I didn't mean to imply that Nintendo is at risk of becoming irrelevant, I basically just mean how low can their hardware sales potentially go before it's not high enough to realistically sell high amounts of 1st party software and post strong profits.

Like i said, in the slim chance that Nintendo's next console only sells 10 million and the handheld sells 20 million, would that be high enough for their key franchises to sell high numbers on and would they be able to post high enough profits to remain a hardware manufacturer?

It really was quite when it comes to all the "Nintendo is Doomed" stuff. But, on various Websites, the pessimistic News and Posts are coming back. The Problem is, everyone seems to be an Expert nowadays and pricks like Pachter are making the situation even worse. The truth is, we don't know what's going on behind the curtains of Nintendo. They do have a lot of money on the bank, so they can effort a loss. But dooming the 3DS Era is absurd. The DS and the Wii sales were gigantic, it's not that of a miracle that, after a slow start, the 3DS will not reach these numbers. Over 50 million sold units, and the New 3DS is on it's way, isn't that bad. The Playstation 4 receive currently this miracle the Wii reiceived. Without any relevant Software selling units like S***.

I really was happy not seeing these stupid "Nintendo will go Third Party" comments the past months. We are pretty far away from that. And as someone said before, you can't compare Nintendo to Multimedia Companies like Sony or Microsoft. Also Sony is making a heavy loss on most of it's brands, it's the Playstation Brand which helps them to stay steady.

The Wii U will, and that's clear, not be remebered as Nintendos most successfull System. It's still a great Console though, and I think the Wii U will sell better compared to the GameCube. Speculating and such stuff really is cool to some point, but all these "Nintendo is Doomed" debates became very predictable.

I think Nintendo don't have to worry about anything in the future. But there is a System which really have a terrible fate. It's the Vita. Own about 50 Games, it's one of my currently favourite Systems and it's selling about 2000 units in the US per week and most of the average Gamer thinks Persona 4 Golden is the only available Game.

I think actually only one year of their losses was attributed to 3DS hardware loss. The other years they lost money were primarily becasue of a combination of a strong yen + sales of 3DS/Wii U that weren't strong enough to offset those losses. 

They need at least 50-60 million install base between their HH/console, I think that's what they are aiming for at minimum with their next unified platform. 

The question really I think is how much more damage are phones/tablets going to do to Nintendo's HH market? Does it level off at some point or does it continue to spread like a cancer? I don't think we can say for sure either way right now, except it doesn't look great right now. 

Nintendo will always be relevant to hardcore nintendo fans, and thus, always get at least 4-5m sales per console

People get way too caught up with semantics sometimes.

I think it's clear the OP's point is how low can Nintendo's hardware go before it's not viable for them to remain a hardware manufacturer.

Yes from August 2011 to August 2012 3DS was sold at a loss, then from Nov 2012 to possibly currently Wii U has been sold at a loss. Had these devices never been sold at a loss then their financial situation would have looked much better these last few years.

As a gaming entity, Nintendo will always be powerful and relevant. Their output of quality software and the number of recognizable IP's are unmatched.

As a hardware manufacturer, anything below 10 mil for home consoles and 30 mil for handhelds should be alarming.

They still probably would've lost money though because of the strong yen. 

5M per year.

They'd at least have to sell 50 million systems per each generation to not only be sustainable but to also keep up an image of relevancy ...