Prediciton: NX will be....

[zorg1000]

MohammadBadir said:

Soundwave said:

Because Nintendo will be able to make a lot more games, or who says they can't make more the same number of games.

NX could have Mario Kart 9 and 10 ... you just wouldn't have a userbase split, where one of the game's is locked off from 3/4 of your user base like Mario Kart 8 is.

Or you could have say Super Mario 3D World followed by Super Mario Galaxy 3 instead of 3D Land and 3D World. I'd rather have that than two somewhat redundant games.

Unified platform doesn't mean fewer games or even fewer franchise oppurtunities, all it means is Nintendo can ensure all their top IP sell to ALL their audience base.

Right now, 3/4 Nintendo hardware buyers can't play Splatoon. Why? Because 3/4 Nintendo buyers this generation don't even have a Wii U to begin with.

The non-unified platform approach is not as great as traditionalists make it out to be. It's expensive ($500 for a Wii U + 3DS XL still), resource consuming (Nintendo has to make multiple versions of basically the same franchise), and forces large portions of the Nintendo buying audience to miss out on many games.

All that is moot because the console itself would be redundant. Think about it. Why would anybody buy both platforms? I honestly can't think of any reason besides playing some games at home and some outdoors, but only a minority would care about that. The console would be cheap and weak, and the handheld would be overkill. Nintendo would make more money getting you to buy 2 consoles and 10 games, rather than 1 platform and 10 games. Consumers would gain, yes,  but Nintendo wouldn't, and with their recent profit woes, it only makes sense that they'd go for the route that'd make more money. Plus we're talking about the company who doesn't even let you play Super Mario Bros 2 on 2 platforms without repurchasing them let alone modern games, lol.

You are missing the point, the goal isnt to get people to buy multiple devices, its to get a higher amount of people to purchase A device and get into the Nintendo ecosystem by increasing the appeal of each individual device. More individual people in the ecosystem means more people to sell software to.

Take a look at games like Splatoon or Mario Maker, they have both sold very well, lets say 5 million each when all is said and done. How much would those games have sold if they had the 3DS install base to sell on in addition to the Wii U audience? If Smash Bros is anything to go by than they would likely both be 10+ million sellers.

Lets take a look at the 2015 lineup for 3DS/Wii U.

3DS had a few mid-large games in the first 1/3 of the year, Majora's Mask 3D, Monster Hunter 4, Xenoblade 3D. They also had a few mid-large games in the last 1/3 of the year, Happy Home Designer, Triforce Heroes, Super Mystery Dungeon. But what did it have in the middle 1/3 of the year? Nothing notable.

Now lets look at Wii U, pretty similar, it had Kirby, Mario Party, Splatoon in the first 5 months of the year and had Mario Maker, Yoshi, Xenoblade X in the last 4 months of the year but what did it have in the 3.5 months between Splatoon & Mario Maker? Nothing notable.

Here is what the 2015 lineup could have looked like with a unified strategy with mixing up the lineup a bit

January-Kirby Rainbow Curse

February-Majora's Mask 3D

March-Mario Party 10

April-Xenoblade Chronicles 3D

May-Splatoon

June-Yoshi's Woolly World

August-Super Mario Maker

September-Happy Home Designer

October-Triforce Heroes

November-Super Mystery Dungeon

December-Xenoblade X

Basically a mid-large Nintendo IP in each month. Now lets factor in the smaller, support games mixed in there like Codename STEAM, Fossil Fighters, Art Academy, Chibi Robo, Yokai Watch, Amiibo Festival.

Now add in the Japanese 3rd party games throughout the year like Monster Hunter 4, Etrain Mystery Dungeon, Story of Seasons, Attack on Titan, Legend of Legacy, Senran Kagura, Hatsune Mika, SMT: Record Breaker, etc.

Now add in the kid/family/casual games like Lego Jurassic World, Lego Dimensions, Skylanders, Disney Infinity, Guitar Hero, Just Dance & licensed IP based on shows/movies.

Now add in the quality indie titles like Affordable Space Adventures, Mutant Mudds, Runbow, Dont Starve, Terraria, Minecraft, Fast Racing Neo, Year Walk, Steamworld Heist, Shantae, etc.

When combined the lineup for 3DS+Wii U is very solid in a given year but seperately they both suffer from droughts and miss out on many games. Basically 3DS would be more appealing if it had access to all the Wii U games and vice versa.