Pokémon Go shows that Nintendo's franchises are way bigger than its hardware

I love Nintendo and the Wii U but the pricing of Nintendo Wii U games sucks. Years after some of their games have been released they're still $59.99 to buy brand new. Then there's a lack of gaming studios devoted to the Wii U. The Playstation has it's own niche, the X-Box has it's own niche of gaming studios as well. I think Nintendo should invest in a brand new subsidiary that is allowed to "think outside of the Nintendo box" and make new crazy games, while taking full advantage of the Wii U. There is much potential I think with the Wii U and that is what made me buy it, sadly not many have taken advantage, or the companies that do they make their Wii U version too late for it to matter for most. It's like GTA and PC, too late but GTA is a big enough game to still sell plenty. Another thing they should really do is create new franchises, that is something Disney does all the time. Bring a new show, sell as much product for it as they can, rinse and repeat.

Pokemon is, in my opinion, a uniquely valuable franchise, however, above and beyond anything else Nintendo has in the magazine. You've got multiple generations that have grown up with it, between the games, cards, TV show, merchandising, etc, etc. It distilled the essence of fun, but grindy, rpgs down into an almost perfect form, and wrapped it up in a kid-friendly package (despite the fact that you're really playing what amounts to a Roman lanista or Michael Vick simulator)

I don't think Mario or Zelda or Donkey Kong, or any of the other beaten-to-death Nintendo IP is on the same level.

Knowing Nintendo's stubborn management, I wouldn't be super surprised if they just announce that they will make their own Android phone and make Pokemon Go exclusive to it.

Microsoft should buy out Nintendo, make its games and franchises available for Xbox & PC, and sell the specialty Nintendo hardware like the WiiMote or that TabletController as accessories. It could also roll Kinect under the Nintendo add-on brand.

Hardware has predictable margins, if not predictable sales. Software prices tend rapidly to zero.

Am I right in thinking that Pokemon Go is the first Nintendo game to use the "free-to-play" business model, where all sorts of progression is gated behind ongoing coin purchases?

This has been true for at least 10 years but Nintendo could not react to it. Shame that such a huge content company was to get lost in hardware and old biz models when the way forward was very obvious. Netflix does not build netflix boxes (I think).