I really don't understand why Nintendo insists on remaining a public company, it's asinine. They could do practically whatever the fuck they wanted good or bad as a private company and do fine. At least fine enough to survive as is and not lay anybody off. All this bullshit about investors is just...bullshit. It means nothing, Nintendo ain't abandoning the Wii U until they are good and ready in another 4-5 years for their next machine, mark that down. Come what may, period, next case.
Problem with Nintendo is, their essentially 2005 era market idiots, and I say that with love of Nintendo. But it's true. They expect their brands to sell themselves, they expect to be able to "not compete" solely on their name recognition alone, they are unwilling to give NOA/NOE any sort of real power to appeal and vouch for their market, so the whole premise of Ninty development grows out of this completely biased Japanese prism. That's imo, why their marketing of this machine has failed so badly in almost every territory.
The bottom line is, if Nintendo wants to 1) stay of public company and 2) stay relevant and turn profit, and I know I'm gonna get a ton of hate for this but....they need to drop their handheld business and focus solely on console game development and machine features. They CANNOT keep juggling two devices with quality content on a consistent basis for much longer. The handheld market is dwindling and a phase shift took place when smart phones and iOS/Android games became available. They need to bet the entire horse on one device. If ALL the best 3DS games to date had been developed and released for Wii U instead, we might be looking at different sales figures as well as a vastly superior library. Tie into this a major investment into this eShop and it gets even more interesting.
Beyond that, they need to expand their company size worldwide by I'd argue at least 50%. Increase their best team sizes by 50-75%, so that these teams can develop multiple game at the same time with quality on a consistent basis, no more huge droughts. They need to empower and increase Retro's team size by 50%, also I'd argue their budget 80% for every title. They need to build/create more local western and eastern Studios and empower them. And again, let NOA/NOE decide on what "their markets" are wanting and clamoring for, instead of what is now a very narrow minded Japanese view of both the machine AND the games and how their developed.
On the subject of third-party Nintendo idiocy is really on the same level as Valve's in this area. They both have the capital and charismatic negotiators to be at the bargaining table for almost EVERY multi-plat game with money on the table to back their word. But they both instead sit their with their thumbs up their asses and wait and hope they get offered that support at some future juncture. Not a good business plan if you want to cultivate any western relations if your Nintendo, and as we see hasn't been working for them since SNES. So the fact that third-parties are shaky about Nintendo is both historically derived and by proxy of the fact Nintendo isn't aggressively seeking it and putting the money where their mouth is, same for Valve really.
So these are just a few examples of what Nintendo needs to do in the long term to survive as a public company. There's also the need at this point to shake off that sticky vile image of "gaming for everyone" Nintendo is known for and champions, they need to change their motto (as well as game design priority) to "gaming for pro's". With an ever increasing emphasis on competitive and skill-based gameplay and machine and service features based around it. Not lame Mii-based bullshit everybody thinks is dumb as fuck.
And yes, for all this to occur over the next three years (and YES, it can happen all within three years), Iwata needs to take it to the gut and chin, couple times, and step aside and let a newer fresher more modern vision come in to save the Wii U and more importantly Nintendo's reputation and history. IMO
