Pachter and the rest of the world. Don't care anyway.

Would prefer Skyrim, DSIII and TWIII.

Relatively speaking, and as a platform.  They're niche in terms of what they do not offer compared to more open platforms.  If you don't like the term, just sub in something else.  They're like Toys R Us or Bass Pro Shop compared to Wal-mart or Target.  They have a more narrow focus and product range and thus a lower potential base-line.  

In order to augment that number, they would have to do something besides just replicate the same type of line-up the Wii U had.  Hardware gimmick/innovations, third party support, and combining their software output are all methods of doing that.  The first two are proven, while the last one has to prove that it will do the trick.

To follow that up, there is absolutely nothing wrong with being more specialized.  Often, specialized companies have greater profit margins.  Nintendo could finish in "third place" and still do quite well for themselves.

I agree Nintendo could finish last and turn a huge profit.

But I think you're still approaching this equation from a "hardcore" gaming mindset. The kinds of games Nintendo offers are much more likey to appeal to a wider audience, a non-gaming audience.

Don't think of it as "Nintendo doesn't offer enough open-world games or sim racers or strategy games so they're limiting their audience." They're only limiting the "hardcore" audience, while the general population is very much up for grabs — and much more like to pick up and play Mario Kart than Gran Turismo.

We're not talking about Mario Kart versus Gran Turismo, though.  We're talking about the sum of each platform.

I'm not sure what you mean about "hardcore", either.  I don't consider myself a hardcore gamer and, to be honest, the PS4 probably has a lot more casual gamers than the Wii U did.  It has multiple drawing points for nearly every taste.  That is what Nintendo has to counter and why I think more of the same is not going to be enough to achieve significant growth (except perhaps Pokemon).

I have no doubt there are more "casual" gamers on PS4 than WiiU. They want to play Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto and FIFA and Madden.

But I disagree with the idea that Nintendo needs to build some cornucopia of genres for its hardware to be successful. It can stick with its current first-party output plus some Japanese heavy-hitters. What it needs to focus on is 1) access and 2) affordability. That's so much more important. Most folks buy nine or ten games for their systems. On PS4 and Xbox it's mostly GTA and COD and Battlefield and EA sports titles, plus the stray Halo and Uncharted. Games like Sunset Overdrive or I am Setsuna are great for list wars, but they're not moving the needle that much.

And, again, it's not like Sony and Microsoft are achieving significant growth. They're keeping revenue up by taking more from current customers. If Nintendo focuses on cheap hardware and approachable software it will be in a better place than its competition in terms of sustainability.

People said the same thing about the Wii U.

If you want it to sell 13 mil again, keep on singing that.

I've never believed any of the crap Pacther has said anyway.