Alternate history: Nintendo makes the Wii a generation earlier

[Vinther1991]

Technologically the Wiimote wouldn’t be possible in the format we got it. But for the sake of the hypothetical, let’s say it was - I think the Wii would have done quite well, probably similar to what the 7th gen Wii ended up doing.
It would attract more third parties, because of the horse power, however ultimately PS2 (and to a lesser extend Xbox) would still be the place for the core gamer experiences, by having conventional controllers, and not having the image of party consolles. Now PS2 did have a casual appeal, I think it would do slightly worse there, Guitar Hero’s primary (or exclusive) console would be the Wii. I almost think the most interesting is what would happen with Sing Star? Would Sony double down on it to challenge Nintendo in a war for the casual market? Would the Wii have a competing IP that would be a success?

While the 6th gen would be a great success for Nintendo, the 7th would be a disaster instead, with Nintendo failing to realise the casuals moving on from the Wii. The technology of the Wii U gamepad is not there by 2006-2007, so they release a Wii 2 instead with HD capabilities, dvd playback, Wii motion plus and now also a conventional controller packed in, as they want a larger bite of the core gaming market. The console is weaker than the Xbox 360 and PS3, but more expensive than the 360, as you are paying for two controllers, it loses out on 3rd party support and sells about 20-25 million units. By 2012 they release something similar to the Switch, but the technology isn’t quite there yet, so it underperforms a bit as the titles aren’t AAA standards, it sells 70 million units. Enough to inspire them to make a stronger system in 2018, stronger than the one we got. People’s jaws drop when they see stuff like Breath of the Wild and Mario Odyssey (which look even better than what we got) on a portable system. After that we are more or less back in the timeline we got.