I want to go back to Metroid.  Metroid: Other M barely sold over 1M copies.  Not bad for a lot of games, but also not what you'd guess for a Nintendo property.  Is it because Metroid: Other M wasn't a great game or because the gamers who might like Metroid aren't really on Nintendo systems anymore?  How would Metroid: Other M have sold on PS3?  Was that a clue for Nintendo that their audience was becoming one-dimensional?  If so, should they continue to invest in Metroid?

Personally, I think Metroid has a ton of potential.  Nintendo just needs to do a better job managing it.  They have so few IPs that tell an ongoing, continuous story.  I know they don't really like that approach, but series like Halo and Uncharted have proven that it can be effective.

For me there are 2 big issues.

1. Power. The fact that the wii U isn't getting current gen games isn't the end of the world, but if the system isn't powerful enough for developers to comfortably port ps4/720 games then that will be a problem.

2. Developers are stupid. "Mature games don't sell on nintendo platforms!" I've seen many imply...
Oh, really... and they gathered this from masterpieces like Dead Space extraction underperforming. Or what about the other mediocre titles that people use as evidence like Madworld, No more heroes, conduite...

All the evidence you need is that resident evil 4 sold 2mil on the wii even though it is a port and was released whilst the wii's userbase was under 12m. Like any platform, the nintedno userbase is going to respond to a combination of quality and accessibility. So until developers bring forth a commercially viable title with the reviews to back it up, then they have no evidence that mature titles don't sell on nintendo platforms. Nintendo could go out of their way to try and prove this by partially funding a nintendo exclusive mature title with all the makings of a AAA smash hit.

I believe they tried this with DS and GTA but even in 2011, a top down GTA might as well not be GTA. Not to say that China town wars wasn't good, it just isn't what the majority of modern GTA fans are looking for. If there was a vice city story-esque game built from the ground up on the 3DS, I'm it would see similar sales to the psp iterations (2-3m)

How much do you really expect to sell if you're launching a new IP on launch on a new platform without any userbase?

To make a comparison Kameo: elements of power (the only new IP on 360's launch if I remember right), a first party IP, has sold 310k lifetime.

Also, every possible AC fan od COD fan has already bought a PC, or a 360, or a Ps3. How much did they expected to sell?

Rayman Legends, on the other hand, is a different story. The platform genre is easily the most popular on the console (the best selling game is a platform), you don't have any competition from other games, WiiU owners are eager to get new games, and then what do you do? Posticipate the release date by 6 months... are they nuts? I understand they want to make it a multiplatform game, but the postponement is totally senseless.

I think the 2 main problems that Nintendo has is that their first party games are not just super successful, but also have ridiculous legs, so third parties have trouble finding gaps to release games when the mentality of almost all the other companies are for front loaded sales.

The other problem was that development costs are so high now that companies can't really take chances like they used to and be as creative. I mean if by the logic that first parties dictate the market for third parties, PS1 and PS2 would have been dead in the water

But there are reasons for that, and if there are reasons, then they can potentially do something about it.  Nintendo lost a lot of gamers because they ignored other portions of the market besides platformers.  Now they've said that they want them back.  This discussion is about how they can do that, if they can do that, and if they should even want that.

I don't see why they can't increase the amount of other genres on Nintendo systems, though it won't be easy.  They've been in their own world for such a long time.

You read wrong. 00.32M = 320k.

pokoko, this is a well-meaning thread but I think you're projecting too many of your own video game standards onto the industry in general and Nintendo in particular.

If you look at the sales numbers, Super Mario, Pokemon, Mario Kart, and Wii Sports sold (and continue to sell) better than games like Halo, Uncharted, and God of War. There is a huge demand for the games Nintendo makes.

Nintendo started losing the console war because Sony made a better mousetrap. They landed all the sexy, must-have software. But Nintendo never went away. Even against the PS2, arguably the finest console ever made, and surrounded by a serious stigma, Nintendo managed to survive. And then, a few years later, it revolutionized the industry.

As much as your OP wants to let third parties entirely off the hook, there is some truth to the idea that third parties are wary of publishing games on Nintendo platforms. Is it justified? Historically, yes. But because of that unfortunate history, third-party developers have fallen into a vicious circle, a self-fulfilling prophecy whereby the reaction to the belief that third-party games will fail on Nintendo platforms causes them to fail.

In the end, third-party support -- actually the better term is third-party popularity -- on Nintendo systems is a problem that cannot be solved in a single generation. Third-party developers need to take a leap of faith. They need to take several years to build up momentum and win over Nintendo system owners. The rub is that third-party developers have no short-term reason to support Nintendo since they can move their product more successfully on other platforms. One might argue that suffering some early losses on Nintendo platforms might pay off in the long run, but what developer would want to take such a risk?

Over the past few months, according to reports, executives at Nintendo have been working to forge relationships with third-party developers and publishers. I believe Miyamoto met personally with many of them. Nintendo is trying to fix it's Achilles' heel during the seventh generation: lack of high-profile third-party games. But, as I wrote earlier, it requires a leap of faith from these companies. Did EA, Ubisoft, and Warner Bros. expect a few launch games to undo 16 years of video game history?

So the question isn't "what can Nintendo do to make third-party developers comfortable and successful?" It's "should third-party developers invest money and resources developing for Nintendo systems if the payoff will come much later, or, perhaps, not at all?"

You also read wrong, young man. 320k was global, not in North America only.

Like I said, they just need to push the series. If they do then it will sell upwards of 1Million units. The Wii U, since most people are predicting it won't be a huge "Casual" console like the Wii, should help it on that front.

Yeah, I noticed it wasn't adding up after I saw the European numbers...

At least I got the 320k right!