Reality check: The NX MUST be successful.

[zorg1000]

Conina said:

zorg1000 said:
How much does it need to sell and how much profit does it need to make in order to be considered successful?

Well, if it replaces the 3DS and the Wii U it should sell at least more than 3DS + WiiU hardware combined to be considered successful (60 million for now, but until NX launches that number will grow).

70 million devices (handhelds and home consoles combined) lifetime sales would be the absolute minimum to stop the downward spiral, more than 100 million devices could be considered successful (DS + Wii combined were 250 million devices, but that will never happen again).

Software sales also shouldn't be lower than 3DS + WiiU software combined.

I don't think we can solely look at units sold, if they sell a ton but don't make money than that's worse than selling a smaller number but making profit. Nintendo had a few years of taking losses this generation but we also have to consider that 3DS was sold at a loss for a year following its big price cut in Summer 2011 and Wii U was sold at a loss from launch in holiday 2012 until pretty recently. It's possible that Wii U+3DS level sales can be profitable if they plan better by not selling hardware at a loss.