Wedbush Securities' Michael Pachter foresees a grim future for Nintendo

Sep 7, 2014 12:19 GMT  ·  By

Nintendo will have to abandon hardware production in the future, according to an analyst’s predictions regarding the direction of gaming trends in coming years.

Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter has been known to deliver various shades of grim news regarding the future of the gaming business, but his most recent statements are by far the most shocking.

Being present at the Cloud Game USA conference, Pachter spoke his mind regarding the future of the business, and Nintendo in particular, once again delivering a negative outlook on the Japanese corporation.

“They are more than a decade behind the curve, and they are so insular that there is no desire internally to learn from others. Nintendo hardware goes away. There is a place for their content. There is no place for Nintendo hardware. Nobody cares. They will have to abandon hardware,” Patcher stated, as quoted by GamesBeat.

Nintendo Wii U sales are still dwindling, but each new entry in the company’s big name franchises sees a spike in interest and hardware sales. While the Japanese corporation is currently nowhere near the dominant position it held years ago, it’s still a big player in the console world.

The company’s strength lies in its handhelds, but with smartphones and tablets becoming increasingly powerful, and with trends showing a shift toward cloud computing-supported gaming, the need for dedicated gaming hardware is predicted to gradually wane.