Will be fun reading this in a year or so, bookmarked

We just need to wait for the reveal of the NX before this needs to be revisited.   Then again after it is released.

These are threads typically set up by Nintendo fans who haven't drank the punch. We're legitimately worried about Nintendo's future, and we're not willing to lie to ourselves about it. Just because someone doesn't express faith doesn't mean hate, so knock it off with the "Nintendo can do no wrong" thing.

The back catalog argument is a little weak to me. If we were talking last gen, then sure. I still only own a handful of PS4 games, as much of my history with the console has been dissapointing rentals. There are a few exclusives I might pick up if I get an XBO down the line, but most of the modern crop of games are so bland I'd rather watch grass grow.

Actually, I like watching grass grow... but that's a story for another time.

4k isn't a "thing" on consoles. The Xbox One and Playstation 4 can already play back 4k video content, just not Blu-rays.
Even if you had the power of two Neo's in one box, 4k still won't be a thing for AAA high-end games.

Consumers also don't care about hardware specs, Nintendo just needs to be "good enough" at the right price to win people over, that's how the PS4 won this round. If the Xbox One was slightly faster, but $100 more expensive, it still likely wouldn't have gained any traction either.

If the latest statistics are anything to go by... Steam has already passed 180 million users.

Microsoft is porting things to PC to push it's own platform, to lock in customers and is actually doing terribly.

I agree to an extent.
Scorpio would be over-engineered for this generation, but we haven't seen what it would be like with Hololens or VR yet, it might be acceptable.

I think the OP maybe on to something ...

External factors can't be argued when Nintendo is going to face an onslaught of AAA games from Sony, Microsoft and their partners plus there's the issue of current installed base along with new hardware compared to Nintendo starting from scratch ...

Even if Nintendo does a really good job fixing their internal problems they would most likely be still out of luck since they have troubles courting third parties to make tons of exclusive content much like their competitors ...

In a much more realistic scenario I don't even think Nintendo has current AAA game development figured out yet when their staff size hasn't changed significantly and it'll probably reflect Nintendo's software output once the time comes to show for it ...

Supposing if Nintendo were able to somehow start recapturing the blue ocean crowd how their going to maintain that is very important when we take a look at Kinect's short-lived success ...

I dont understand why the Wii is considered a fad? Yes sales slowed down in its fifth year, just like every other Nintendo console. If the Wii is a fad, then every Nintendo system besides the NES was a failure.

Because the audience dropped Nintendo like a sack of cold potatoes rapidly.

Also the dramatic drop off in many/all of these casual IP ... whether Wii Fit, Mario & Sonic, Wii Party, Brain Training, Nintendogs, Guitar Hero, or Rock Band ... the drop off has been unbelievable, they went from IPs that were selling tens of millions of copies to selling like 50,000 copies in some cases. 

Also things like Zumba Fitness and EA Active and uDraw which were successful on the Wii, their sequels suffered monstrous drop offs. 

That is pretty much a textbook definition of a fad. 

you're very informer and your opinion is very substantial.

But what about the first party titles like Mario Kart and Smash which have huge attach ratio on the Wii U? Those games you listed on the Wii were a fad but the system itself sold itself quite well for a standard five year Nintendo console.