Stopped reading here. N64 and gamecube were very profitable for nintendo. Unlike the xbox for microsoft. Making profits makes it successful.

Nintendo can survive entirely on their own franchises.

Iwata needs to change his approach... They should have never abandoned the Wii like they did, the 3DS was released with a high price tag (for no reason other than greed), and now the Wii U doesn't have the momentum it should. If they really wanted to grab peoples attention they needed a game at launch that showcased its power and not so many ports that have frame rate issues! But that could also be the third-party devs sh*tting on Nintendos new console, giving them reason not to make more games for it.

What has Nintendo been doing for the last 2 years? If they plan to continue making both home and handheld systems then they need to be able to balance their focus to the very end. The Wii and DS are still selling to some degree and will probably do so for the next year or so. Why not still support them with atleast more titles in the "Select" line.

The thing I don't like is with every new system comes a higher price point. Just because PS360 are able to sell at those prices doesn't mean Nintendo needs to follow. Both the Vita and 3DS were released at $249??? Clearly first adopters paid too much for the 3DS and sales suffered because of it. Now with a $349 price on the Wii U, people still are choosing PS360 at a $299 or under price. Its seems like Nintendo hasn't made very good decisions lately under Iwatas control.

If the Wii U released at $249-$299 range we could atleast see Nintendo give PS360 a run for their money. Its kinda crazy to think that $50 makes a big difference.

The fundamental flaw of the Wii U is this -- Nintendo thought that by getting ports of PS3/360 games that would effectively bolster the appeal of their system and make up for inevitable losses on the casual side (repeating the Wiimote was always going to be nigh on impossible, it's like saying "make another Pokemon craze" at the snap of a finger).

But I think what we're seeing is all these ports have basically zero appeal to non-Nintendo fans. They're fun for hardcore Nintendo fans who haven't played them before to pick up, but the teenager who owns a PS3/360 and primarily plays games on that isn't going to be impressed by franchises that have been on PS3/360 for 6-7 years now finally showing up on the Wii brand.

The Wii U needed third party games that either fell into the following categorey

1) Have hardware that's so "idiot proof" more powerful than a PS3/360 that devs could quickly and economically make superior versions of most PS3/360 titles without much debate/fuss (ie: being able to to run games like BLOPS2/AC3 in 1080p vs. 720p without needing to flex its muscle too much). This would mean Nintendo would have to throw out that super-low 30-35 watt power consumption and go with something reasonable like 60-65 watts though.

or

2.) Simply be the bare minimum full generational leap above the PS3/360 without going too crazy over the top ... ie: something comparable to a mid-range modern AMD PC GPU. Something akin to a AMD 7770 GPU, only stripped of the GDDR5 for a cheaper/cooler DDR3 + eDRAM combo and made smaller/more power efficient. This is only a $120 even at retail, it's dirt cheap, but paired with even a weak CPU, it would blow the PS3/360 out of the water.

As for what happens to Nintendo if the Wii U "fails", I think it'll still do well enough to earn Nintendo themselves a solid profit in the end. I see it selling 40-50 million in the long run, but Nintendo will have to start slashing the hardware price by next summer.

I think what will happen if anything is Iwata will step down and take the blame, a new Japanese president will be hired, one that will be more Western-centric, and Nintendo will follow a direction similar to what Square-Enix.

I would guess also they will pursue a strategy of making a gaming tablet based on the Android OS if Google supports them in allowing to make a customized version of the Android OS (ie: no Android games at 99 cents to undercut Nintendo, other kinds of apps allowed with a Nintendo tax on them).

Nah I agree with you there, just thought it was an interesting pattern is all...

Honestly, I don't think any sales estimates for the Wii U that are below 66% of the Wii's sales are realistic; and I suspect that Nintendo would be amazingly profitable, and have massive sales across all of its franchises, if they only sold 66 million units after 6 years. With that said, regardless of whether Nintendo sells 66 Million units or 120 Million units, I think we will be seeing the successor to the Wii U released on November 18th 2018 in the USA.

lol. Next you'll be telling me that xbox has zero appeal to people who don't like microsoft's games or playstation has zero appeal to non-playstation fans. These are for people who want to play the games on nintendo. They aren't aimed at ps3 and 360 owners.

ohh spurge... guys can we donate a WiiU to him? or send him the money?

I think this is an over the top and ridiculous analysis of the current state of the Wii U ...

I've already called it some time ago and now I'm going to repeat it. Wii U will become a Gamecube 2. The casuals will pretty much ignore the console, since now it has a massive competition. 3rd parties will struggle as usual on a Nintendo console, we'll see if they leave it totally like the Wii, or if the sales will justify cheap downscaled ports. First party games will sell awesome, so Nintendo will be gaining money on the whole project.

Wii U = Gamecube 2

In what way? The premise of the thread is what happens if the Wii U doesn't have a lot of success. There would be consequences and adjustments made of course.