They've left the Wii U to die.

[Mr Khan]

AlfredoTurkey said:

Locknuts said:

 But Iwata seems to be too much of a tightass to spend money on anything that Nintendo doesn't at least partially own. 

It's been that way since Genesis won the US back in the 16-bit wars.

Nintendo is a Japanese company. But unlike Sega back in the day and Sony now, they run their business with an iron grip. They don't allow their other divisions freedom to market and develop software or relationships with western developers. The reason Sega kicked their ass in the US with the Genesis was because they allowed Tom Kalinske to do whatever he wanted, for the most part. They said, look, we don't know what western people want so do what you think is best. Nintendo won't allow for that. They do what they do and expect results. And you know what? They haven't won the US market since the 1980's. 

If Nintendo ever wants to win the US and the west again, it's going to have to hire a smart western man and team and tell them to do whatever they need to do in order to sell to that market. Because they sure as hell have no clue how to do it themselves.

Remember though: the free hand other Sega divisions were given was what killed them. Sega 32X was Sega of America's baby, and resentment over Sega Japan going for the Saturn instead basically wiped out Sega's presence overseas in the 5th generation, killing revenue along with it. Though that didn't stop the Dreamcast from storming out of the gate in the West, Sega didn't have the money to keep the train going.

The "iron grip" has some advantages, though Sony strikes a better balance, mostly by building actual studios outside of Japan, which gives them a network in the development community. Nintendo used to have this, or was aiming that direction in the late Yamauchi days with the launch of Retro Studios and NST being a stronger studio for the company. Now NST has been weakened and Retro is kept on a short leash, as are all of Nintendo's operating partners (though again, advantages in terms of reliable farmed-out IP: close cooperation and feedback with Japan made the brilliant Metroid Prime, Donkey Kong Country Returns, and Punch-Out!! to look at another studio).

Nintendo should simply expand Retro to be a 2-team studio (like Intelligent Systems), so that they could let one team work closely with Japan and let another be a funnel for American ideas and creativity. Then they should do the same in Europe.