Nintendo consoles had been in a downtrend since the NES. The exception was the Wii, but the wii bought a lot of casual gamers, introduced a new type of control for a console and it was really cheap.  So, if we take the Wii out of the ecuation, we can see that the Nintendo Game Cube sold 21,7 Millon consoles. If the Wii U sells 8 millon in 2 years, it might get to 20 in its lifetime, not very diferent from the GC. What nintendo should do to make it better next time? make a console with better hardware and 3rd party support like PS4?, make games for mobile hardware like cell phones or tablets? Not make any hardware at all and sell games to the other console hardware? Was the Wii just an exception of the downtrend or not?

NES = 61,9 M

SNES = 49,1 M

N64 = 32,9 M

NGC = 21,7 M

Wii = 101,2 M

I would say both ...

/thread

Nintendo can make several first party games that sell in the order of millions, so they always make a good amount of profit with those. Just look at New Super Mario Bros Wii U. It sold more than 4 million copies in a 7 million console market. I wish they sell better, but I don't believe they will only sell 20 million lifetime. Doesn't make any sense in the gaming market of today.

Well, its hard to tell really... The wii could be the exception but at the sametime, the wiiU had so many things wrong with it that for me, idk if it really just is following the trend or not. Like, Nintendo launched the wiiU at $350 making it their most expensive console yet but the hardware didn't justify the cost from a consumer point of view. The gamepad wasn't that zomfg must have thing and even though its portable, you can't really take it around the house (depending on how big/small ur house is obviously). Also, the name itself was confusing to the point where many people thought that it was just an accessory to the wii and not a brand new console!

So you have that, next you have the whole games issue. The first year had many platformers and niche games with Delays. As an example, Pikmen 3 was supposed to be a launch title but got delayed for like 6 months! On top of that, it had gimped ports where some of them ran poorly or without DLC so you had that too. Then, Nintendo didn't show up at e3 and their Nintendo Direct was buggy/laggy with consistent skips which wasn't a good thing either. Next you had a large lack of advertisements and a ton of bad press with third parties bad mouthing Nintendo with EA taking the lead and it had many more issues as well!

So for me, I feel like that the wiiU had so many other issues than just saying, oh its just following the trend cause there are just soo many issues with it that imo, it was destined for low sales regardless of the trend or not!

well, its weird, but they sold less than 8 millon Wii U in two years. If this gen (8) last six years I dont expect more than 3 times what it sold, That would be 24, and usually the last years are the worst. 

The Wii was an exception to a downward trend, but that's because Nintendo actually shuffled their cards and played a good play. They can recreate a profitable and well selling console again, it's just not the Wii U. Not in any way.

The N64, Gamecube, and WiiU have all sold primarily to kids and hardcore Nintendo fans. The kids are growing up though, and the new generation is more interested in a tablet than a games console. Luckily the Nintendo fans are still because that's pretty much the only group keeping WiiU afloat.

So, which should be nintendo next move? make a console with better hardware and 3rd party support like PS4?, make games for mobile hardware like cell phones or tablets? Not make any hardware at all and sell games to the other console hardware? what would Nintendo fans like Nintendo to do?

Nintendo simply isn't as popular as they used to be. And I feel it's due to Nintendo's lack of things that set them apart from the competition. Sure, there's the games. But even Mario, Zelda, and Pokemon, won't sell consoles forever.

In many ways, I think Nintendo is stuck in the past a bit, and haven't really been able to keep up with the ever-changing consumer market.

if you recall tho, n64 and gc were the cheapest options of their respective generation (as is the wii u), launching at $199 each (at least in north america). they still were also-rans. the gc sold worst when it was at $99. you're right, ultimately, that it was a combination of factors, but i think the one that hurt it the most was the sense that the wii u didn't have a clear identity. to be fair, at this point the ps4 and the xbone both coincide in having no identity whatsoever to distinguish them from a lower-midrange gaming pc.

but what was so great about the wii and the nes (and the ds and game boy, as well) was that nintendo knew going into it what they were going to do with it and to whom they were going to market it. they launched wii and within a year you had metroid prime 3, super mario galaxy, wii sports at launch, etc. with the wii u, and with the gamecube, and with the n64, the identity of the system was discovered almost by accident and a little too late. the wii u is only now coming into its own as the definitive party system with smash, mk8, 3d world multiplayer and a bunch of really creative indie exclusives (shovel knight, sportsball, etc.).