Should Nintendo stop making consoles and become a third party developer?

[Gamma Male]

Let me just start off by saying that I am a huge Nintendo fanboy. I absolutely love Zelda, Kirby, Mario, DK, and Metroid. Some of my earliest and most treasured memories are of me playing Majoras Mask or Banjo Kazooie on the N64 when I was 5. But lets face it, the last two consoles both absolutely sucked. They've lagged behind Sony and Microsoft in power, graphics, online play, and third party games, and Motion sense and the wii u's gamepad are both gimmicky disasters nobody wants anything to do with. The only reason they haven't already gone bankrupt is because 1: They managed o market the Wii to susceptible non-gamers, and 2: loyal nintendo fans like me still care about the first party franchises. Like I said before, I absolutely love Zelda. But the idea of having to play it on the Wii U just makes me sick, because frankly, Zelda deserves better than that. It deserves better than some gimmicky last-gen hard disaster of a console that nobody takes seriously. The last thing in the world I want is for Nintendo to stop making games. And I am in no way suggesting that Nintendo sell off their first party franchises. To the contrary, I hope that they will continue to make games for as long as gaming exists. I just don't want to play those games are horrible, horrible consoles. So that's why I'm about to say this.

I think Nintendo should stop makng consoles and start making games for Sony and Microsoft.

Now I know for a lot of you reading that above sentence is like getting slapped in the face with a wet pipe. "Zelda on Xbox? Are you fucking kidding me?"
I totally understand where you're coming from. The idea of playing Kirby or Mario on the ps4 just doesn't sound natural. But, how many of you actually even own a Wii U? And for those of you that do, do you seriously think it even begins to compare to the ps4 or Xbox One? Just imagine the possibilities if Nintendo became a software developer! They would immediately become one of the biggest in the business, up there with EA and Activision! Not only would they become relevant again, they would reign supreme. Just imagine the sales they would get when releasing a new Zelda on the Xbox One. It would be amazing! And best of all, they could still make handheld games because they would still own the rights to all of their franchises. I love Nintendo's games, and I never want to see them go. But I couldn't possibly care less about their consoles. I say Nintendo should go for it! Develop games for other consoles. Not only would it be good for them financially, it would be good for Kirby, and Samaus, and Mario, and Link, and hell, maybe they could even bring Starfox back.

What do you guys think?

[Hypers]

I think they should keep making consoles but also publish their games for different platforms. This way they have both control over their games and a wide user base.

[Ethe14]

I don't think the should but here is the issue, I think they might go bankrupt soon. So if keeping them alive means selling games to Xbox and Sony I wouldn't mind.

[Kacey]

Well see, Nintendo pretty much screwed the pooch with Sony. Quite a number of years ago, Nintendo hired a small technology company to make a disc reading addon for one of their consoles. This small company was Sony. Nintendo realized about halfway throughm the project that Sony would have half the rights to any game made for the disc drive. So Nintendo fired Sony, but Sony continued on with the project. Thus, the PlayStation was born. And then the Xbox came out... You know the story from there...

[Gamma Male]

I don't think the should but here is the issue, I think they might go bankrupt soon. So if keeping them alive means selling games to Xbox and Sony I wouldn't mind.

Yeah, and the best thing would be that they'd still be making the games. The only thing that would change is the console. People like to point out how much Banjo Kazooie nuts and bolts sucked, but that's just because it wasn't made my Nintendo. It still would've sucked had it been for the wii or wii u.

[ImAurora]

I'd say only if it was absolutely necessary, like the company would go under otherwise.

[Cygnus]

The only reason they haven't already gone bankrupt is because 1: They managed o market the Wii to susceptible non-gamers, and 2: loyal nintendo fans like me still care about the first party franchises.
I don't think the should but here is the issue, I think they might go bankrupt soon. So if keeping them alive means selling games to Xbox and Sony I wouldn't mind.
This is wrong, Nintendo has historically been great at sales and has massive amounts of saved up money. In fact, they could lose over $250 million a year and still survive until 2052, that's how much money they have.

Given the amount of money they have and the fact that they can still survive for a long time, they won't be making their games for Xbox and Playstation anytime soon, it just won't happen. Miyamoto himself confirmed that first party games will stay in the Nintendo consoles. Let me remind you that before the Wii the Gamecube and N64 weren't the top selling consoles, in fact, the Gamecube only sold 22 million units compared to the PS2's overwhelming 153.6 million in a generation where the Xbox was the most powerful of the bunch. The Nintendo 64 sold 33 million units and still lost the sales race to the Sony Playstation's 100 million, even though it had the best hardware of it's console generation. This will be just another generation for nintendo, specs don't make a console, for example, going back a while, the Sega Master's System had better specs than the Nintendo Entertainment System/Famicom, yet Nintendo made it outsell the Master's System it completely. Just because the WiiU does not have the best specs does not make it a bad console, Nintendo needs to up it's marketing and it will be good, it survived 8 console generations and it will survive this one.

[Ethe14]

Ok well that was surprising, I just didn't think they would have that much cash. Considering that Sony and Microsoft are the bug players it just didn't seem like Nintendo could hold on.

[Typhlosion]

ABSOLUTELY NOT. WE NEED 3DS2. Or 6DS. Or 3DSiXL. Or... heck, I donno.
We need the handhelds. Period.

Nintendo just doesn't get the right titles - we need bloody, mature games being published on their consoles. That's what kids today are demanding.

[The_Unwinding]

I think that nintendo shouldn't move into third party developing. They just need to look at what games people like and make sequels... I have to admit though, allot of their newer games are too easy. I beat Yoshi's new island and Super. Mario 3D World in two days.

[PinkFloyd]

I could never play Mario Kart on an Xbox... Sorry.

[Twilly F. Sniper]

Well, I don't know. Financially, it would be a much smarter choice (unless they get screwed over like THQ or Rare...)

But, it would be weird playing a Super Mario Bros. 2 emulation on Xbox. Also, what about the third party companies under Nintendo, like Hal Laboratory?

[Croconaw]

I definitely don't want this to happen. D:

[Willy_Nilly]

No way should this ever happen. We do NOT need to see Legend of Zelda on IOS platforms!

[ninja789]

To save my wee Yoshi yes
otherwise hell no!

[Babiole]

I love Nintendo's consoles and I enjoy playing them. I have the Wii and a 3DS. My sister Aglaé also has a PS3. My brothers all love Nintendo, but my sister is more of a PlayStation person. She's a huge Assassin's Creed fan.

Nintendo should keep making consoles. Their consoles are so much fun.

[McLovin]

I don't think they should and I say that for two reasons

1) Nintendo games are twice as good being played on an official nintendo console. I despise third party controllers and playing Mario on a Playstation would just simulate that same feeling. I've also played some ROMs on a couple of my friends computers and I really didn't like it. It just doesn't have the right feel and thats all Nintendo has going for it which brings me to my second point

2) The only reason I will continue to play Nintendo games besides the Legend of Zelda series and Kirby games (God bless them) is because of the nostalgia. In this day and age I find nothing interesting about jumping on Goombas and Koopas interesting, only that it gives me the retro feeling which Nintendo is quickly throwing away by creating so many "new super Mario brothers" games or just Mario games in general over and over, year after year, destroys that feeling. Mario is quickly becoming a thing of now instead of a thing of the past which is where it belongs; to be visited and enjoyed on occasion. The Legend of Zelda games and Kirby games to me are the meat of the company and yet they refuse to consistently address them. All in all Nintendo has become absorbed with the Mario franchise and needs to focus on their other franchises or else their screwed. My advise for them would be to focus on hand held consoles, focus less on gimmicks as you said, and hop off Mario.

[backjruton]

They should do both... I would love to play Pokemon on the PS4 :D

[Microcosm]

They should do both... I would love to play Pokemon on the PS4 :D

Agreed. I would like both. Nintendo's consoles are really unique and I think that if they could pull it off correctly then they could really get somewhere. The Wii U was just a huge mistake, but that isn't the only console they've ever made. The Wii was alright and sold pretty well. The 3DS has a lot of potential and is selling well. Most of their past consoles(gamecube,n64,etc.) have become huge hits in the past. If they can just get some new people working for them that know how to make better decisions, then I think Nintendo can still thrive in the console department. We'll see I guess. If they made games for Sony and Microsoft that could make them some good money and I can see that working as well. I somehow doubt they will do that though because they have never really done it in the past...

We shall see.

[UnknownError]

Nintendo have always aimed at more casual gamers than Microsoft and Sony. There consoles have always been cheaper than them as well. Nintendo are a family-friendly company for the most part whereas when you think of Xbox & Playstation you think of COD, GTA, Halo etc.

Yes you get family-friendly games for those console too but they never sell as well (unless you count minecraft). Nintendo's games would fall behind and look bad compared to the other big sellers on the consoles.

Plus Nintendo dominate the handheld market. Their only competitor is the PS Vita and who the fuck has one of those?

[Jeonard]

Currently, I think Nintendo has no hope because they have not brought anything new to the market for a good few years now. The Wii was a massive console that sold because it was innovative but the WiiU was pathetic in comparison to its predecessor (compared to the playstation and xbox it is basically non-existent). I believe that Nintendo can survive if they bring new things to the market. They need a console as innovative as the Wii and they need to develop their already strong franchises such as Mario; Mario Kart was good on the Wii but it has not changed much since.