yes, clearly there will be a new nintendo console next year, we all know that and nintendo will talk about it at e3.  

greetings from 2017...

2011-13 million
2012-16 million
2013-18 million
2014-13 million
2015-16 million
2016-11 million
2017-8 million
2018-3 million

80 - 85m million is to low an estimate for me, i think they will sell 92m combined ( 74m 3ds, 18m wiiu).

Well, that is debatible. Why does people say that the U is underpowered? Because other developers are used to other standars of power, specially when you have to downgrade the game too much from PS360 to Wii, per example. But that's the thing, if that was the problem, then Nintendo would only have to match PS and 360 in terms of power to compete. But that hasn't work since the N64 days. Third parties don't go with Nintendo, not because of power, but because they have way more advantages in other platforms (and having to make a multiplat for four different systems is expensive). If the main problem with the WiiU was power, then it would have received all of those cross-gen games for one or two years, and then stopped. That didnt happen, almost everyone promised support and then abandoned the system with excuses.

Nintendo can make a succesful system almost on their own, just look at the DS and Wii (and even the 3DS, for a handheld that has to compete with the mobile market, it's doing a fine job). And once the console has a decent userbase, then 3rd parties would come to fight for a piece of the pie.

Nintendo should have grown and evolved during the Wii-DS era into a company that could sustain itself, without the need of 3rd parties. A Nintendo system doesn't need all the games that appear in other platforms, just a decent stream of quality games. Depending on other developers is too risky, specially if you are not going to spend as much money as Sony or MS into making deals with them.The fusion idea is really solid, because it could make people buy the console thatthey don't own (if all my games work on this, why wouldn't upgrade and get a handheld, or get a home console to play on my TV?), and mix both libraries into one solid stream of games.

Yes, it's pretty clear to almost everybody that Nintendo will be releasing new hardware in 2016/2017.

3DS has already begun to decline, with shipments around 9 million this fiscal year (down from 12-14m in the previous 3 years), New 3DS can help slow down the decline but only an insane person believes it's going to significantly raise sales and extend the lifespan. Nintendo has shipped roughly 3 million Wii U's for 3 years straight, expecting anything significantly higher than that in the following years is niave.

It's logical to assume Nintendo had 1-2 good years left this generation before successors release.

most people think so because they just look at the salenumbers and think ohh well nintendo needs to make a new console, the old is selling so badly.

people who arent 15 and play videogames for a long time know that doing a sega is a retarded move and nintendo will not do it, they never did, even when the GC was selling badly.

the decline of the 3ds was partly because the new 3ds was coming, people dont buy hardware if they know a new better one for the same price will come soon. and the wiiu has some more time because nintendo needs to make back some money before the new console launches, the bad sales of the wiiu will extend its life because nintendo has do get the core audience pleased beefore launching a new console, and we hadnt a real pricecut yet. they go for a longer lifecircle.

I don't think they will hit 80 million with the unified platform due to continued erosion of the portable market from smart devices, but even at 60-70 million they should be able to make a nice profit from it.

They were making a ton of money off the NES at sub-60 million before the Game Boy ever came around. Sega was profitable with the Genesis even when that capped off at only about 33-40 million.

The main advantage they will have with a unified platform is they don't have to have the console division dragging down their entire bottom line if it doesn't sell well.

Console games like a Splatoon 2 or Mario Kart 9 and 10 or Hyrule Warriors 2 will be able to enjoy the larger handheld userbase, so there's no worry for Nintendo about how the console variant is selling, it'll just become icing on the cake. If it sells well, great, if it doesn't, it's not a huge problem anymore, the games still have a large userbase to reach.

I'd say probably

60 million - Handhelds
13 million - Home Variant

73 million combined finish. Could be less honestly, I don't know. Depends on if kids really continue to be enraptured by smart devices, we are dealing with a new generation that won't even have grown up with a DS. But Nintendo should still be able to be profitable as long as they make the hardware profitable.

Technically their hardware nombers could be higher because of the QoL system. Even if it's just a Wii-like machine, it could make a decent profit.

i thinka redesign of Wii U can be a good thing if Nintendo listens to the public. no more gamepad (optional) better storage, use the pro controller as default. better specs if possible. lower the price point.  instead of releasing an entirely new console. just my thought...

I count that as something completely separate as it won't be a game you play per se most likely (doubt that sleep sensor has Mario Galaxy on it). But yeah that and the IP licensing (Mario CG movie from Sony, Zelda Netflix series) could be profit earners. 

To me Nintendo looking to branch out into these areas is actually an admission that they don't anticipate video game hardware/software sales to be the same as in years past. To augment the "unified" approach, they needed new business pillars -- lo and behold QoL and a sudden openness to try their IP in movies/TV.