They're kind of different, but they're still video game hardware.
not sure if serious.
Many, MANY things are "video game hardware." Smartphones are videogame hardware. Tablets are video game hardware. PCs are videogame hardware. Laptops are video game hardware. Hell, you could probably play videogames on a texas instruments scientific calculator if you were so inclined.
What makes a market comes down to serving common needs and the demographics of the buyer. There is little to no crossover between the market buying PS4's, and the ones buying the 3DS. They're barely in competition at all, and aren't subject to the same competitive forces. When the handheld gaming market is getting taken to the cleaners due to competition from phones while consoles and PCs largely ignore them- that's your first clue that they aren't serving the same audience.
This is based on your opinion, not facts. The Wii happened not that long ago
The Wii is a last gen console. launched 10 years ago. This is long enough for me. And the decline of that system happened around 2011, which is oh...about 5 or 6 years. enough time for a new generation.
Nintendo failed with its successor, true, but absolutely nothing indicates that they lost the fanbase entirely or that another Wii isn't possible.
That fanbase is gone. It's gone for Nintendo with the Wii, it's gone for Microsoft with Kinect. There is no "Wii2" that will ever approach the numbers of the original. And it's very telling that neither Microsoft NOR Nintendo are even attempting to win back any kind of audience with motion controls. That interface is dead and no player major or minor is attempting to bring it back in any serious way.
Unless you can provide me a solid reason, which you can't.
It's not my job to convince unreasonable people. you want to ignore facts and not use common sense, your call.
Think about it this way: something happens. You say it won't ever happen again, but don't have anything to back your claim. What you think is more believable, actual historical precedent or your educated guess?
Historical precedent says Nintendo loses market share in console land one generation after another like clockwork- Wii aside. So what does that likely say for their prospects going forward? Historical precedent backs my argument more than it does yours.
Sony is winning the generation in a landslide thanks to a combination of factors. This "goodwill" you mention play a part, but you know what else does? How badly Microsoft and Nintendo fucked it up in this generation. How much better priced the PS4 was. How great of a marketing push it got. Hell, even how beautiful the console looks as opposed to the VHS hunk of shit looking the Xbox One is.
All of that goes back to Sony's investment in the PS3. Without working their asses off to build the brand, build their IP, *change their hardware strategy entirely* by looking at what did NOT work, there is no success with the PS4. Did microsoft mess up? sure they did. But you could easily argue Microsoft's success with the 360 was more due to SONY dropping the ball than it was anything Microsoft did. Outselling Sony 2:1 or 3:1 in the US again wasn't happening- again, largely because of the goodwill sony built with the PS3 in the later half of the generation.
That's IP, that's marketing, that's building PSN into something that wasn't a flaming pile of garbage next to live, that's giving out free games to lock gamers into the ecosystem.
But I think we might be arguing about different things here.
Nintendo made more money than Sony with video games since the Playstation inception. Like a fuckton more. That's the sustainability I mean. You can take that into account or very recent trends and how badly Nintendo fucked up with the Wii U, it's your call.
The 3DS is still the leading video game device for this generation though (it will be surpassed eventually, but my point stands).
You're confusing handheld revenue with console revenue. Again, different markets.
Nintendo's HUGE PROFITS come from dominating the highly profitable handheld sector while they struggled for marketshare in the console sector. where do you think Nintendo would have been during the Gamecube or WiiU years without the GBA, DS, or 3DS? If you have any answer other than "out of business" it's wrong.
Now that the handheld sector is under serious threat from tablets and phones, those "HUGE PROFITS" are no longer possible- and since Nintendo has no idea what to do in the console space, they're looking desperately for something that will allow them to stay viable if and when the dedicated handheld market goes bust. Sustainability isn't about what you did ten years ago, it's where your business will be ten years from now.
Sony doesn't have that problem. the PS4 is bringing in a lot of money (and the PS5 likely will as well when that's out in a few years) but even if it collapsed tomorrow- they're already building the infrastructure that allows "Playstation" to play on any device with a network connection. You can already play PS games on a smart TV with no other hardware. In terms of "who's sustainable" between the two it's Sony by quite a bit.
