A day rarely manages to pass by without hearing people ask for Nintendo to release their software on their competitors' hardware. People around the world of all sorts of backgrounds and experiences come together on this one issue, hoping to be able to enjoy Nintendo games on their console of choice; thereby relieving them of the burden of purchasing Nintendo's own hardware and playing games on their terms. What I hereby present to you is my reasoning for why Nintendo should repel those voices and continue on their own path as a first party developer:

1. Their hardware lasts

Nintendo hardware has seen no widespread cases of Red Rings-/Yellow Lights of Death, disc reading errors or hardware freezes. They are and have always been recognized as the equivalent to Nokia in the video game industry, and for good reasons.

2. They keep bringing innovation to the industry

Everything from D-Pads and control sticks to motion controls, dual screens, screens on controllers and stereoscopic 3D can be linked to this point. Of course, not all of them were particularly successful nor were they always the first of their kind, but they all show, with all desirable clarity, the dedication that Nintendo puts fourth toward creating new ways of playing and enjoying games. On the other hand, I think we all know how far the main controllers by competing console developers have progressed through the years.

3. They don't try to squeeze every penny out of your wallet

At this point, both of Nintendo's main competitors force you to pay an annual fee to enjoy the online multiplayer features of the games that you have paid full price for. Microsoft still refuses to standardize rechargeable batteries. Instead, play and charge kits are advertised as the premium option for those willing to pay a little bit more money. And let's not even get started on the whole DRM scandal - We all know about Microsoft's hopes and intentions with this move and how it permanently damaged their Xbox brand's reputation.

Sony decided not only to make memory cards required to save your progress in PS Vita games, but also made SD cards incompatible with the system. Thus forcing you to pay for their overpriced memory cards which, by the way, are locked to your PSN account. Meanwhile, Nintendo stores save files onto the 3DS game carts themselves. And the content stored on SD cards, including full software releases, can be freely moved to your computer or anywhere else in the event that you need some more memory storage and the SD cards you own are not quite enough.

4. They acknowledge backwards compatibility

The Wii U system can play all games and use all accessories that were used for the Wii system. Likewise, the Nintendo 3DS handheld can play all Nintendo DS games, obviously excluding the few that required the GBA socket to function (such as Guitar Hero: On Tour, and some other insignificant titles). Meanwhile, neither Xbox One nor Playstation 4 are capable of playing games that were released for their respective predecessors, and neither offers the option to play any of your new games with your old controllers - despite their very similar button and control stick layouts. And for those who are curious: PS Vita, while advertised as being backwards compatible, does not give you the option to play any of your physical PSP games. Instead it offers you the option to purchase the games again; this time digitally.

5. Going third party would compromise their software

A common argument is that being able to release their big IPs such as Super Mario, Mario Kart, The Legend of Zelda, Super Smash Bros., Metroid, Animal Crossing, Donkey Kong and Pokémon on more platforms would result in enough more software sold to cover up for the money that otherwise would have been made on hardware. While this is true, a logical result would be that each one of those titles no longer would have the benefits listed under points 1 through 4. And while the average consumer would not mind such changes and in fact applaud them for finally making their software available on the system of their choice, I would personally feel nauseous every time I go through the system's start-up screen as it forces me to acknowledge the fact that I am not playing on a Nintendo console.

I would just say because they are good at what they do. And like we saw with SEGA, to change that is to make them into something very worthless.

It will be funny to see the reactions when they actually do go 3rd party, wonder how their fans will justify it then.

Nintendo consoles have been on a trajectory to ceasing to exists since the first one, wii was a nice stop but that was clearly a temporary success. I don't see them funneling all their efforts in to handhelds which also are dropping in sales.

The most logical step forward is to expend beyond their own confines. Now PS/PC and even xbox is the far better option for them then going all mobile games only.  Its inevetable.  

Ugh...The gaming industry without Nintendo would be like the porn industry without women. Not very exciting...

We can add to point five, that it isn't a given that games keep the quality if they go third-party, as illustrated by Sega. In fact, we cannot name one example of a game company going successfully from first- to third-party. We do for the other way - Nintendo produced a few games for other system before the NES.

I completely agree; going 3rd party would probably hurt Nintendo more than it would benefit them. Think of it this way: what would the gaming industry win if Nintendo went 3rd party? Nothing much. PS and Xbox owners would beable to play Mario. Thats about it. What would the industry lose? One of the top innovators in the business. That's a pretty big lose

I agree... Going third party would essentially make them like Sega and as much as I would love Mario Boom or Smash Bros thats worse than PSASBR, I would rather not! Sure, there isn't really anyway to prove it but there is more evidence to state that they will end up like Sega if they were to go third party then there aren't imo. And of course, I don't really want to pay yearly for that online nonsense as well as many other things

At some point, I think Nintendo will reach a cross road. Maybe not in the handheld market but certainly the console market. They will have to make a decision on whether to drop out and concentrate on hand helds or whether they take their games over to other platforms.

Unless of course, they can get by on being in 3rd place and still turn over a profit. In that case they can carry on going and just catering for the 10-20 million people who are willing to shell out the money for a console purely to just play Nintendo games and nothing else.

You can get Donkey Kong, Mario Bros., and a few others on the 3 major 2nd generation consoles. I have Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr. for ColecoVision.

Nintendo is too stubborn to even consider going third party.