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pokoko on 20 August 2015
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Wyrdness said:


I don't think third party would matter as much for NX if all the first party games are released on it, Nintendo's output on portable and home console combined is actually very high each year, by what's speculated the entire library will be available on any NX platform regardless of whether you buy the home variant or portable. This means the third party the NX platform does get would actually be more then enough especially as the portable side has always been quite healthy in that department.

It would certainly help to have handheld games playable on Nintendo's next home console but it would in no way replace home console third party support.  If they ignore that market then they are once more setting up their home console to finish in last place in the west.

There is, after all, a good deal of overlap already, with some of Nintendo's bigger IP releasing versions on both platforms.  There is some theoretical benefit there with the idea that a single version would free up more resources for other games but we don't know that for certain.

The one game I can think of that would have a certain impact in the west would be Pokemon.  Personally, I would be interested in a home console with Fire Emblem, but I don't know that it would be a system seller.

I think there are a LOT of questions about how this would work and what kind of effects it would have on the market:

  • How many Nintendo first-party handheld franchises would have an impact if they appeared on Nintendo home consoles in the west?
  • How many third-party handheld franchises would have an impact if they appeared on Nintendo home consoles in the west?
  • How many third-party publishers would allow this?  Would it be cross-buy?  Would they resist?  Would Nintendo make it mandatory?
  • Would it cannibalize total hardware sales?  Would Nintendo fans in the west only buy ONE platform instead of two?
  • If there is "one version", does that mean that home console games are going to be limited by handheld design considerations?

Those are just off the top of my head so there are probably a lot more questions to speculate about.  The only thing I'm pretty sure about is that such a platform would be extremely popular in Japan, especially if they pull in a lot of mobile and browser games, which I expect.