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Nuvendil on 14 March 2015
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Soundwave said:
Nuvendil said:

Until the Fusion exists, I predict it will sell 0 units because I don't think it will exist.

Iwata said the platforms would be "like brothers" as in similar development pipelines allowing for fluidity within teams and select cross platform titles. Not that the two will share one identity and one library and essentially one set of specs. Mark my words, the handheld and console will still have their own identities and their own libraries with some overlap where it makes sense (Kirby games, NSMB games, etc). The console will be the more powerful by a country mile, just as always. 

What they are doing is making the development similar between them so that they can maximize their company's efficiency in terms of development. They are also probably working to make as many of their engines as scalable as possible so that they can limit the number of tool sets that they need to learn.   That's the end game here.  Not what is essentially one device for handheld and console (or two essentially identical devices with the exact same library)

Actually Iwata said in the same quote that they must adopt the same ecosystem that Apple has for the iPhone and iPad (which you can also say are "brother" devices). 

Also how sure are you that Nintendo even wants a "massively" more powerful console? Look at this gen, most companies are struggling to get anything released on time, and these are companies with years of HD experience. These PS4/XB1 games are likely even higher budget than anything before to boot. 

I think it's very likely Nintendo says "thanks, but no thanks" to that proposition, I don't think anyone at Nintendo is licking their chops to work with even more powerful hardware that will lead to longer and more expensive development times. 

There's no reason the home variant can't be more powerful though ... it could be the same games, but the home version runs them at a nice, clean 1080P resolution, whereas the handheld can run the same game just at 720p or maybe 960x540 resolution. Maybe the console version has a few extra effects, but nothing major. 

That sorta thing. There's also strong incenctive for Nintendo to WANT to share their library. What good is having Mario Kart 8 have such great reviews and all that, if only about 10 million of the 65 million or so Nintendo hardware owners so far this gen can even play the game? Of course it would be hugely beneficial to Nintendo if both hardware devices could run Mario Kart 8 rather than it having to rot on the smaller userbase. 

First, Nintendo can't say "no thanks."  Even if the numbers make sense, consumer mentality and expectations and the media will not accept it.  It is the mindset of the consumer that any hardware upgrade must be a legitimate upgrade in real world performance.  Anything less than that will be absolutely curcified, I 100% promise you. 

Second, I can name a number of people at Nintendo who clearly have interest in pushing hardware, Aonuma and Takahashi being standouts as major figures within the company. 

Third, you assume the sluggishness and development issues at many companies is due to HD development.  I say, and I have evidence, that it is due to corporate atmospheres within these companies.  Ex-developers at companies from around the world describe overly-controlling CEOs and marketing teams, an atmosphere of shaming for those who don't put in overtime, excessive pressure to elevate the company's importance to unhealthy levels, good ideas that the people who know games at the publishers loved being rejected because it isn't "mainstream enough" even when the idea is clearly marketable (see Kingdom Come: Deliverance), the list goes on.  These are textbook examples of how NOT to run efficient teams.  These kinds of issues make these companies breeding grounds for inefficiency, which these idiotic companies compensate for by hiring on massive teams, not taking into account the fact that once you hit a certain level (not too far over 100 honestly), the blows to efficiency brought on by the complexities of coordination outweigh the benefits of bringing those people on in the first place.  Nintendo's output for their size is quite impressive specifically because they *don't* have this issue, at least from what we know.

And finally, there is the issue of risk vs reward.  And what I just stated comes out as the correct choice in that regard.  If they do what I said and you are right that it wasn't the wiser move, then they still have the security of their handheld and the home console devision will still probably be profitible.  However, if they do what you say and I am right then the whole of the 9th gen is over for them before it starts with the Fusion platform doomed to seel less than the 3DS much less come close to the 3DS and Wii U combined. 

I could also talk about the difference between handheld and console games and how they aren't the same 99% of the time, even across franchises.  I could talk about the difference between demographics between handhelds and consoles.  I could talk about the different expectations consumers have for handhelds and consoles.  But since every single time I do that it seems to just be completely ignored, forgotten, or whatever, I'm not even going to bother. 

And lastly, Apple's absurd sales come from the business model that the cell phone business runs on.  That business model is not Nintendo's.  Stop comparing these two companies.  Their market isn't the same, their audience isn't the same, their products aren't the same, their business models aren't the same, they are not comparable in this discussion.