Yeah its been obvious for months now that Consoles are kinda DOA, with the handheld market being dominated by Nintendo. Next gen however if Nintendo OS is on some really innovative hardware, both Handheld and Console, I can see the universal software working out for Nintendo really well, if not creating a revitalization of the market in general.
It's not even a matter of who so much as it is a matter of quantity. Nintendo's only dominating the handheld industry because Sony seems to have completely stopped regarding the Vita as a system and instead advertise it as a peripheral for the PS4 (even going so far as to rename the Vita TV, whose whole original selling point was to play Vita games on TV, to Playstation TV and minimizing the Vita play aspect). But the game is standing up, being held by the third party that still cares (and apparently, those consumers that REALLY need their indie games on the Vita specifically). Because of this, it's niche, and you're not really going to be able to sell bigger devs on it for that same reason (too large a potential for loss). This is also why you'll find the fanbase so divided in terms of titles that are out for it (this, I'd say, is one of the most subjective cases of a fanbase schism considering that it deals with the games' target audiences rather than their quality).
And for consoles, they sort of relate. Not in that they're niche, but that they're something of an opposite case. Games are becoming harder to make, I'd even say exponentially so, and if you want to sell the core on your experience, you need a good presentation and graphics to grab them. It doesn't help that, from what I've seen lately, core gamers (that is, the vast majority of gamers, the biggest audience) and casual gamers actually care about their substance in their games. Destiny, for instance, is actually considered mediocre by many, and that makes me proud- not because it's
Destiny specifically, but because a game can boast many things and people actually manage to see it for what it is and for what they like and don't like about it rather than just jumping on a love/hate bandwagon and bawwing like there's no tomorrow.
But because of these things, game designers need to put a lot more money and time into their game's development than they would have had to last gen or two gens ago. It can be crippling, and trying to introduce yourself as a developer into the industry without selling your company's soul to a publishing megalith such as Activision or EA is becoming more difficult (this is moreso true for the West than the East, as Japanese games put less emphasis on the graphics and overall presentation quality than the West does). The first party keeps these systems stable, with larger third parties or first party subsidiaries doing their part as well. That's why so many people introduce themselves via the indie train, because their time and their restrictions are their own, and they're only held down by however much money they have, and the game can take liberties, artistic chances, and not have the latest and greatest graphics and still be enjoyed by an otherwise discriminating gamer. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if we eventually dropped this popularized meaning of the word "Indie" and created a free judgmental template that would give developers the courage to not plop millions of dollars and a number of years on a game just to make it look super special. Something like a return to ground zero for the game industry, with all judgments and preconceptions for what a game should be or look like being reset. It'd be nice.
And then you have these two other consoles, the handhelds, that don't demand the greatest and allow for a much freer palette. They're easy to develop on and, especially with the 3DS and Vita, nice looking games can be made without demanding too much, while similarly, okay looking games wouldn't be derided completely on that fact (so long as they have the art style to back it up). Couple this with the fact that, especially lately, console sized games can be made for these systems and, as a result, they aren't so much simply pocket games, it makes them cheap(er), attractive, and overall beneficial platforms to develop on. If you couple this with what I said about presentation minimalism in Japanese games, it makes sense that this would be a popular platform for development there, especially considering that they become more attractive to a larger amount of gamers as a result.
...Sorry for the long post, it's just interesting to discuss and I don't post here as often as I used to :x
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