Nintendo's problems really started with the N64, the GC other than the mini-dvds was a bit of a recovery despite crappy sales if anything since it actually had solid third party support for the first half of its life and the hardware was very capable too. They were coming off the N64 dickery which did them no favors (like kind of how the DC got jacked because of the crap Sega pulled in the 90s before it.) Nintendo though in a more modern context went grossly wrong with the Wii and more even yet with the Wii U. They went bad on every single damned front despite what naysayers will throw out there due to the Wii hardware sales -- sure it cleared 100M+, but ever look at the attach rate...shit. Ever look at the library, mostly shit too lacking in a gross amount of third party support and even then some of it was slap in the face franchise B-team rail shooter type spinoffs or crappily shoveled over PS2 titles. They catered to the non-gamer, they got the non-gamer, right down to them non-buying non-games that don't suit them which mostly was Wii Sports, Trivia something, and Wii exercise programs -- that doesn't make game players come back for more, nor the fact it was a SD box in an HD era and refused to get on board on par with network services and other goodies from movies etc despite the later entry of youtube and an inferior netflix app. They went for gimmick, they work, great, if they click -- ONCE.
They didn't grasp that concept with historical backing and went full retard with the Wii U. Kept a poor namesake and confused the shit out of consumers and retailers, i recall a year into it people still thinking it was some damned accessory (store employees) to the Wii. Again an underpowered device made all the worst using 3rd time over somewhat regurgitated parts with a VERY complex and hard to code for OS that drove people nuts trying to port. Ports if you try and do them as should be quick and easy were frame rate and display nightmares with problems, it took good work to do it, which drove off developers even more from it than WiiU. Within a year you had EA sell them out like they did to Sega in the Saturn/DC era, and Ubisoft followed nearly after, the 2 remaining big backers outside of Activision. Many wouldn't touch it at all with a ten foot pole making the system an expensive last gen box with a tablet in your hand 90% + of the software won't bother to use properly or inventively other than off tv play. Nintendo and their brainless necessity of not lowering prices on their games (without a players choice line) on games let alone the hardware for the most part has not helped. Why piss $300 on a WiiU when you can do the same on the other guys with a lot more games, even if they are mostly homogenized PC like crap on locked boxes both get and get inferior releases to the PC stuff if it's not a console exclusive?
Nintendo fucked up point blank. What's worse, take with a grain of salt, but my brother works as a producer in the industry. Back when the PS4/1/WiiU were in development third parties went to all 3 and gave a list of part performances/specs they wanted to make better games. They gave all THREE (yes Nintendo this time too) carte blanche to get a shit ton of quality ports and stuff. Sony and MS jumped at it, which is why their hardware is basically interchangeable on the most part and easy to port between. Nintendo said NO. They designed a system to THEIR needs, at a budget THEY wanted for themselves and MSRP reasons, and they refused to bend. The industry leaders who did this gave them a collective middle finger. That's why a lot made NO games, others ported just a few million seller titles, and then when they sold in the 10k-100k amounts vs 5-10x + on the others they walked. Nintendo f'd themselves in the A and their system owners before it was even out at retail. Had I known that I would have never bought it when it came out if potentially looking at it now, at all. I don't own it now, nor the Wii, sold them in disgust which in 30 years of console ownership I have NEVER done. My trust in Nintendo as a console maker is shot, no more buys until they prove themselves on that front ...handhelds I don't regret.
