Namco Bandai Sales VP: Wii and DS market has collapsed

[fastbilly1]

If you add someone as a foe, technically their posts should not show up for you when logged in.

[ZeroAX]

and namco has made what noteworthy game for nintendo platforms? exactly

I never got that logic. Why are you being defensive? It's not like Nintendo offers you a paycheque. DS and Wii owners are getting shortchanged in terms of quality software because of a number of verifiable reasons.

"We had a lot of product, and the average quality of a game on DS and Wii is very, very bad. So in the mind of the consumer today, to buy a DS or Wii game is to buy a game that isn’t very good."

I'm not being defensive. I love my Wii and DS but Wii games are mostly crap, with the exception of some true gems here and there, and the DS used to be a bastion of excellent game design until 2008, but it seams for the last 2 years 3rd parties are just happy with releasing flash games on DS for a full game price.

The reason I made that comment is what the Namco representative said which I put in "" marks. I ask why are they complaining?

Marvelous should complain. They have made some excellent games and they have not sold as good as they deserve. But then again I don't think they would have sold any better if they were released on the 360 and PS3.

Heck even Sega can complain a little (though really on rail shooters and mediocre FPS games fail to sell anywhere. Also Madworld I bought and did not like as much as other people did).


I believe the problem with the Wii is not it's audience. It's that 3rd parties just suck. They think that with a minimum investment, with bad game design and waggle full games they will sell millions.

I'm sorry but that's not how things work. The reason people only buy Nintendo games is because they are freaking good. If you treat your customers like crap, they won't come back. And really it's not like Nintendo is using it's 80s tactics to have an edge against other developers. They just make good games, which they push with plenty of marketing muscle.

But no 3rd parties think the Wii user is dumb, that he will buy any piece of shit with fit this or cute that, and now Wii users will only buy from companies they trust, a.k.a Nintendo.



And really Namco has only released 2 good games on the Wii (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Wii_games) and one of them is a PS1 port and the other a sequel to a JRPG I actually liked, but never remember actually hearing about this coming out (which means 0 marketing).

[alienjesus]

The man has a fucking point. But no Apple and Nintendo fanboys are always there with their ad hominem attacks.

All fanboys of any company think they are always right. Sony and Microsoft fanboys are just as bad, as were Sega fanboys back in the day :p


Either way, it's sad to think that this is probably right. I love the DS, it's my favourite ever console, and it's sad to think that theres a lot of great games that might never happen because some people have decided that paying is for losers. The thing that worries me is the prospect that such a large pirate market for DS will drive a push for pirate devices on 3DS, and kill that before its time. The handheld market is always going to struggle with piracy more than home consoles I'd assume, and its a shame.

Still, although there have been less DS games, im not sure i'd describe it as a drought. We've had Warioware DIY, Jam with the Band(in the EU), Henry Hatsworth, Mario & Luigi 3, infinite space, Professor Layton 2, Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth, Zelda Spirit Tracks, Scribblenauts and a fair amount of others i've probably forgotten in the last year ago.

And yes, as far as i can remember, the GBA was as bad as this in its dying days. I can remember the only things on the shelf being cheap shovelware and pokemon emerald.

[JordanPlayer]

Lately I have been thinking about how the Nintendo Seal of Quality used to mean something... how back in the day on the NES Nintendo limited the amount of games a developer could release in a year for the system (in a move to ensure that the games were of better quality). This was because Nintendo saw Atari go down from having a lot of crapware released for it and consumers getting burned by not being able to figure out which games were really worth the price. Nowadays the Nintendo Seal of Quality doesn't mean shit as everyone and their mother is shoveling out crappy games for both systems as fast as they can and Nintendo is approving it. In my opinion something needs to change as the standards for these systems (especially the Wii) have dropped in the eyes of gamers and some consumers trying to make good purchases.

We had a lot of product, and the average quality of a game on DS and Wii is very, very bad. So in the mind of the consumer today, to buy a DS or Wii game is to buy a game that isn’t very good.

I don't agree with this part though; sure you have to do a little bit of research but it's not that hard to read up on a game to see if it is good or not. I doubt you would get a response anywhere close to this if you asked an average consumer. I don't see how Namco Bandai can actually complain either if they are somewhat contributing to the slide in quality with games that end up with meh ratings.

[Pulsar_t]

Alright, thanks ZeroAX for making that point. I agree for the most part but this blame game will go around in circles and in the meantime the DS/Wii drought is only worsening. Has the breadth of (mostly crappy) choices really hurt any risk-taking chances when it comes to the DS and Wii?

When you watch television and see people with no interest in gaming whatsoever market the Wii as a fitness machine you know it's not the thing for you. It appears when expanding upon your userbase you end up shortchanging a significant portion of that userbase.

And piracy is a whole different kettle of fish.

[alienjesus]

And really Namco has only released 2 good games on the Wii (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Wii_games) and one of them is a PS1 port and the other a sequel to a JRPG I actually liked, but never remember actually hearing about this coming out (which means 0 marketing).

Just chiming in to add that both Sky Crawlers Innocent Aces and Fragile Dreams, whilst not known as the very pinnacle of the system, are both games which have evidently had a lot of effort put into them, and arent just rushed out shovelware. You also forgot Klonoa.

Marvelous should complain. They have made some excellent games and they have not sold as good as they deserve. But then again I don't think they would have sold any better if they were released on the 360 and PS3.

Its sad to think that they probably won't last much longer. Apparently they've cancelled work on a new IP in order to try and use their current IPs to make money and stop themselves going under. Considering how well their current IPs did, I cant imagine it working.

[ZeroAX]

Either way, it's sad to think that this is probably right. I love the DS, it's my favourite ever console, and it's sad to think that theres a lot of great games that might never happen because some people have decided that paying is for losers. The thing that worries me is the prospect that such a large pirate market for DS will drive a push for pirate devices on 3DS, and kill that before its time. The handheld market is always going to struggle with piracy more than home consoles I'd assume, and its a shame.

just to make an argument for the reason for piracy (of course I am against it), but it doesn't help when DS games sell for almost the same price as a PS3/360 game, which has HD graphics and costs a lot more to make than a DS game.

What should I get for 45 € a copy of Final Fantasy 13 for my PS3, or Pokemon Soul Silver, a freaking remake of a decade old game for my DS?

I don't think I've been able to justify paying full price for a DS game for years. Of course I wait 6 months and buy them for 20€ off the internet, but that doesn't really make things much better since then the dilemma is should I buy a DS game for 20€ or anything from the entire PS3 / PC library for less?

[Pulsar_t]

I don't think I'm even going to consider 3DS if Nintendo retains this inflated price model.. Maybe as a homebrew handheld if it's significantly more powerful than the PSP.

[yomomma1]

Marvelous games wouldn't sell better on the 360/ps3. Plus marvelous doesn't even make that many games. In America Ds games are Usually 29.99 to 34.99 dollars, where a ps3/360 game is 60 dollars. If you add sales tax in, (Lets say California)(usd) Ds games are 32.45 to 37.90 And ps3/360 games are 64.95.

[ZeroAX]

I don't think I'm even going to consider 3DS if Nintendo retains this inflated price model.. Maybe as a homebrew handheld if it's significantly more powerful than the PSP.

I'm hoping for a Apple Store like application for the 3DS, but with true quality control and not killing of the prices (ok this I think is impossible to happen, since Nintendo won't allow it, since unlike apple, they want software to be profitable).

I really believe that the gaming market lacks scaling with it's prices. It's ok to make short or even not too good games. But really you can't sell a 10 hour game at the same price of a 50 hour game.


Imagine if all DVDs cost the same as a DVD boxset. Would you guys keep buying them?

and about the risk taking, it's because gaming company executives don't know anything about video games. FFS Activision wanted to turn Brutal Legend into a Guitar Hero spin-off. They want to please their stockholders, and stockholders only care about increasing profits, minimizing costs, and the easiest way to do that, is look at the market, what is selling the most and copy that.



That's why I love Nintendo's business strategy. They never aim for huge profits. They aim to always be profitable, while at the same time trying new things to see if something catches on and it makes them millions. It's true risk taking while truly minimizing the risks.