EDIT: Xantar beat me to the cut, but I do go into a little more detail...
Planetgamecube has a little article on this...I like what Rick says
Rick says: No mention of the fact that Nintendo makes a great deal of money through the licensing fees to make games on it's console either, something it would lose out on by leaving that market.
Most importantly, this article focused solely on SALES, not profitablity, where Nintendo leads. It also ignored Nintendo's stranglehold on the handheld market.
There is a lesson to be learned here. If these analysts knew all the answers to these questions, why aren't they running multi-million dollar successful companies? Because those that can, DO. Those that can't, play armchair quarterback.
On a side note, it's also worth noting that this report came from Europe, where Nintendo is having a particularly hard time, so of course, the sentiment from that part of the world is going to be more "doom and gloom" than is accurate for the rest of the world.
also, you might want to check out this other article posted on PGC today.
http://www.planetgamecube.com/news.c...n=item&id=3999
Once again, rick makes some good comments:
Rick says: So this all begs the question ... what's more important? Sure, Nintendo could ditch their "family values", and try to attract franchises that are more (or less, depending on your viewpoint) mature like GTA, DOA, etc., and become tops in the industry in terms of sales. Or they could keep focused on quality gameplay and thei strong bottom line, settle for being second place, and laugh all the way to the bank.
Console "fanboyism" is a funny thing. We all want to have the "number one" console. Why can't we just be happy with the games we have, and know that the company making them is healthy? Why is it important that all our friends have the same console? The answer is pretty simple: It's NOT important at all.
But if that's the kind of thing that keeps you up at night, just keep this in mind. Nintendo might be second in sales, but Sony has had to make DOUBLE the sales of Nintendo and still hasn't reached Nintendo's same level of profitability. That makes Nintendo #1 in my book.
BOTTOM LINE: The gamecube isnt losing money for Nintendo. They like to have their own consoles suited to their tastes, and as long as having their own console's is profitable, why bother going 3rd party? I will probably get bashed again for this, but I make valid points regardless.