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Soundwave on 03 October 2015
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twintail said:
Soundwave said:

80 million GBAs vs 22 million GCNs - Keep in mind the GameCube had an extra 1 1/2 years on the market without a successor, Nintendo phased out the GBA early or this ratio would be even worse for the GCN, it should really have been 100+ million GBAs vs. 22 million GCNs. 

150 million DS vs 100 million Wiis- This is only close (well not really close) because of soccer moms and casuals who now are happy with smartphone apps. 

68-70 million 3DS (estimated) vs. 16-18 million Wii Us (est) - Again not very flattering for the console side. 

In both this gen and the GameCube gen, 80% or more of Nintendo's audience says "no thank you" to their consoles. They get enough of a Nintendo fix from the handheld, and this is a problem that will get worse not better as each Nintendo handheld becomes more powerful and more capable of handling basically any type of Nintendo IP with a reasonably high level of visual fidelity at that. 

 

And yet where the handheld marketing is only growing smaller each passing day, the console market proves to continue having staying power. 

GBA had selling power with Pokemon. DS continued with Pokemon, a new style of 2D mario, and casual games like Nintendogs and Brain Age. 3Ds continues with the likes of Pokemon and other similar software that gives the handhelds their appeal.

What appeal do they have now when these games are just as accessible on console and release at the same time?

In a society in which handhelds are losing their relevance, having every Nintendo game available for console makes for a lot more compelling choice for gamers than the handheld does. I dont expect the console side to completely take over the handheld side with NX buts I also dont think its going to be a running away success in favour of it either. But as I said, I will be interested in seeing how the breakdown works.

Nintendo is going to need the console to do well, because the handheld market is not in a good place right now. 


Great. So now Sony and Microsoft just have to be nice and give Nintendo some console sales out of the goodness of their hearts. 

Maybe the truth is Nintendo hardware in general is simply losing its relevance. I love Nintendo, but I can acknowledge the market is very different today. The kids today who are buying consoles ... they don't care about Mario or Zelda.