It depends really. Nintendo financially could,but they'd still be looked at like a failure. Look at the Wii's massive success,people still regard it as a failure. I don't think anything Nintendo could do could make people say they are a successs nowadays. It's just how the scene has changed and how Nintendo is currently treated in the industry today sadly

but we'll see what they do with their next console,maybe gaming communities and media will prove me wrong

stay afloat as they are the way they do things, over time hardware power increases will lead to diminishing visual returns, the cost of hardware that is able to produce high fidelity visuals will be low. Produce games they have andhigh quality AAA games... profit.

Sorry, this comparison is bad. PS4 is out a year later, after WiiU already has failed. but if you look more on your million-seller-list, you notice WiiU had a lot of predecessors to this games: COD, FIFA, NBA, NFS. If PS4 would have released a year earlier, these predecessors would be in your million-seller-list, but they failed to sell the WiiU. So you even strengthen my point: multiplats seem not to work for Nintendo-platforms.

And Nintendo made what 3rd-parties wanted with WiiU. Remember EA being full of praise? Unprecedented partnership? Remember that Nintendo hold back with own releases to give room for 3rd-parties to sell? That last point is part of the answer to your question why WiiU didn't sell. It had NSMBU and Nintendoland as first party games at launch - and then long time nothing.

They honestly just need to market their console well. The Wii was marketing genius. Everybody remembers the "Wii Would Like to Play" commercials. There wasn't a single person that didn't know about it. On the flip side, the Wii U is a marketing flop. It launched so quietly that I and many other people didn't know it existed. It's gotten better recently, but they have to go the Sony/Microsoft route of hyping their machines. The consumer needs to be informed.

It also wouldn't hurt for them to acquire huge 3rd party exclusives. Bayonetta 2, Devil's Third and Fatal Frame are steps in the right direction, but if a Nintendo console could be home to the likes of Kingdom Hearts, Metal Gear, etc. then that would help their image immensely.

Finally, they really need to merge their handheld/console divisions. They've been spreading themselves so thin for so long. If you make it one machine, the success from the handheld and the novelty of the home console would both be there and it would reduce production/development costs. Honestly, it would be a genius move by Nintendo. I hope they do something along the lines of this.

5-10 million consoles sold lifetime is great for a nintendo console... If it makes them a PROFIT... All that matters is immediate profit not future profit, customer loyalty, brand recognition all that other stuff doesn't matter. Only profits matter cause money rules the world

i also think they should sell 5-10 million portables as long as it makes them a PROFIT.. Brand recognition doesn't matter g

As a Wii U owner I agree 100% with the problem of these platforming mascots. The variety on Wii U is seriously lacking compared to PS4 and XB1 imo. Better 3rd party would improve things a lot but still where's Nintendo's own take on the games catering to the mainstream Western audience? Why is it a bad thing to have some realistic-looking 1st party games as a contrast to the cartoony Mario platformers, Mario Kart and Smash Bros?

A full-fledged (and e.g. realistic-looking) Pokémon/Metroid/Zelda/new IP doesn't have to rule out the games that many hardcore Nintendo fans enjoy. Why not try a bit of both? I know it's the unpopular opinion to want Nitnendo to make realistic-looking/gritty/"boring" games but if they could coexist with the platformers, the Mario Karts and the Smash Bros what's there to lose?

Super Mario 3D World, New Super Mario Bros. U, Super Smash Bros., Mario Kart 8 and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze clearly don't cut it for the Wii U. But I guess we can't blame Nintendo if these are the only types of games that sell well on Nintendo consoles.

I'll give them credit for funding Bayonetta 2 but I really think it would be beneficial to expand and establish more 1st party developers in the West similar to Retro Studios.

3rd party support can't be partial. You have to get all games, 100%. Everybody bought a PS4 or a X1 because they know all games will come. The Wii U? It started missing BF4, that's already a huge one. 3rd parties didn't helped it because Nintendo lost all gamers that wanted 3rd party titles.

And no, Nintendo didn't made what 3rd parties wanted. We had a lot of 3rd parties ranting about how crazy Nintendo where with a weak CPU and bad specs. 3rd parties were involved since the begining in the PS4/X1 development process. So, they had 2 consoles exactly like they want and 1 that isn't even close. And that's it. Nintendo didn't hold their games to give room to 3rd parties, Nintendo made a late transition to HD and suffered like everyone, resulting in delays.

You say Battlefield was missing. That's right. I say unprecedented partnership. What should have Nintendo done more? Force EA with a gun to port the game? Also, not everyone likes every game. Even if a bigger one is missing, the support was good enough for most players. Not all of these millions that bought PS4 have Battlefield. To be precise, 2 million bought battlefield, so that makes still 8 million who should have bought WiiU in the first year - if it would have the name Playstation U. The point simply is - people who like 3rd-parties don't buy a Nintendo-console as long as they get the games on a Playstation. Heck, I assume many of them would quit gaming altogether if the big third-parties would be on Nintendo and not on Playstation. Nintendo needs something else to garner gamers. Yes, 3rd-party multiplats aren't hurting - but they aren't helping Nintendo either.

No, sorry. :P

People who like 3rd parties avoid Nintendo because they don't get the games. Nintendo was dominant during NES and SNES era when they had all the support. They lost it with N64 and after then, they got onslaugheted 3 times of 4. My point is, get 3rd party support or quit home consoles. Let's look at their performance compared to their 3rd party supported competitors:

- PS1 and PS2 sold more than any Nintendo console. PS3 still has a chance of outselling the Wii and then NO PS console will be behind a Nintendo one.

- X360 outsells any Nintendo console except the Wii.

People who like 3rd parties don't buy a PS just because they love PS and hate Nintendo. Xbox proved they will buy whatever is more atractive with zero brand loyalty. People who like 3rd parties won't buy a Nintendo because they know the games won't be there.

I used BF as an example not because everybody plays it. But because it sends a message. Nintendo says "hey, now we got 3rd parties". First thing that happens? They miss BF. That showed the world that nothing changed and they won't get games. Why? Because they made a console for themselves, not 3rd parties. 3rd parties needed RAM (Crytek was very vocal about Sony going with 8GB), beefy GPUs and better dev tools. Sony and MS gave that. The problem with this discussion is that I'm giving you a reason and you aren't giving one. You are basically saying people won't buy a Nintendo because it is a Nintendo. If that's the case, then they should quit now.

But the "they won't buy a Nintendo" things has a point. Nintendo created a kid friendly image. This makes teenagers and youg adults avoid it like the plague. It's psichologycal. Teens want to be adult, and that means avoinding all things related to kids. The big problem is that the average gamer's age is high. That means that every home will have a console that will be use by the dad, older brother and younger brother. And the last one won't have a lot of choice. Dad picks what he wants and just buys a Lego game for the kid.

And Nintendo/EA was an unprecedent partnership? Like, "hey, take half of my games, Ninty!". How about the EA/Sony or EA/MS partnership that is "hey, take ALL my games with no exception".