I predict the following:

Wii U sales less than 20 million life
New system announced 2015
New system released 2016

I'll take any bet on the above.

Edit: they probably won't greenlight any new IPs or projects and they may just make Zelda U a launch title for the new system. That's what I would do if I were the CEO. 

*Slow Claps*

I'll bet with you in those 2!

another one of these threads..

anyway ill keep my reply short since most things have been covered.

RETAIN THEIR GAMERS.

It is simple, Kids buy Nintendo systems cause of the great games that fit their needs when they young.

They basically need to start building adult franchises that will entice these kids to stay on their system once they older and want something more mature.

The other thing they need to do is brainwash those kids with marketing games like Nintendoland to introduce new gamers to Nintendos niche characters (in comparison to mario) like Zelda, Metroid. They should run some sort of tournament each week that invovles people playing a mini game for a month. Top score wins some free game. This shoudl be coincided with a new trailer release (i.e. playing that mini zelda game for a month then BOOM anew trailer hits and these kids who have been desperately trying to win a freebie suddenly see a full fledged game of this character coming out.)

They will never get a current embedded xbox or playstation gamer to swap, so the best they can hope for is to get some of them to buy their console as a secondary thing, however for those people they need to release enough exclusives to entice them to buy.

Finally they need to take more risks. When other studios go under put in bids for franchises. (i.e. when THQ went why didn't they bid on anything? lots of decent ips there like darksiders, red faction, homeworld). The first lost opportunity on this goes back to GCN days of the sale of RARE. Nintendo had the opportunity to buy them out. Lots of great exclusives lost there. Then they could use these exclusives to BUILD relationships with smaller talented 3rd parties in the west.

Imagine a Wii U game line up looked like this (there be no droughts).

2013
- Killer Instinct
- DarkSiders 1 and 2 pack
- Jetforce Gemini
- Perfect Dark
- 2D Mario


2014
- Red Faction
- 3D Mario
- Homeworld
- Banjo
- Mario Kart
- Smash
- Metroid 4
- Donkey Kong

2015
- Zelda
- Bayonetta
- X
- Starfox
- Wave Racer

2016
- Darksiders 3
- Metroid 5
- 1080
- F-Zero

The first problem is one of perception. I'm looking at you, Nintendo fans!

Not really just Nintendo fans, though. I think everyone in the gaming circle needs to realize that things have changed. The Wii was an aberration that probably won't come again anytime soon and mobile devices have hit Nintendo the hardest. I don't want to throw around labels but there are many different types of gamers out there and one of Nintendo's staple groups has always been the more simple, pick-up-and-play type--a style that is easier to manage on smart phones and tablets than the more story-driven blockbuster games that drive the Playstation and Xbox brands.

The truth is, we need to accept that Nintendo's baseline, at least for the foreseeable future, is going to be lower than the other two, barring they pull another viral experience out of their hat. There is nothing wrong with that, either. They can make a cheaper console with cheaper game development and still do very well for themselves. Their own software sells very well--they just need to turn a profit on everything. Nintendo needs to stay away from the loss leading approach.

Beyond that, they REALLY need to work on their corporate culture. It's holding the company back and hurting their audience.

First, they need to look into more western input, leadership, and title development. It can be argued that part of Playstation's recent success has to do with Mark Cerny, the fact that they supposedly garnered a great amount of input from Naughty Dog and Santa Monica, and Yoshida-san's knowledge and familiarity with the west. Gaming is no longer ruled from Japan. It's global.

Second, on a related note, several western developers have said that they had no contact with Nintendo before the Wii U launch, while Microsoft and Sony were constantly in touch. That, to me, is inexcusable. I don't care if the odds were 90% that Gearbox or Bethesda wouldn't have made a Wii U game, YOU STILL TRY. I don't know what the problem is, if it's because the western offices have little power or if they're just not trying very hard, but that needs to be fixed. Nintendo is no longer in a position where they can dictate terms.

Third, pay attention to everyone else, damn it. You can still do your own thing creatively while making sure your competitors don't pull ahead of you. This is basic business. If someone else comes up with an innovation that's superior to your solution, you jump on that train (especially if you don't even have a solution). That is how you give your customers the best experience. There is no excuse for not having an account system, for example, when everyone else has had it for years. There is no excuse to be caught flat-footed by High Def development when everyone went through this years ago. It feels like arrogance, like they don't need to give their customers the best because they'll come running anyway.

Fourth, money. Nintendo has it. As anyone in business knows, you have to invest money to make money. Nintendo has failed to do this. They've been cheapskates and it's finally bitten them in the ass. Their development umbrella should be bigger. Their research teams needs to be better. Their advertising should be more robust. There are so many areas where spending more would have helped the Wii U in its early stages. Why has Sony's broke ass left them in the dust? Because they've been spending money to make money.

All of this should have been done years ago, by the tail-end of the Wii at the very least. The hard truth is that Nintendo has a lot of work to do, starting with an unapologetic self-analysis.

The problem isn't Nintendo entirely itself but Nintendo fans,
they really need to think outside the box and buy 3rd party games or else your god Nintendo isn't going to survive

Those are good points.  When I switched from Nintendo, I did so grudgingly.  I wanted to be loyal but the PS1 was showing off all kinds of new stuff.  I was ready for new gaming experiences but Nintendo didn't seem interested in growing much away from a certain style.  Variety is good.  I'm not saying one style is better than another, I'm saying that people are different.  Why just please on segment when you can draw both?

I've been saying for awhile that Nintendo needs to establish a secondary publishing brand for games with higher age ratings.  That way they can keep Mario under Nintendo and Bayonetta type games under another name.  Disney did this with Miramax and no one cared. 

3DS is doing fine all things considered. Wii U is dead and burried at this point. We'll see what happens next gen, but Nintendo can only bounce back if they adapt to the market. So far they have stubbornly refused to do so.

They can try to get some games, how about that? I don't say they need to get every third party game out there like Dead Island, Evolve, Tomb Raider or Evil Within. Those are games that don't really appeal to Nintendo gamers and even on the other consoles they don't sell very well. But they need to get big games like Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, Battlefield and especially GTA. Those are very popular games and will sell decent if Nintendo put some effort in advertising them. Besides that, they really need more collaborations with third parties making exclusives for them. The first year for Wii U was great (Sonic, W101, ZombiU, Lego, Monster Hunter) and I thought Nintendo had way more unannounced collaborations like this. But they stopped and the game source is getting empty. It's their fault Wii U is failing. Why do you think 3DS is doing so great? It has LOTS of (third party) exclusives from brands that are very big like, Resident Evil, Kingdom Hearts, Dragon Quest, Monster Hunter, Shin Megami Tensei and of course their own big franchises.

Over dramatic Nintendo is doomed thread #314361

These sorts of threads have been going on for almost two decades now. You can safely hold back those tears young boy and realize that each generation offers new opportunities; and Nintendo's hardware staff is at work devloping the way to best exploit them.

Sometimes they fail, but typically companies do not dominate more than 1-2 generations in a row. Nintendo has about a 50% rate of winning generations.