What is the Sales Threshold for a Home Console NOT to be a failure?

[pastro243]

Illusion said:

pastro243 said:
I think maybe we should consider the profit point. The ps3 is something I would call a success selling more than 80 million and preserving brand value to prepare for the huge success that the ps4 is.


I think sometimes the objective is to leave the brand in a competitive form in order to make money later from products that may come in the future, allowing yourself to lose money at first (Im sure Sony expected better form ps3 in 2006, but I think they prefer to sell lots of ps3 instead of having cut their gaming division after the initial bomb, or being profitable selling 3 million consoles)

Just out of curosity, generally speaking, how many units do you feel that a console needs to sell in order to preserve it's brand strength for a future generation like the PS3 did?  I mean, obviously PS3's 85 million is unrealistic for Nintendo's next console, but how many units do you feel that Nintendo's next console would need to sell to get their brand back to being a household name like it was in the 90's?

I personally felt that the Gamecube era was when Nintendo really started to fall off the map in terms of brand strength.  Here in North America, at least, the N64's 20 million units did a great job keeping Nintendo as a household name even though it had lower sales in other parts of the world.

I think that something like the N64, more than in numbers, in % of marketshare.

The thing is, the potential in the brand may still be there, but things can go both ways. Either you have a ps4 or you could have a sega situation, when after years of loosing you just do not have enough brand power.  I think that what kept the brand alive for Nintendo in the Gamecube days was the Gameboy (GBA) leading to the DS and the fact that even if Nintendo are doing bad, their IPs are so consolidated that it would be hard for them to fade. 

Personally, I think the only thing that can give Sony a future in handheld gaming is their homeconsole recognition, since I think the PSV killed almost any light for them in that business. I think if it was not for the 3DS, Nintendo would have lost most of its brand power after Wii U, but they seem in an Ok situation to start something modest with the NX.

Xbox is the one that has to make sure to keep marketshare and mantain brand recognition, they cannot afford to be in a Nintendo WiiU situation. That would kill them and lead them to irrelevance, I feel they are the ones with less of a unique brand value or loyalty from fans. 

Anyway, my point stands that I think that any of the big 3 prefer to be in a situation where they sell 80 million and lose money on a console rather than in one where they profit from 3 million units sold but only having something like 5-10% marketshare and loosing all brand value. The first gives you the chance to come back or at least someone could buy the rights to the brand if you go bankrupt haha