I remember a very interesting comment from Take Two's CEO about Wii U's failure, he said they intentionally let the brand fade away, they could've been much more aggressive with it if they really wanted, they are a big company, but they decided against that. this is what Strauss Zelnick said back in 2016:
(It's not a slump, it's intentional. They come to market, they do really well, and then they sort of exit the market for a period of time. They've been doing it for like 150 years, and that company has been doing the same thing... They're really thoughtful, they come to market with something they really think is going to work, more often than not it really works, it blows up and then eventually they let it decline and they move on to the next thing. They don't mind having time in between. ).
I believe Wii U concept may have done better if the execution was good but it wasn't, they expected, how much? 10m units sold in its first year? they sold that amount in 3 years, so I imagine the hardware didn't break even, it was abysmal and not really worth it, games like AC:NH never would've never turned into a big success story if they were released on a system nobody own or want to own. Those games are not only successful because they are good or attractive, but also because they are available on a hardware that is breaking records left and right.
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Looking at the charts that made by Hiska-kun, Switch is really closing in on 3DS, I thought that won't be possible because 3DS had the advantage of third parties system sellers like Yokai Watch, Monster Hunter 4, and main DQ titles.
Nintendo is making up for that with their titles doing better than usual, they also do have a complete monopoly over the handheld market now, and Switch Lite model (which I opposed at first honestly) is a brilliant idea to increase hardware sales by reaching different customers with different needs and a lower price point. now I think 25m is not impossible for Switch family in Japan.
