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Soundwave on 01 June 2015
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RolStoppable said:
Soundwave said:

Pros: 

- More third party and developer support. Want me to make a Wii U or even 3DS game? Limited audience. But an NX game? Might be a very different story, because I can share said game with a billion Android users too. Makes the PS4's userbase look fairly piddly by comparison.  It'll have Minecraft and GTA too, something the 3DS doesn't currently have.  

- More attractive hardware to the modern consumer, because it'll be able to do 1000 different things (watch movies, Twitter, Instagram, edit photos, listen to music, check your email, etc.) rather than just be a standard Nintendo handheld/console. 

- Android is free to license, so Nintendo gets a fairly competent, fast OS with thousands of apps without having to spend much money. 

- Nintendo could have an edge against other tablet makers for instance because they can sell their hardware at/near cost, because the game model relies on making money from software sales, so a theoretical Nintendo tablet at $300 could be more powerful than say a $700 marked up iPad. 

- There are some good Android games out there, and there's a a number that would be quite decent with proper physical controls. 

(...)

Your pros:

1. Developers will have to optimize for NX hardware which will use buttons. That stands in conflict with creating a user interface that works exclusively with a touchscreen. The resulting half-assed games won't be able to compete with actual NX software, thus they won't sell, thus developers will stop bother (if they ever bothered to begin with).

2. Since consumers already own smartphones, this won't be a selling point. Pay for redundancy? No, thanks.

3. See point 2. Getting something for free or at a low cost doesn't mean anything when it won't be a selling point. It's actually counter-productive because it adds more clutter to a product that should be simple and straightforward.

4. Nintendo won't make a device to compete with smart devices, and neither are they interested in doing so. Your point is completely moot.

5. A few good games don't offset the biggest con:

Nintendo's primary motivation is to keep the value of software high, so they won't invite a platform that threatens their core business. Especially their own eShop would get hit hard because consumers could become conditioned to expect Android-like prices, and that in turn would drive away indie developers who make games on a scale that demands $10-20 price points.


The truth is though there's no path way for Nintendo that's not frought with considerable risk. 

If I can get my young 'uns a Nintendo tablet that has equal/better performance to an overpriced iPad for half the price ... that's something I can understand a parent buying. 

I'll disagree on more functionality being a con. I think even kids today have changed, you can't sell them the same song and dance from the 80s/90s and think the modern consumer is going to go for it. With Android functionality the next Nintendo handheld at least would have the functionality that people expect from a modern device without Nintendo having to spend a fortune making an OS from scratch and then trying to convince app-makers to give them support. Even Microsoft with Windows Phone has run into a brick wall trying to match Android and iOS' software app functionality. 

I think Nintendo could control the prices of software too, because like Kindle Fire and tablets like that, they can have their own custom store, and thus decided how many apps are available and also take a licensing fee when an app is sold through their shop. The publisher won't care as long as they get an app sale. Realistically though they are competing against smart phone apps whether they admitted it or not, at least now maybe they'll be able to get a cut of it.