Nintendo's Trajectory ⇒

Marco Arment:

I don’t think Nintendo has a bright future. I see them staying in the shrinking hardware business until the bitter end, and then becoming roughly like Sega today: a shell of the former company, probably acquired for relatively little by someone big, endlessly whoring out their old franchises in mostly mediocre games that will leave their old fans longing for the good old days.

Personally I’m not yet convinced that Nintendo’s future is so bleak.

But I’m a little weird when it comes to consoles. I think the value-adds other companies tout (it’s also a Blu-ray player! it’s also a media streamer!) are the fad; making great games and the consoles to play them on is the long con Nintendo is committed to.

Nintendo is going to weather some rough years ahead, but I don’t think Sony, Microsoft, Valve or Apple have cornered the market on delightful gaming experiences yet.

Yet…