“A good reputation is hard-won and easily lost. But the lost reputation has invariably been given away by the actions of the holder, rather than been taken away by somebody else.” - Colin Beveridge
With the lacklustre reception that has greeted the Wii U upon its arrival 15 months ago (5.86 million units shipped worldwide), it's safe to say that the Wii U is an undesired flop. Even blockbuster exclusives like Mario 3D World and the eagerly anticipated Mario Kart 8 have done little to inspire confidence in the format.
Together with this, Nintendo have also delivered the double whammy of bad news as they've announced that sales for their best selling handheld 3DS format are also now in decline, and that even fan favourite franchise updates (such as the recently released Zelda and Pokemon games) have done little to stem the handheld's ailing fortunes - despite the system selling 11.65 million units in 2013 (down from 12.71 million units sold during the same period in 2012).
Without going into too much detail as to why sales for the Wii U and 3DS have faltered, it's worth pointing out that Nintendo no longer enjoy a monopolistic stranglehold over the market that they once presided over during the 16 bit SNES era and when the GameBoy ...