Should Nintendo Target Adults More With Their Next Handheld?

[Soundwave]

When looking specifically at the handheld market though

1.) There is no MS or Sony for Nintendo to have to worry about (assuming Sony is out). There's no Sony/MS to compete with third parties with here either.

That's a pretty big difference from the console business. The portable business is instead overpopulated with cheap, casual games available on smartphones thanks to Apple/Google. That is Nintendo's main competetion now in the portable space. 

"Counter-programming" here may actually point to going in a direction that is more like Nintendo of the mid-1990s ... focusing on higher end hardware, graphics, more marketing/iniatives towards enthusiast gamers (getting the Star Wars license, Kobe Bryant in NBA, Ken Griffey Jr., oking violent games like Killer Instinct, Conker, Perfect Dark, Eternal Darkness, starting Retro Studios, etc.). 

Maybe they should try that route at least for the launch year. Try to please your teenager/adult market moreso upfront, get sales off to a good start, play up nostalgia and "cool factor" early on.

For kids who are just starting out ... hey that's what the New 3DS is for, by then they can cut the price on that and make it dirt cheap. Maybe even throw in an Amiibo toy for free too. Let that cater to kids for a while.

I think going upmarket in the portable business now makes some sense. If you are going to die on the hill of $39.99 games, then I think you need today to redefine what a $39.99 portable game is. It can't be something that consumers view as cheap/low-tech .... otherwise they can just get that style of experience for $1/free. You have to show consumers a new style of portable gaming that is higher end.