Topic: Will this be the last Nintendo console?

It isn't. It just shows how incompetent they are when it comes to estimating demand. It means that scalpers will have a hand in selling them for double the original price on eBay, and Nintendo doesn't make any money from that. It's just more bad press. Just because something is sold out, doesn't mean it'll increase the demand. I hope they're working on getting more stock before launch.

I think if the Switch is successful, they'll always continue to build up from the SwitchOS making it a dedicated gaming equivalent to iOS and Android, and if the Switch fails, they'll make another handheld.

@CrazyOtto I think you're right. I think if the Switch fails, Nintendo will continue on making handhelds, at least for a while.

@BiasedSonyFan

So this. We've been hearing about the last Nintendo console since the Gamecube era in 2000 and here we are, almost 20 years later. At worst, they'll focus on a niche but they won't go out of business. There's a reason why they've managed to be around for 100 years.

@BiasedSonyFan Right, so basically what you're saying is that because Nintendo didn't fail in the early 90s, when the landscape of the video game industry was completely different, it won't fail now. It's a demonstrably faulty argument.

In the early 90s there was no XBOX and PlayStation. There was no internet and no mobile phones. In the early 90s Nintendo's last console (NES) was a massive success and they were the preeminent power in the video game industry, not a distant 3rd struggling to come to terms with the failure of their flagship console (Wii U).

This is not the early 90s and the Switch is no SNES (although ironically if Switch launches with 5 titles that's 1 more than SNES had). The kind of complacency you're displaying is definitely something Nintendo such avoid.

@BiasedSonyFan I agree that it's extremely difficult to predict. I don't recognise your characterisation of Nintendo's situation in the early 90's though. SNES sold nearly twice as many consoles as the Sega Megadrive/Genesis (just liked NES outsold the Sega Mastersystem nearly 5 to 1 and that's without mentioning the dominance of the Gameboy over the Gamegear), so I wouldn't really characterise that as serious competition. Sega were always a distant second place. So, in the early 90's, Nintendo had 3 consoles that were massive hits, and they were the number 1 videogame company in the world, by a long way. Sony didn't enter the race until the mid-90s.

The Gamecube era was much more perilous for Nintendo than the early 90s. The N64 - great console that it is - was far from a failure, but had been outsold by the Playstation by a ratio of more than 3 to 1. So coming of the back of that, Sony was the undisputed king, Microsoft had entered the market, and the Gamecube (another great console, actually) was the least successful mainstream Nintendo console ever, at that point (Gamecube sold nearly 20 million more units than Wii U, and was considered a minor failure, so that illustrated how badly Wii U failed).

Obviously, the DS and the Wii completely transformed Nintendo's fortunes. However, as someone who has played Nintendo since the late 80's, and been very loyal to the company, there's no doubt in my mind that 2017 is the most critical time for Nintendo that I remember.

I'd be surprised if it is their final console. Having said that, I can see them becoming largely irrelevant in the UK. There is so little Nintendo awareness in any high street shops that Ninty Uk will have their work cut out to make themselves heard. I don't blame the shops. They display stock but there's next to nothing to choose from. Looking at the lineup for Switch's launch, I can't see that ending soon.

And that price. All the people I know who are interested in gaming have, this Christmas, plummed for an xbox1. They are not necessarily going to want to spend £270, or whatever, by March, I fear.

So yes, short of masses of marketing, I think the UK may be, once again, the poor cousin.

@KamauPotter For sure, this is a crucial time. I think people are just saying that there have been other crucial times. Like, as you mentioned, when Sony and Microsoft decided to enter the console space. If the Wii wasn't the massive hit it was, coming off the back of the relative failure of the Gamecube market-wise, THAT could've been Nintendo's final moments in hardware, at least in the home space.

@dAvecaster I live in the U.S., so I have no idea what it's like in the UK, but why do you think Nintendo is so off the radar? What do most people in the UK play? Is PC gaming super popular?

@KamauPotter
I'm pretty sure the point was that they didn't bail after the SNES, N64, Virtual Boy, GC or Wii U. Why are we saying they'll bail after the Switch? They've been in far worse shape than they are right now. They're still here and creating a buzz

@rallydefault Basically the system that has the definitive versions of franchises like CoD and FIFA sells the best.

@Grumblevolcano Yea, I hear that FIFA is huge in the UK/Europe, but that's no surprise I suppose.

@rallydefault Nintendo has never been big in Europe, at least not as big as Sony. Even the NES had a much smaller market share in Europe (8 million, vs 30 in US and Japan iirc). Nowadays it has probably a lot to do with marketing. Granted, I don't watch television, so I can't speak of the TV ads, but I do commute a lot, and I've never seen a Nintendo ad in my life. Billboards, in big cities, in bus stops, near train stations, everywhere basically, never have any sort of Nintendo ads. Whereas I see plenty of ads for Ubisoft, Sony, Microsoft, EA, Activision games, etc. Don't know if this is any different in the US though.

@rallydefault Yep others have stated the main reasons, I think. Also there is just complete apathy towards Nintendo. I work in a school. Children will talk about the other consoles but the WiiU never gets a mention. There's next to no brand awareness which is not a surprise when you consider the lack of advertising.

@Octane Well, in the U.S. it's not like Nintendo has billboards and stuff all over the place, but there definitely are some. I specifically live on the I-95 corridor (East Coast, Boston - NYC - Philly), so we probably get more advertisements than Middle America, for sure.

But Nintendo is definitely a big thing here. It hasn't been with the Wii U, no doubt, but in general Nintendo is still in all the conversations. I work in a school, too, @dAvecaster! And I heard a lot of the students talking about the presentation on Friday.

In the cities, people walking around with 3DS's are a common sight. I've been to two of the Zelda concerts, and obviously stuff like that is just flooded with the systems. I go to ComicCon every year in NYC, and tons of people there with 3DS and dressed as Nintendo characters and stuff.

Make no mistake, Xbox is HUGE in America, obviously, but it is not half as bad for Nintendo as it seems in the UK.

@rallydefault Nintendo never understood the UK market from the very start with the NES. In fact the NES wasn't even sold by Nintendo over here. They licensed it out to someone else whom sold the games alone for double that of the Master System or computer games were at the time. And it seems nothing has changed.

@rallydefault I'm glad that you heard students talking about it! The children I work with go up to age 11 so I guess some of the older ones may have heard about Switch. I'll have to quiz them!

Wow, yea, that's crazy! The NES was huge here. My favorite uncle (ha) got me one for my third birthday. And then the SNES/Genesis war of the 90's - man, those were good times. But Nintendo was insanely popular when I was growing up. All over the place.

That's what I love about this forum - so many different perspectives from all over the world. Most of you guys from the UK, some of us in the U.S., some in Australia. Pretty cool to see the different reactions and realities of the world.

I have a feeling that this will be their last console indeed. There is just too many bad decisions involved that I wonder what has ridden them.
I am a nintendo fan and I will not buy sony or ms, probably rather call it quits and stuff. Its about nintendo franchises first and all other games, if good, come after, I guess, and even I had to put up with certain decisions that come with the console.
Arrogance has never been a good thing, nintendo should have known better. Back in the day they lost to sony for two generations because of the n64 disaster. After the gamecube which wasnt that much of a success they stooped low and catered for casuals rather then serious gamers - well, it was actually a success saleswise and they thought they could carry on with it, they couldnt and abandoned ship.
Sony had become arrogant as well and had a hard time against MS. The 360 even with the red ring of death was quite successful and sony face problems. MS in turn became more arrogant due to the success of the 360 and lost to the ps4 even before those consoles launched.

Now nintendo IMHO is in no position to be arrogant and stuff, however, what they are pulling of is quite interesting. If I were an adviser to Nintendo I would have advised strongly against certain business practises just for the sake of making it up to loyal fans and getting the attention of potentially new fans. Right now it seems you have to pay a lof of money and potentially even more money for a system that is below par. Have to pay for online which may not be as good as the competition and gives much less than the competition, those free monthly rentals are a joke similar to mynintendo. Console accessoires are really expensive, 30 bucks for the charging grip, 50 for a joy con, 80 for a pair of joy cons, 70 for the pro controller. They could have at least made the wii u pro controller compatible - I have got two of them, but why should they?
If they had been the top dog for the last couple of years, well, it might be understandable, but they certainly werent and most likely will never be again.
Dont get me wrong, I will not go to sony or ms because of all this, I want my mario/zelda fix etc. But not all people are like me, if you want to be successful you have to cater for a lot of people.
The thing that worries me most is the idea that they will abandon ship again when they realize that sales and support has become below par.

I think I'll be sticking with my Wii U for a while yet to come. The only games I'm interested in are already on the Wii U.