Pretty much. This is why Im getting a second WiiU at the end of the gen. These things will become the holy grails of gaming.

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

A lot of you guys really just need to relax.. or get a reality check. Nintendo is going to be just fine, and isn't going anywhere. In fact, they are most likely going to outlast Sony and Microsoft in the console market. Microsoft can opt out at any moment they want. Would it really surprise you if there were no xbox next generation? A lot of you non Nintendo fans are hung up on what is going on with Nintendo and how much "trouble" they're in when you are completely ignoring what is going on with the other two parties. Sony is still dying. They are doing everything they can to keep their business afloat, and if i were a Sony fan, I would be extremely worried. It really wouldn't kill me if there were no PS5 or PS6.. I don't really care to be honest with you. But if Sony can't get their shit together, then they're not going to be able to do this anymore. I don't know what tricks they have up their sleeves, so maybe somebody can outline how they plan on saving their company. That's something a lot of you PlayStation guys should know about since a lot of you seem to know exactly what any of the big three need to do to keep their businesses afloat. Really though, I would be interested to hear what Sony could do to turn things around.

I'm a Nintendo fan, and it would very much affect me if there were no 7th or 8th Nintendo console, and I am telling you right now, I am not afraid of that in the slightest. Nintendo is in the process of creating a business model that keeps them sustained off of 20m consoles every five years. They can survive off of a game selling less than a million. Can you say that for the other two? lol. No you can't. Nintendo has everything they need. They make their own hardware, they have complete control over all their software, and they have a fanbase that is small admittedly, but is always going to give them a nice chunk of sales, and remember, they don't need that much anyway.

So basically, I would really be more concerned about what is going on with one of the other guys, because Nintendo is here to stay. There really is no question about that.

i don't understand the 'chances are it won't happen again' line. i mean, chances to begin with were that the wii would never happen/succeed and, guess what, it did. and it happened just as the ds set the record for best-selling handheld. so that one-two punch was even more unlikely. i know this is vgchartz but let's not slip into the console sales equivalent of astrology here.

in any case, what i was trying to say, and what iwata was saying in your quote, is that nintendo at this point in its life as a company values originality over everything else. the wii u didn't work out for them as they hoped, that much is clear. but do i think originality will be rewarded in the long run? yes i do. they're already in the black and will be for the forseeable future with new 3ds and the wii u's 2015 line-up plus the legs of smash and mario kart. more importantly, the wii u is not superfluous at this point. it's distinctive, if nothing else. and that's not something that can be said about xbox one/ps4.