Alternate history: N64 goes with CDs instead of cartridges

[DonFerrari]

SammyGiireal said:

DonFerrari said:

So we want to believe Nintendo had a great relationship with 3rd party at the same time worried about unlicensed SW they may have put? That is above paranoia. Even great non-Nintendo games didn't sold as great as Nintendo, so an unlicensed game would probably earn peanuts (unless you are talking about shovelwares damaging the image of the system). NES had those shovelwares without Nintendo seal and public could differentiate from the ones with seal.

Nintendo was tyrannic with 3rd partied. However, sales usually dictate whether third parties will support or by pass a system. A CD based N64 wouldn't have lost momentum, and would have had third party support from the get go as ridiculous yet highly expensive cartridge prices ( third parties had to invest 1 million dollars in order to get 100,000 cartridges *Those were the rates if I am not mistaken* making the N64 a very risky proposition) would have been a non factor.

The point is exactly that, that Nintendo being a tyrant lead they to look for other alternatives, and they found Sony. CD or not CD they would have flocked to the better business partner so it would be likely that the fate of N64 would be still selling less than SNES instead of over 80M as some have estimated.