii U, extra power is to allow games to run at 1080p.

Nintendo success/failures have never been a direct result of power and Nintendo has no desire to get into a spec war with MS/Sony. Lifetime sales of 3DS+Wii U will probably be around 80 million (3DS-65m, Wii U-15m), 70 million or so when u take into account people who own both.

So why do u believe the console version would get crushed in this scenario? Right now 3DS is about half the price (2DS-$129, 3DS XL-$199, Wii U-$299), has cheaper software ($20-40 vs $40-60) and has a vastly larger library. Of all these were equal then it's certainly possible that sales between the handheld and console would be more similar (30-40 million each) and it doesn't really matter if one does worse than the other because the whole point of this is to increase software output by not having to release software for 2 completely different pieces of hardware,  increase software sales buy not having certain games being hindered by a low install base like Wii U, and ultimately maximize profits by lowering R&D and increased software revenue.