8th gen Nintendo published titles, could Nintendo support themselves with a unified concept?

[zorg1000]

KingdomHeartsFan said:

Soundwave said:

Exactly. 

So unified platform is their best/most reasonable option here. 

There's also the issue of bad business here ... your biggest games (ie: Zelda U which is probably going to be the most expensive game to develop in Nintendo's history) should be available where your biggest audience is -- and for Nintendo that's on handheld by a factor of 4x-5x. 

The setup Nintendo has right now quite honestly is ass backwards. 

Right now many of their best games are unplayable to about 80% of the people who buy Nintendo hardware ... because they're not willing to buy a Nintendo console, which really sucks for the people who work so hard on games like Bayonetta 2, Captain Toad, Pikmin 3, and even Mario Kart 8 .... these games deserve to be played by a lot more people. The vast majority of the Nintendo fanbase is locked out from these games. 

If they did this, only the really hardcore people are gonna buy both the console and handheld, most people are just gonna buy the cheaper option, which is gonna be the handheld and their console sales are gonna plummet even lower than the Wii U.  In this cause they have to sell their big AAA Zelda U for $40 on handheld and make way less money per copy sold.  For every pro theres another con.

Who says the handheld has to be cheaper than the console? A handheld between Xbox 360 & Wii U in terms of performance & a console between Wii U & Xbox One in terms of performance could each retail for about $250 in 2016/2017. They could also perhaps find a middle ground for software prices, high-end 3DS games cost $40 and high-end Wii U games cost $60, perhaps high-end NX titles will cost $50.

There are still alot of people who may buy both, for big epic games like Zelda or Xenoblade, I would rather play on my 50" HDTV while games like Pokemon or Animal Crossing, which can be played in short bursts, I may play on a handheld during my breaks at work or while in line at a store. Or for families, get the console to play some local multiplayer with the kids, and have a couple handhelds so they can play on long car rides.

The biggest benefit for Nintendo is they get to diversify their lineup by creating new IP instead of making 2 entries of all major franchises and now certain games aren't tied down to a single device with a low install base.