Nintendo is also at risk of free fall. If the WiiU doesn't perform well this may be the last home console unit we see them release. Not to mention their mobile gaming market has been decimated by Apple (IMO the 3DS should have been cancelled and redeveloped as a 3DTablet to compete head on with iPad)
Wouldn't say Nintendo is remotely at risk of free-fall. I think they are slightly at risk of losing the viability of running their own games platform, a self reliant strategy which suits their conservative, long-term philosophy (Nintendo is a much older company than almost everything in the tech sector).
But if they have to pack-in their hardware business, they still have their IP, their human capital, their connections, their marketing abilities. Mario on the AppStore would be a licence to print money. They just wouldn't be in control of their own destiny as much as before.
I can imagine them signing an exclusivity deal with Apple, who unlike the other players in the game space don't have an internal development division.
Good points and yeah, heck you're right Nintendo is over a century old. But I think more likely than a Nintendo/Apple partnership - is a Sony/Nintendo partnership. A deal that would leverage both companies' strengths to more effectively compete against Apple.
Apple is now Nintendo's biggest competitor, a deal with them is a last resort and would certainly be a white flag end of their hardware division.
Losing control of the platform would also mean many of their publishing deals would disappear, however. I believe that's quite a large source of revenue, the Nintendo royalty on every single Wii and DS game sold.
Thanks for bringing up Nintento. The Wii truly was an innovative product, but I can't think of any other must-have product coming from Japan in the last 10-15 years.
The Wii was innovative, but the only reason it sold well was because there were a lot of casual/first-time gamers who purchased the console. The vast majority of these people didn't buy any games other than Wii Sports (which was included with the Wii), and many probably don't even know that you can play other games on the Wii.
And these people are not going to rush out and buy the Wii U - most of them haven't touched their Wiis in years.
