Nintendo Is Hurting :(

[Frag Mortuus]

http://www.destructoid.com/nintendo-low ... 9157.phtml

Nintendo is starting to show how bad it's hurting. I DO NOT want to see Nintendo go the way of Sega. I'm positive the quality of games would suffer.

What I would like to see is an overhaul of the way they approach their consoles. I want them to be competitive again. I want them to be competitive in the graphics race and with online infrastructure. They need to quit being so resistant to trends. They can be trendy and different at the same time.

[Erik_Twice]

They could hurt this badly for more than 30 years and they still wouldn't have spent their pocket money. So yeah, I don't think Nintendo is hurting much.

The 3DS is doing well, it's only the Wii U that is doing badly. Which makes sense, we all know it had a poor launch and suffered from bad promotion. It will eventually sell its stock and remain in a safe third place like the N64 or the Gamecube which isn't a terrible position to be in, they don't sell consoles at a loss.

I don't think it's doing poorly because it's not as powerful as the other consoles or because they have a terrible online infrastructure. None of their games benefit from it and their issues with third party development won't be solved that way.

[Reprise]

they don't sell consoles at a loss.

I'm pretty sure the Wii U is (or was?) being sold at a loss.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

they don't sell consoles at a loss.

I'm pretty sure the Wii U is (or was?) being sold at a loss.

At the $350 price point it was turning profitable per unit once a single game was sold. Either way it's selling at a loss. Just more so now.

[Frag Mortuus]

They could hurt this badly for more than 30 years and they still wouldn't have spent their pocket money. So yeah, I don't think Nintendo is hurting much.

The 3DS is doing well, it's only the Wii U that is doing badly. Which makes sense, we all know it had a poor launch and suffered from bad promotion. It will eventually sell its stock and remain in a safe third place like the N64 or the Gamecube which isn't a terrible position to be in, they don't sell consoles at a loss.

I don't think it's doing poorly because it's not as powerful as the other consoles or because they have a terrible online infrastructure. None of their games benefit from it and their issues with third party development won't be solved that way.

I disagree about the third party support. I think that if Nintendo were competitive with hardware and online they would see more third party support because it would be easier to port the game developers were already making for the other two systems. So, with better third party support, they would then see higher console sales because people could get the CoD and other popular brands plus get the Nintendo franchises all on one system. Then with a bigger install base third parties would be more willing to make Nintendo exclusive games because the amount of potential sales would be higher.

Also, according to that article the 3DS is projected to sell 4.5m less units than they anticipated. That is a huge number. Granted, that doesn't mean the system isn't doing well, it just means it isn't doing as well as anticipated.

The part that bothered me about the article is that Iwata said they can't continue a business where they don't win and that they are reconsidering their business model. I know this doesn't mean they are shutting the doors, but I don't want them to make any brash decisions in hopes of turning the company around.

[irixith]

they don't sell consoles at a loss.

I'm pretty sure the Wii U is (or was?) being sold at a loss.

True.

-----

Nintendo is fighting a perception problem. It's coming from every angle -- developers, publishers, general consumers, gamers. They need to work on changing those perceptions. Many an article and editorial have been written on the subject -- it's time for Nintendo to shit or get off the pot. Build on the strengths of their gameplay experiences (and possible experiences). Fire their entire marketing team. Find ways to encourage third party development that creates a different experience from the multi-console schlock being pumped out to their competitors. Why bother having three players in the ring if they're all getting the same game?

Personally, I love the small handful of games that I've got the Wii U. The games are stellar (New Super Mario/Luigi U, Mario 3D World, Wind Waker HD, Lego City Undercover, Wonderful 101), and I have enough time to play and enjoy each one before something new comes along. Great experiences. Couldn't give a fart in high wind for the online store, or the virtual console. Clearly they're never going to be able to wrangle the licensing to give people the vc games they want -- and really, I'm not dumping $300 on the latest and greatest to play games I've already played from 20 years ago. It's a nice extra, but there are tons of different ways to do that, and nearly all those ways are better than the Wii U experience anyway. (If there was cross-buy between the 3DS/Wii U, I'd feel differently. I'd like to play Earthbound on my 3DS...) The store is mostly filled with games I can get on other systems or the PC. I want Wii U experiences on my Wii U, not PC/Xbox/PS experiences gimped to run on my Wii U.

I'm just rambling here. Wish they'd get their act into gear in a way the industry could get behind, so they'd stop slagging them all the time and just enjoy the great games they're putting out.

[kidfresh]

Oh, and with Miyamoto considering retirement, Nintendo will be an interesting story to watch for the next decade or so. While I think the Wii U is a fine piece of machinery, it just didn't do as well as the PS4 sales-wise. Globally, the PS4 sold upwards of 700k consoles in its launch week, and the Wii U only managed 183k. I think they're still looking for the Wii U's knock-out title. The Vita is the same deal. It's a great piece of hardware, but doesn't have the most head-turning library of software.

[MrPopo]

Oh, and with Miyamoto considering retirement, Nintendo will be an interesting story to watch for the next decade or so.

This is going to be the real interesting thing. When he retires we'll be able to get a real sense of how much core input he has on games these days. Obviously early on he was The Man behind everything, but as dev teams get larger he is now sharing gameplay design decisions with others. If he's successfully trained several people in the high level design style that he has then we should see little change when he's gone.

[jfrost]

Poor them.

[Cronozilla]

Here's some of my thoughts on what might be going on:

It does seem like

a lot of the reasons why Nintendo isn't getting various titles is perception. It's not really, oh it just can't run it, Wii U's not getting titles that are only on 360 and PS3. And the only explanation for that is perception.

I think that because they're not setting trends publishers don't care. I also think that a lot of people push what they think Nintendo should be about even if it's not what Nintendo is saying.

For example, if the Wii U was more powerful than the PS4 ... and it cost $400 ... would people buy it? I don't think they would. I think, in general, people would complain that the price is too high and Nintendo systems should be cheap. (People are still complaining that Wii U is too much, even though Nintendo isn't necessarily making money on that sale)

I think that a lot of third party developers have had the mindset that Nintendo is for kids and only kids games survive for so long (it's a stigma brought out in the 90s, and has been perpetuated by competitors and then media since then) that it's almost like ... we've got people making decisions and making games, that aren't even considering Nintendo as a platform.

In the handheld space, they just sell a lot more systems, so people are more confident in selling games on it. But, Nintendo has to build that every time they release anything. It really seems like if Sony is throwing a new system down, or Microsoft is launching something, they have people lining up behind them to be like, yeah we're there because those'll be the systems to own. And I don't know if that would be the case if publishers weren't making that call.

So, at this point in time, I think that what Nintendo needs to do is double down on themselves and really branch out. Because most people involved with games really seem to just behave like flocks of sheep ... or maybe mosquito. They just follow what other people do, and swarm to suck it all up.

Until there's something there that really changes how everyone plays by just changing game design, I don't think they're going to get the share they need. And that can allow them to be sustainable, but I don't know. I don't think they're going the way of Sega, for instance, that's entirely premature, Nintendo really does have deep pockets. But it would just mean that the next few years and the next piece of hardware they put out ... they really need to get it right.

Moving forward they just need those titles. And it sounds like that's what they're doing. They've expanded three of their owned party studios, and hopefully that's so more can come out.