it will be the end for big publishers if Nintendo become software alone. Imagine the kind of game Nintendo could do if they only worry about games, bye bye publishers. That is not really smart.

The decision goes back to the fifth generation. The popularity of the Wii was simply a setback.

Motive? Nintendo competes too much as a software publisher and is too independant as a hardware manufacturer. The big third party publishers favour Microsoft and Sony because they willingly give publishers more control over hardware and burn more dollars to secure their favour, and they would keenly like to eliminate Nintendo's key advantage as a rival game publisher: Their hardware integration.

They'd do it in handhelds, too, if they thought they could pull it off.

I don't think anybody wants Nintendo to fail. Not every Nintendo console sale would go to MS or Sony. There are consumers out there who buy Nintendo products who has no interest in a xbox or a sony machine. 3rd parties would suffer if Nintendo dropped out of the hardware biz.  Yes the hardcore Nintendo guys would but a different console but the parents buying something safe for their kids might not buy a console at all.

That's why I suggested it had to do with my region and why I didn’t cast my net any wider by making generalization. Contrary to the NA region, the N64 did better than the PS1 in my area. Official data is tricky to come by, but the majority of people owned the N64 over the PS1. In fact, it was much harder for me to trade discs with people back then, but exchanging cartridges was very easy.

As for the PS2, one of the main reasons it did so well was because of the DVD player.  People flocked to it because it had dual roles. The GC had this minidisc set up and unlike the N64 it had a kiddy image (again in my area). I personally couldn’t care less for the Xbox back then, but most people saw it as a more powerful version to the PS2 in the sense that it was not a ‘kiddie system’. Also, people had the misconception that the PS2 was > GC in terms of power. I don’t know where that came from and it was only towards the middle of the cycle people started realizing that was BS.

I think Nintendo’s problems encompass a range of variables, and some of them tend to shift from generation to generation. I’m still holding to power as one (well at least with the Wii U). The difference is in past generations the N64 and GC were superior to PS systems but it was not significant, especially when you compare the gap between the Wii U and PS4/Xbox. The factors that kept the N64 back may not be the same that affected the Gamecube and Wii U. I got PS1 games quite often while we had to wait for long periods to play N64 games. I’m not sure if that put people off for Nintendo’s next console. And I know for sure people perceived the GC as a ‘kiddie system’ and that put them off. And core gamers seem burned by the Wii and that’s definitely affecting the Wii U despite Nintendo’s efforts to show it is catering for the hardcore this gen.

Its obvious that the whole industry wants Nintendo out of bussines, theyre pushing for that, but they cant achieve what they want cause N is too strong

Irrelevant. Indie developers aren't bound by technology as indie games are usually not maxing out these consoles.

Look at PS4, that is what you get when you ask developers to help make the console. Comparing Wii U to PS4 in terms of ease of development is like comparing apples to oranges. To say that Nintendo asked developers for help on making the Wii U is ridiculous. It's clear they did not. Nintendo does what Nintendo wants. That's the way its always been and nothing has changed.

Namco (Tekken, SSB), Atlus (SMTvsFE), Capcom (MH3U), Ubisoft (Watchdogs)? If at all, the american games industry, not the industry at a whole.

I agree that one 3rd-party tries to do that. Yes, I point to EA. I don't really see any other 3rd-party trying this for Nintendo. But it seems Capcom wants to remove Vita from the market with a similar approach.

I want old Nintendo back