For the greater part of our lifetimes, Nintendo has always been recognized as a stable gaming company, posting Net profits year after year even as their home consoles saw lower sales each generation; a trend which would later be broken with the massive success of the Wii. In light of this, it was apparent that Nintendo had little to no reason to listen to any advice from people beyond their high quarters, and that they had every reason to fully trust in their own expertise. Until now.
Ever since the beginning of this generation, Nintendo's problems could not possibly be more apparent: The Nintendo 3DS handheld system struggled immediately out of the gate, forcing an $80 price cut mere months after launch. Shortly thereafter, the Wii U home console faced similar struggles as Nintendo failed to support the system following launch while not having room for any significant price cuts to help stabilize the sales. Both of these events and what came after are the main reasons why Nintendo has posted financial losses in recent years, in stark contrast to their greatly profitable past. But they are merely symptoms of the real problem. Namely, their lack of adaptation. So let's take a look at how Nintendo could and should have acted to avoid this struggle and pray that they take the following points into account when the ninth console generation arrives:
Firstly, the 3DS should never have had any sort of 3D feature to begin with. The people who bought the system for its 3D effects are insignificant compared to the masses who would have purchased the 3DS had it been $20 cheaper. Not recognizing this clearly shows how out of touch Nintendo is with their potential consumers. Keep in mind that the upper widescreen display would still make it apparent even for the average consumer that the system would be more than yet another DS model, so there would be no need for concern.
Secondly, the Wii U should have been much more powerful to meet consumer and developer demand. With their decision, Nintendo gave away all possible chances of securing the support of third party developers and consumers who have historically shown strong support whenever the hardware specs of Nintendo systems are up to date. Of course, all of this would suggest that the Wii U would have to be sold at a higher price, but the rewarding specs would more than make up for it. Another side effect would be that Nintendo developed software would suffer further delays, which brings us to the third and most important point.
Software delays should have been avoided at all costs. At this point I'm certain that all Nintendo fans have experienced at least one delay for an anticipated franchise these last few years; Nintendo gives you a date only to make you wait even longer than initially promised, and for what reason? "Polish" of their software, as they like to call it. This is yet another example of Nintendo failing to adapt to what is largely considered industry standards in this day and age. Because the means of avoiding these delays are already there and have been for quite some time: Need more time to fix bugs or glitches? Release the game in time and let the gamers report the issues, then simply apply software updates accordingly. Need more time to create levels or other additional content? Release it as DLC whenever the work is done.
Applying these points would have saved time, resources and money. And the fact that this even needs to be mentioned is a testament to Nintendo's arrogance which will soon be their downfall unless they find a way to climb down from their astronomically high horse.
