| Soundwave said:
So much talk about the NX "console" and the Wii U (a system with a paltry 12 million users) ... why no talk about the 3DS successor? The 3DS is past it's "5 year age" in a matter of weeks (launched in Japan in Feb 2011) and Nintendo has pretty much exhausted every possible franchise for it. 3DS successor is far more vital to Nintendo than NX (if it's a discreet console) or Wii U, that's just a fact. If the 3DS successor continues to suffer declining marketshare due to kids being raised on tablets/phones these days, then Nintendo's hardware future is pretty much kaput, doesn't matter how fancy-schmancy a console NX is or how long Nintendo decides to support the Wii U. Even if NX is a unified platform, realisitically the portable model is going to have to carry like 80% of the load most likely given Nintendo's crap track record with home consoles. I just find it funny that the portable is always swept aside like "oh yeah, Nintendo maybe will throw out a handheld this year" like they can just fart one out as a side thought. |
Part of it is that the portable is kind in Japan and winning their home turf is extremely important and vital to Nintendo. Despite everything, the 3DS still sells well in Japan they have the dominate gaming hardware outside of PC/mobile there. The lack of third party support is less critical in Japan as while there are some developers that steer clear of the device in favor of Vita/PS3/PS4 multi platform games (which may get most of their sales from digital given how they still get so many high profile releases despite not showing up much on sales charts for long), those that sell the best usually are on the system including the upcoming Dragon Quest entry which most likely will outsell the PS4 version if past history of multiplatform games in Japan are anything to go by.
Nintendo doesn't want to derail that, while the 3DS may just be a portable outside of Japan, within its boundaries it is still pretty much King. You don't want to cut the legs off the king to make way for a successor until it is close to complete. Also the fact is that a new 3DS successor means the industry costs are going to increase, Nintendo has walked a fine line of making their systems not be powerhouses to keep costs in check since as we have seen over the years, the higher development costs are the worst it is for the middle to lower level developer or publisher. Indies and support for them aren't as strong in Japan as the rest of the world yet, besides visual novels and some H games, so Nintendo being as cost conscious as they have always been is probably carefully trying to find something of economical level
