i was thinking

Census says no.

They will continue to make new Zelda and Mario iterations for as long as they can. I have no problem with that, as long as they are good. They may not want dabble into new franchises, but when an old formula continues to work and produce good games, why not stick with that?

I'm guessing no.

I'm pretty sure they will not.

Highly doubt it.

I wish. :(

The problem is that you were thinking ;-)

Kidding, kidding.

I don't think they'd do that. They would be smart to, but they know they don't have to. I don't even know if they have the chops to do it anymore.

They won't make a new hardcore franchise unless sales got so low, the casual appeal was gone, and their current franchises like Zelda, Mario etc weren't selling well either. If you can picture that happening then the answer would be "yes"...if not, then you can expect a big fat "NO!"

I doubt they will create any new good hardcore franchises anytime soon. The Wii games (Wii Sports, Wii Play, Wii Music) are technically a new franchise intended for casual players. Obviously they are having a ton of success with those.

Hopefully they'll make The Conduit their new flagship.

new "real game" franchise = financial gamble =/= guaranteed cash cow