My question is how many home consoles Nintendo needs to sell in order to continue staying in the hardware industry for an average for all their future home consoles? At what point is the number too low and they switch to software only? I ask this because if the Wii U stays on track it will be around Gamecube levels (maybe a little higher) which is fine by me. I would gladly buy a Nintendo console that only sells Nintendo developed/produced games and indie titles over another console that sells a lot more 3rd party games but no Nintendo games. I don't "need" games like Call of Duty, the EA sports games, Minecraft, GTA, or whatever else. I do need Mario, Zelda, Starfox, Animal Crossing, and Metroid in my life.

*I'm not talking about handheld's btw. I don't think Nintendo will ever leave that industry or at least not for a while because they destroyed everyone with the DS and look like they are going to do it again with the 3ds.

Depends on the profits they make.

I think a lot of the profit they get from their consolescome from their own software.

Anyhow, how many consoles they need to sell will, as always, depend on the cost of the console itself.

Depends on how much they loss lead.

Like others have said its more about profits rather than units sold. If a console sells 80 million units but Nintendo loses $10 billion it has less chance of a successor than a console that sells 15 million units and makes Nintendo $500 million.

It's not nearly as much about sales as it is profit. And the scary thing is for Nintendo that the Wii U is performing badly in BOTH ends.. At least last I heard, the console still loses money. Thankfully for Nintendo, like the Gamecube era, their handheld business will help keep them afloat, as the 3DS currently owns Japan, and is doing at least respectable numbers in the West.

But quite honestly, and I'm just ballparking it here, but I think Nintendo could weather AT LEAST 2 more console disasters, AS LONG AS they continue to dominate the handheld business, and are able to end up making at least a bit of profit in the home console sector, like with the Gamecube. Especially when you consider all the cash Nintendo has earned from the Wii era, I'd say they are good for at least 20 more years, even if we end of with two more Wii U time failures..

Nintendo will profit with Wii U, and at the end of its lifespan it will have been well worth it. Nintendo have the 3DS to fall back on if things go totally wrong, but even with sales as little as 15 million, Ninty will sell enough Marios, Zelda etc to post decent profits. NSMBU has passed 2 million in sales on an install base of about 3.7 million, thats the kind of attatch rates Nintendo heavy hitters can get.
PS.. i think Wii U can do 25 million upwards

They're sitting on 12 billion $ in total

I would guess they have to stay above something like 10% marketshare, otherwise they can't really justify keeping their valuable franchises exclusive. If they dipped below this for two generations in a row, they would probably have to drop the hardware or partner with another company (Apple, Valve, EA, etc).

Nah. they'd make NIntendo certified hardware with another company^