That's why I don't game on pc too much exclusives that are hurting the industry :/

I never understood the backlash within the last 8-10 years over exclusives. Exclusives are the lifeblood of consoles. They create competition. If there were no exclusives, why would there need to be multiple consoles? What would be the selling point for these consoles? Where would the competition come from? Where would the incentive to do better come from?

Also, Nintendo getting out of hardware would be like Apple getting out of hardware. Nintendo has grown used to controlling everything. They also make hardware for the games they want to make. Sega was able to get around this for a few years by allowing their development teams choose which consoles they wanted to exclusively make games for. This gave them the feeling of working on games for dedicated hardware. After that, Sega changed. Their culture changed. I think giving up hardware played a huge role in that. That could very well happen to Nintendo.

Painting in broad strokes with that OP.

Exclusives justify platforms. They're not the only justification, but a big one. These days, however, it appears Nintendo exclusives aren't justifying a home console purchase for a majority of gamers.

As far as going 3rd party, Nintendo is the only one that could do it and succeed. Microsoft would have no impact outside of its big three franchises, and Sony would occassionally release something (probably from Naughty Dog, SSM, or SCEJ) that inspires commercial success, but Nintendo has the potential to be the heaviest hitter from Japan. There's always the Sega comparison / cautionary tale, but Nintendo has always struck me as having a far better handle on managing their franchises.

Basically, I think Nintendo would reap huge financial benefits by going 3P, and unlike others I believe they have the talent to maintain quality of content on multiple platforms, but they're far too prideful to reduce their standing to becoming equals with Blizzard & Square Enix. Hell, they would have the clout to even release 3P accessories that other publishers would use (like Namco's Guncon for the PS1).

But... even the thread title is a contradiction to the point the OP is trying to make I think, Title suggests you have to admit Nintendo have a place in gaming, OP complains about Nintendo being told to go 3rd party... what party of being 3rd party means they aren't in gaming?

To me these two things are just unrelated really I think if you just see that Nintendos most popular game since Wii Sports is not running on Nintendo brand hardware you can see why people might suggest that they could do well going third party, being a kid of the 80s I can't really imagine playing Mario on a playstation system if I'm honest... but at the same time if I seen the box of Mario and Sonic at the Olympic games when I was a kid I would have suggested whoever created it was a heretic.

this is all that needs to be said.

nintendo probably should go third party because they cannot put together a platform that the market sees as compelling.

I think Ninten should keep making consoles. They're often thinking of different ways on how we play and from that game the DS line, the Wii, and Wii U. While not all of those were successful, they were at least interesting and helped bring about kinds of games I never thought would even be games. I figure Ninten will keep playing around with new ideas, so yeah, I def think they should continue making new hardware. Someone has to do it.

Competition is good so not only should Nintendo keep making hardware so should MS and Sony and if a company has to sell their system they have to make better games, I mean if Nintendo  they most likely only make Mario(2D/3D/Kart),Zelda,Pokémon,SSB and maybe AC and Splatoon, heck if Nintendo had gone 3rd party this gen. Splatoon most likely wouldn't have been made, Kid Icarus and FE wouldn't have a comeback and they would have not funded Bayo2.

What's that NEO thing again???

Nintendo can go third party because their IP's have a little value. The others not so much.