Could Nintendo Fly Solo?  

The company seemed to be headed that way.  Every console since the NES had seen fewer sales, and every console since the SNES had seen less third-party support.  If that happens to it again -- if it had a console that third parties wouldn't touch for love or money -- could it have a viable business model with a console sustained entirely by first-party games?  

Picture it:  The Gamerectangle.  Selling for a mere $180 but unable to muster the sales of the Ybox or Playdock.  No major third party game has ever been released for the system, although somethimes a tiny indie company will wander up and slap a title on the system.  

Could Nintendo do it?  I think that it absolutely could.  It'd be the Apple of video games.  Mario, Zelda, and the rest make Nintendo immortal. 

However, I know it's just a hypothetical situation because any console that isn't dead or dying will have somebody who wants to make an ambitious third-party title for it.  And if not, one of those indie projects will hit the jackpot.  

Actually, I think the entire reason Nintendo was able to succeed was because they were capable of going solo.

Seriously, if Sony or Xbox had pulled something like the Wii, it would have been the biggest gamble in the world for them. If 3rd party hadn't supported it they would have been absolutely and completley sunk right then and there.

Not so with Nintendo. If 3rd party hadn't supported them, they'd be churning out their own first party titles just like they had done with the gamecube, except this time they would have had something totally original that separated them from teh competition. Where Sony and Microsoft would have been gambling, Nintendo could back itself up so even a losing scenario pulled them about even.

Nintendo has taken every curse it had: Family oriented, "Kiddie", and 1st party preferenced, and they turned everything into their blessing.

nintendo could have done it, but not right now. they have a casual system and need third parties to help them. if it was just the ninty fanboy collection they could have done it, but they dont have enough dev teams and shows with their almost utter abandonment of their fanboys.

Yes, they proved it through the N64 and GC days that indeed they can go solo. Nintendo has the biggest loyalists in the industry bar none.

No! They could not have done it. Even though I love Nintendo made games, I wouldn't touch such a system with a long pole. That is the reason I didn't touch the GameCube with a long pole. It is disappointing to be on a console without their games... but better than lack of variety.

 And they didn't go solo with the cube or the 64. A true solo would be completely impossible. Why do you think they are running around trying to get third party support? Because they learned that they can't go solo.

Nintendo is the only video game company that can support itself, because of its iconic in house franchises and its fanbase, they basically did just that with the N64

They tried with n64, telling 3rd partys its thier way or the highway. This is what let sony into the market.

They came out of the N64 and GameCube eras plenty rich. Yes, they can go solo (and nearly did with the Cube). Really, the scenario described in the openning post is only slightly worse than what Nintendo had going for it last generation. Really, Nintendo has generated the majoity of the big hits on their systems for as long as they have made them anyway, and they have a pretty devout hardcore. They might have to settle for 10 million systems sold, but they'd still make money.

They can, but it would turn off a few people. Though what is selling Wii right now are all Nintendo products, so take that as you will.

But would they want to? Of course not. "Hey guys, we could have our business practice as a euphimism for masturbation, or we can send dev kits to the dozens of video game programming companies worldwide that will create further interest in our console and license sales"

They could do it, and almost did, but I don't think it works as a long term strategy. Nintendo was able to hold on to the fans it did by consistently making quality titles. Still they were haunted by the stigma of being the "losing" console saleswise. An increasing proportion of the sales of their consoles were merely the devoted fanboys of the system. But each generation more and more of these Nintendo fans would leave and few others would come in to replace them. I seriously doubt that with lower and lower console sales Nintendo would be able to continue to produce the quality titles that earned their few remaining fans' love. They had to expand their consumer base and they couldn't have waited much longer.

Yes Nintendo is able to make money solely off of their own products but they realize they have to get 3rd party support to be truly succesfull and to stay in the business for years to come.