Change will always give rise to conflicting emotions. When Nintendo announced their mobile plans, many were enthused. Some were investors who see it as a way forward for the company towards the greener pastures of mobile gaming – which will hopefully make more “green” for them. Some wiser fans recognized that for Nintendo to remain game makers, they had to expand and adapt in order to survive as neither of their current platforms are performing as expected, and may never do so. But the vast majority of us are not shareholders and financial realities are no comfort to that sinking feeling that the coming changes may not be in keeping with our gaming expectations.
I’ve always been a bit skeptical about Nintendo’s console future because of the WII. This was a console that had unexpected runaway success and filled the coffers at Nintendo like never before. It printed money – if you believe the memes. Yet, despite this windfall, Nintendo never positioned themselves to compete with their more tech savvy competitors. They didn’t expand their studios for the upcoming demands of HD gaming in the current generation. They didn’t acquire any new studios. They didn’t build a vibrant online infrastructure. They could have sent out dev kits for free and lower royalties to attract 3rd party developers. They were poised to strike, but never did. Its almost as though they pretended the whole thing didn’t happen. They came into this generation with the same old stategy as if hoping to have lightning strike twice in the same spot. Unfortunately for them, Sony did not release another $600 console, and the Xbox is now a known and successful brand. To be honest, I can’t really fault them for not trying to outspend the other two for the same audience, but they just seemed to stand still instead of trying to move in a new direction.
Well, now they have chosen a new direction – mobile. I think its great to see them try to increase their relevance and face reality. Home consoles are dead in Japan. Dedicated handhelds are not performing as they once did. They have not positioned themselves to compete with the X1 or PS4 or their successors. Something had to be done. Now Nintendo took the time to say that they still have plans to continue in the console space. This is expected. They still have games in development for the WiiU and they still have consoles on the shelves. They’re not going to admit that they are leaving the home console market next year. That would just result in an unnecessary loss of income. But it’s the question on my mind – are they done with home consoles?
It comes down to a matter of logistics. They are currently struggling to support their 2 consoles with enough software to make both commercially attractive. The result is a struggling WiiU that has a good library but with games that seem poorly differentiated from the WII library. Sony also struggles with this in the Vita. Nintendo have already stated their intention to make games from scratch from mobile instead of relying on ports. The question remains – Do they have enough studios to support all these ventures? I don’t think so. Personally, at some point in time, something has to give, and the most likely candidate for extinction is their home console segment.
It will be a great disappointment to many avid gamers. They have a right to be paranoid in my opinion and it would be very sad to see so many fans left out in the cold. Hopefully, Nintendo can keep the home consoles going or make their mobile sector into something that will please their fans greatly. Hopefully, we all have something that suits our tastes with what's coming NX.
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If Nintendo wants to stand tall in their home country, mobile is the way to go. Consoles are practically dead in Japan, so a mobile move is logical. However, I'm still skeptical, as are many, in how Nintendo can approach mobile. Will they cave to the "microtransaction hell" of other mobile devs? I dunno. At least the 3DS will still be around with more substantial games and...well...buttons. I'm kind of surprised how much buttons matter these days to gamers. Kinda feel odd taking them for granted.
As for NX, I hope Nintendo at least tries to do something a little more technically parred with their competitors. At the very least, a more robust online ecosystem would be great, just to show that games like Smash Bros. and Mario Kart can flourish even more online than they are now.
Nintendo's decisions are startling, but I wouldn't call this a make-or-break situation, since their famous/infamous "war chest" will keep them going for a while, even if something goes awry. I'm staying cautiously optimistic. Hopefully we'll see good results.
I don't think Nintendo has any plans to leave the home console industry, and if NX indeed is a home console then i expect it to be released no earlier than 2017. Nintendo has a huge amounts of money to compensate for there loses. Nintendo made the same mistake SONY did with the Playstation 3 and what most devs. complained about, and that is not involving the 3rd party devs. enough in the development process and shutting them out, but PS3 had an advantage over the WiiU and that is the console was very powerful. Personally i own a WiiU and i think it's an awesome console, i love the ganepad and i can't wait to get my hands on the open-world Zelda but i wish it was on par with the current consoles regarding power. No platform can rely only on exclusives and that's a fact, so unless your console already selling thousands by any magical way, then 3rd party devs will never create games exclusively for it. PS4 doesn't have that many exclusives but it's powerful enough so devs. could create the same version of the game for it along with the other two, and i think devs. use the PS4 as the lead developing platform now.
Good read . I would love for Nintendo to make some virtual reality rooms in a Arcade type setting . I know it is far fetched, but imagine playing Metroid or Mario in Star Trek Holideck type setting . I think arcades are still popular in Japan . In reality, i guess that can only happen in our dreams.
Excelent read.
"Nintendo never positioned themselves to compete with their more tech savvy competitors. They didn’t expand their studios for the upcoming demands of HD gaming in the current generation. They didn’t acquire any new studios. They didn’t build a vibrant online infrastructure. They could have sent out dev kits for free and lower royalties to attract 3rd party developers. They were poised to strike, but never did. Its almost as though they pretended the whole thing didn’t happen. They came into this generation with the same old stategy as if hoping to have lightning strike twice in the same spot."
THAT is the reason I've been saying for so long that Nintendo has to get rid of Satoru Iwata. Nintendo's biggest enemy is inside, and has a name: Satoru Iwata. Seriously I don't understand how this man has managed to keep his job for so long. He is the worst CEO and businessman ever. He just got lucky with the Wii but is obvious he has no vision at all, nothing, zero. Nintendo, please, please, let go mr. Iwata, he is poisoning the hole company!!!
nintendo wont leave the home console market anytime soon (i know/hope)
i think before they do they'll try to at least much them in power and see what happens as a last ditch effort.. OPINION ALERT: i think nintendo will be the last TRADITIONAL console on the market left.. because the other two seem to be going the digital route
the reason most third partys dev dont make games on Nintendo consoles are because their weaker then the comp.. so if nintendo were to match its power.. say like the xbox one.. would they try to make games or come up with another excuse..
to me they wont because of what theyve been doing with the ps3/360 games that dont show up the install base... chicken or the egg
they dont wont to create games because of low install base
but dont want to help create a base..
if ps/xbox didnt have third partys to look forward to im sure the install base would be alot lower than what is is now