Yet Nintendo made more profits during that generation that MSFT. Also made more profits than MSFT last generation. And will most likely finish on top again this generation.
MSFT/SONY selling 40 million units at a loss means nothing if the software sales aren't there or future hardware sales to dig them out. Factor in the R&D. PS3's awful start and slow software sales cost Sony all the profits PS2 made. PS4 didn't start to make profits until a year after release. Wii U was making profits day 1.
If Nintendo is still making money versus Sony/MSFT losing millions, who's the winner?
XBone can outsell Wii U 3:1 to this generation, but Nintendo isn't solely relying on console sales - it's handhelds will carry them through and it's 1st party titles already shown to outsell both Sony and MSFT's first party titles this gen alone with the smaller userbase.
"That generation" meaning combined Gamecube and Gameboy Advance sales? Not exactly a fair comparison if so. The point is that the Xbox One is selling more than the Wii U specifically.
The PS4 and Xbox One both sold at a profit per unit from day 1. MS and Sony actually took away lessons from selling their consoles at a loss per unit last generation.
Nintendo's handheld business is still strong, I'm not disputing that (though the 3DS did see a decline in sales from the massive success of the DS). The matter of discussion is the future and potential success of Nintendo's next home console specifically.
I think you misunderstood my point. Using your example, You still have both versions of the game, the console version still looks superior. The difference is it didn't take two dev teams to make both games and the titles aren't two years part.
Same day you get the higher IQ console version that is also compatible with the handheld device just run at a lower IQ.
IE my example Tokyo Mirage won't ever get a handheld version because it will take a complete port job than just "a few notches down."
Use PCs more as an example:
You can run the same game on a 270X as on a Fury X. The IQ will be different, but it's still the same underlining base code.
Nintendo wants that, for their consoles/handhelds.
If they do want that, I think that's the wrong approach. What works on home consoles doesn't necessarily work on handhelds, and vice versa. I wouldn't want the design of a home console game constrained so it can work on a handheld.
Nintendo just needs to pull a Sega and abandon hardware. Non one cares about their hardware, and they are just locking their software onto poor selling devices
Booo. The Wii U may not have been a sales success, but there's still a niche following for the system, and the 3DS is indisputably a success.
And pointing to Sega as a model of what happens when a console maker goes third part is, um...not encouraging.
Mark my words, this console suffers the same fate as the wii u.
That's my concern too. It doesn't seem that Nintendo has learned anything from the Wii U.
Now enter mobile. There is clear demand for nintendo games on mobile, and that arena still does relatively well for them. But they'd do orders of magnitude better if just released the damn games on android and ios.
I think it's clear they are hostile to this idea because of piracy. The main title they did allow to go through with a known brand in pokemon was free to play, thus bypassing the piracy issue. They want the games to require a cartridge or some other locked down media. But this won't get them as much money, even with the pirates siphoning off revenue.
I have no sympathy for them, let them wither away with this strategy. Others will keep sending them money, but I will not. They need to drop the ridiculous nintendo pride and stop trying to compete against mobile phones, the things we are all already carrying and working with. They should focus all of their efforts on creating a custom controller for popular mobile phones on the market to act as a sort of battery powered glove to play more advanced games on with mobile phones. They could still get hardware revenues from that. But to expect people to keep taking both their phones and some dumb nintendo only mobile gaming device in 2016 and beyond? They will wither, they will wane, and eventually, they will die with that attitude.
Would they really do orders of magnitude better? And would it be good for Nintendo's actual games? The much stronger side of their business is the handheld side. The 3DS has sold very, very well. Just putting all their games on mobile would cannibalize their handheld market. And I dread the thought of what a Nintendo game on mobile would even be. No physical controls, since physical control accessories have never caught on with mobile. Those "controller gloves" have been made before -- no one bought them. And the market is toxic for full-priced game experiences. Mobile games make money off of people who only download free games with loads of microtransactions and in-app advertising. I do
not want Mario, Zelda, Smash Bros, etc., going in that direction.
This is not to say that Nintendo should ignore mobile entirely. Pokemon Go exists on mobile because it uses the GPS and data capabilities that only phones have. That's fine. But the core gaming experience that I and millions of fans love about Nintendo is incompatible with mobile as a platform.
OAgain, I feel Nintendo will bet the farm on their software catalog. They can't rely on Square anymore as they port everything they got to iOS/Android. If there is less dev time and faster games, I can see the NX attracting both a console market (buy the console portion) and a handheld market (buy the mobile portion) and for some (like me) possibly both.
The key will be software and price. I won't buy the same game twice (Unless required too, stupid CoD4 had to buy it times PC/Xbox/PS3). And I'm sure many won't. But if Nintendo offers it one license that works on both units, that to me sounds like a recipe for success. Even more so if budget per title is reduced as not having to sustain two teams or the same team having to revisit the title for port duties.
The lesson of the Wii U is that strong first party software
is not enough to rely on. Betting the NX farm on first party software would be following Einstein's definition of insanity -- doing something over again and expecting a different result.