I see a lot of people claiming that this is Nintendo's last console or Nintendo's last handheld systems. However, I believe they will still be manufacturing in both markets in 15 years regardless of what these people say. Here are a few points to support my prediction:

1. The Nintendo 3DS will probably end up between GB and GBA making it the third most succesful handheld. 

2. Nintendo has the monopole of handhelds (literally).

3. Nintendo did not exit the handheld market after the virtual boy, why would they exit the console market after 1 failure. Especially, right after having 2 of it's most succesful systems ever.

4. Nintendo sells a lot more first party games then other manufacturers. In other words, they really don't need a big instalbase on their consoles or even their handhelds in order to make a pretty good profit.

5. Nintendo will always try to have another home run like they did last generation. They will do so by bringing a brand new innovation to the table generation after generation.

6. Nintendo has a lot of money.

7. Nintendo WON'T create an hybrid system because that would literally cut their total revenues by almost half.

Anyways, what are your thoughts guys?

15 years in the future is a little too far and Nintendo needs to shape up their management or get out of business cause 3DS is under performing and we all know how the WII U is doing ...

If they keep making virtual boys and WII Us I'd rather see Nintendo out of it's misery.

It doesn't matter if you have alot of money or not if you can't retain it. What investors are interested in is growth.

Everything but 4 and 7.

Nintendo makes fantastic, good looking, quality games while somehow keeping production costs low, but in the HD era, 3rd part support may be a little more necessary (Which, judging by Activision, Ubisoft, and Disney claims, won't be a problem)

And as to 7, I won't deny it not happening. Rather than a single system, i'd imagine more like 2 systems that interact with each other strongly.

Nintendo will still be making hardware if they can find a way to adapt to the changing market. Right now, i think nintendo is expecting people to adapt to them.

Basically, I will agree to this prediction if nintendo is able to find new leadership. However, I can also see nintendo ditching hardware and focusing on software, because that is what they are good at and where all the money is made...

I think other console fanboys secretly love Nintendo games, thus they want to see N games on their console manufacturer. So they try to make arguments stating Nintendo is doomed and will become software only.

Nintendo is the least likely to leave hardware. While Sony and MS sell their building, Nintendo builds' em.

http://nintendoeverything.com/photos-of-nintendos-new-kyoto-headquarters-under-construction/

Just ignore the blind fanboys. Nintendo isn't going out of HW anytime soon.

Probably. I bet some people were saying Nintendo won't be making hardware in 15 years in 1998.

I wouldn't make a claim for such a long time, simply because everything can change in tech in 15 years. In 2000, there wasn't tablets, smart phones, PC ruled as absolute king, no HD TV and so on. You know, we can even have only cloud gaming and Nintendo, Sony and MS (or some or even all of them replaced by other companies) being service providers.

My point is, it's hard to predict. At least 5 or 6 years are granted by 3DS own lifespan, but what comes next depend on the market. Handhelds are a more fragile market compared to home consoles since they have a very strong direct competitor in smartphones. Everyone have one. Its the main priority to buy. Handheld comes second. The point is to convince why you need yet another gadget. Even digital cameras suffered a hit. Smartphones take worse pictures, but you can easily post to social networks, so its a tradeoff that a lot of people liked. But even then, the digital camera still goes on.

A problem that handheld have is that they have a 5 to 7 years lifespan, just like consoles. Smartphones get better hardware every year. For home vonsoles , it isn't a threat. Please, forget every game site saying that. It just shows how ignorant they are regarding real time computer graphics. A console uses a GPU that consumes easily 60w. A phone or handheld can't afford consuming that, so it has to wait a tech that is 50 times more efficient, and that takes time. Smartphones will never, never hit home console power, not even close. But handhelds? It is easy form them to get it. 3 years from now we will we mobile games looking close to early 7th gen games. Handhelds have better controller options, so that can give an edge, plus the decentralized characteristic of mobile phones acting against its progress.But once again, all of it depends on a lot of factors that we can't predict that early.

Bump, 36 people in poll, only 7 posters!

It'll depend on if they decide to compete. They simply can't afford to do something different hardware wise again. They need to innovate on the software front, but make sure their consoles have direct parody with Xbone and PS4. It needs the same online sophistication, same modern specs and the same regular controller. They need to make it simple and attractive for indie developers and third parties so they get all the same quality/quantity AAA third party games like GTA. When your console isn't getting Madden? You know you've really screwed up.

If Nintendo does this? They will DOMINATE. Who wouldn't want a PS4 that plays Nintendo games? Not many people.