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[jimi_dini]

You need to be careful with those surveys. Many of those statistics tend to be too inclusive.

Ehh, the Wii numbers are actually from Nintendo themselves.
And they got Club Nintendo surveys for those. That's another thing that Nintendo nailed for years and the competition doesn't seem to grasp it. Instead of online passes and other bullshit, they motivate customers to buy new by offering them exclusive goods (which aren't ripped out content from their games). And they even get accurate customer data out of it. I have no idea why Sony nor Microsoft isn't doing something similar. What Nintendo is doing in that case is pro-customer. What Sony did was totally anti-customer.

Iwatas inability to capitalize and build on the MASSIVE success of the ds and wii is inexcusable. He needs to go

Eh, I think that MASSIVE success of DS + Wii would have never happened without Iwata. Trying something creative is risky and may fail. Wii could have also failed. But I prefer that approach instead of just pulling a walled PC and just releasing a more powerful system every few years.

 

[darkwhitehair]

Does Neil Druckmann's reach know no bounds?

 

[Cheech]

There's no money in the smartphone market for hardcore games. That market just won't pay premium prices for games. Rovio's Angry Birds series has over 2 billion downloads and millions of in app purchase transactions yet makes precious little revenue. Rovio only made €156 million in revenue as a company in 2013 and profits just shy of 27 million euro.

An individual Nintendo title like Mario Kart Wii sold just 35 million copies (not billions), but generated over $2billion worth of revenue - more than Rovio as an entire company. Console games are an order of magnitude more lucrative than Smartphone games.

Your analysis falls apart when you look at how much Supercell makes though. You don't think a F2P Pokemon MMO on iOS would be wildly profitable? Really?

 

[Riki]

There's no money in the smartphone market for hardcore games. That market just won't pay premium prices for games. Rovio's Angry Birds series has over 2 billion downloads and millions of in app purchase transactions yet makes precious little revenue. Rovio only made €156 million in revenue as a company in 2013 and profits just shy of 27 million euro.

An individual Nintendo title like Mario Kart Wii sold just 35 million copies (not billions), but generated over $2billion worth of revenue - more than Rovio as an entire company. Console games are an order of magnitude more lucrative than Smartphone games.

Not too long ago Nintendo said that Pokemon alone made more than the entire App store.
I'm not sure if that is still true, but it shows why there is no point in Nintendo catering to such an unstable market.

 

[ArkhamFantasy]

Not too long ago Nintendo said that Pokemon alone made more than the entire App store.
I'm not sure if that is still true, but it shows why there is no point in Nintendo catering to such an unstable market.

I agree 100%, i dont understand why everyone assumes that Nintendo should just become a mobile company, that should be an absolute worst case scenario where their hardware completely bombs and Playstation/Xbox/PC are all dead as well.

 

[HyruleGuardian]

Pokemon on iOS...

First of all, Pokemon and Animal Crossing are the only major Nintendo franchises that even remotely work on iOS.

Second of all, Nintendo would have to dramatically reduce the price. They have sold 13 million units of Pokemon X & Y at $40 each. In order to produce the same kind of revenue on mobile, they would have to sell something like 130 million units at $4 each. That strikes me as incredibly unrealistic.

Third of all, Pokemon is not necessarily a game that appeals to "casual" players like people might think. It's not Angry Birds, it's not Candy Crush, you can't just instantly understand the appeal. The people who would be genuinely interested in spending more than 1 or 2 bucks on the game are going to be people who have already been interested in the game in the past.

Fourth of all, the day Nintendo puts Pokemon on iOS, they're saying to their core consumers "you no longer have any reason to buy Nintendo hardware." Nintendo's hardware business effectively comes to an end.

And with that, all the Nintendo franchises that wouldn't play well without a true controller immediately come to a crushing end.

Nintendo sold 255 million units of hardware in the last generation (Wii and DS). Right now they are struggling with 53 million units of hardware sold this generation (Wii U and 3DS). But Nintendo is still valued higher than Sony as a company. It would be wise for them to stick it out and see if they can turn it around for at least one more generation after this one. Abandoning hardware and sticking to mobile should be considered an absolute last resort. Nintendo still has $10 billion+ in cash reserves, and it would be wise to use that and try to right the ship before abandoning it.

 

[Cuburt]

I find this hard to believe considering Nintendo turning things around so far for the Wii U and Iwata's increased approval rating, despite recently posting an operating loss. People inside Nintendo management trying to oust Iwata over allegedly being the only one who doesn't want to "go mobile" despite already announcing plans to use mobile and their stance on mobile? Sounds like wishful thinking by someone.

If there is unrest within Nintendo, it's going to be due to some more operational/direction of the company sort of conflict, not the number one (often ignorant, short-selling) investor demand. That's a great way to kill Nintendo like many publishers would think the best plan is to start chasing the dragon hoping to strike it rich.

 

[mckmas8808]

If Iwata gets fired and mario starts showing up on smartphones, then it's the beginning of the end for nintendo.

I agree.

 

[Terra]

Yep. Nintendo and smartphones = it's all done.
But on the other hand, Nintendo isn't known to be listening to good advice. There is almost like somebody wants them to be ran into the ground.

 

[LegendofLex]

Which is okay, I guess, but the vast majority of console video games are purchased by males.

Just because the vast majority of console video games are marketed toward males doesn't mean women don't make up 50% of the gaming population. It just means that most publishers are leaving women on the table.

But on the other hand, Nintendo isn't known to be listening to good advice. There is almost like somebody wants them to be ran into the ground.

They have this thing called "competitors" who have both third-party pubs and game journos under their thumbs, neither of whom are sympathetic to Nintendo's corporate goals, since most of them don't belong to the kind of audience Nintendo tries to reach.

 

[Freeman]

Yep. Nintendo and smartphones = it's all done.

The funny thing about this statement is that it is pretty much an admission that Nintendo is done. In what scenario would Nintendo be successful in the future without having a presence on smartphones/tablets?

 

[PantherLotus]

The funny thing about this statement is that it is pretty much an admission that Nintendo is done. In what scenario would Nintendo be successful in the future without having a presence on smartphones/tablets?

The answer to this question should get everyone at Nintendo fired immediately.

 

[Letep]

Sad, if true, but at least he can join the cast of The Expendables.

 

[Fourth Storm]

To my understanding this is pretty common with Japanese devs, even ones making home console games, in their free time they dont actually play anything else besides mobile & 3DS games. If i recall correctly, Kojima was asked what else he was playing whilst making MGS4 (i think) and he said nothing besides SSB with his son.

Thats why i think Japanese games these days are for the most part so lame when it comes to gameplay and why so many rely on "old school" controls (bar a few). Not knowing what else in on the market and what the west are doing these days is pretty bad.

So its no surprise the Nintendo guys had no idea what the competition was doing.

This is not just exclusive to Japanese devs. I know of one high profile AAA dev who would come home to play Puzzle Quest after a hard day's work. When you're making those types of games for a living, it makes sense that you'd want something different in your off time.

 

[HyruleGuardian]

The funny thing about this statement is that it is pretty much an admission that Nintendo is done. In what scenario would Nintendo be successful in the future without having a presence on smartphones/tablets?

By this logic, Sony and Microsoft are every bit as screwed as Nintendo in the gaming industry.

In fact, even more so, because at least Nintendo will always have their games to fall back on, whether or not they are successful with their hardware.

 

[Freeman]

By this logic, Sony and Microsoft are every bit as screwed as Nintendo.

And?

Regardless, MS and Sony aren't as dependable from their portables as is Nintendo (MS doesn't even have one and Sony has the Vita which they mostly ignore), both of them have a clear strategy for mobile.

 

[antibolo]

Iwata may not be a great CEO, but if he ever gets replaced, it's gonna be bad news.

Nintendo investors genuinely want the company to become a crappy f2p phone game maker. If they successfully kick Iwata out, and replace him with some yes man that follows all their whims to the letter, Nintendo will turn to garbage in less than two years.

 

[Guamu]

Yep. Nintendo and smartphones = it's all done.
But on the other hand, Nintendo isn't known to be listening to good advice. There is almost like somebody wants them to be ran into the ground.

I don't think that Nintendo should fully migrate to mobile as that would dilute their properties and take off incentives to buy their hardware.

At the same time it seems that Nintendo has several IPs that could work on smarphones and those aren't system sellers, so they could be a greater success there than the current low sales situation (Brain age, picross, the warioware minigames, mario vs. donkey kong, nintendo branded useless apps like clock alarms...)

But then I take a look at the app store and see it full of clones:

I don't think anybody can assure that putting their "superior quality" games on iOS will be a profitable move, droving lots of people to buy them. Every new game is the rage for a short span of time and multiple clones appear almost instantly.

 

[Hawaii Jeff]

I hope they're twirling their mustaches in a nefarious manner while they scheme.

 

[HyruleGuardian]

And?

Anyway, MS and Sony aren't as dependable from their portables as is Nintendo (MS doesn't even have one and Sony has the Vita which they mostly ignore), both of them have a clear strategy for mobile.

Nintendo has every bit as much financial flexibility as Sony. The Wii U may be a failure, but there's no reason that for the next generation they couldn't produce a console as powerful as Sony's, if that's the direction they decided to take.

Who is to say that Nintendo couldn't become a best seller for home consoles again, with powerful hardware that gives third party developers every reason to develop for a Nintendo console as much as it does a Sony or Microsoft console.

Nintendo has sold in the range of 50 million + 3DS' to date, a number that still makes it well worth being in the portable gaming market. And if that number continues to dwindle in the years to come, to the point that it is no longer a viable business model, when that time comes then Nintendo could indeed produce mobile games.

But Nintendo at least will always have a future in the gaming world because they have many of the most beloved gaming franchises in the world. The same cannot necessarily be said for Sony and Microsoft.

 

[Freeman]

Nintendo has every bit as much financial flexibility as Sony. The Wii U may be a failure, but there's no reason that for the next generation they couldn't produce a console as powerful as Sony's, if that's the direction they decided to take.

Who is to say that Nintendo couldn't become a best seller for home consoles again, with powerful hardware that gives third party developers every reason to develop for a Nintendo console as much as it does a Sony or Microsoft console.

Nintendo has sold in the range of 50 million + 3DS' to date, a number that still makes it well worth being in the portable gaming market. And if that number continues to dwindle in the years to come, to the point that it is no longer a viable business model, when that time comes then Nintendo could indeed produce mobile games.

But Nintendo at least will always have a future in the gaming world because they have many of the most beloved gaming franchises in the world. The same cannot necessarily be said for Sony and Microsoft.

Honestly? Reality. To even consider that you must be ignoring everything Nintendo is doing, the PS4 won't this gen because of changes and investments Sony made years ago after the PS3 disaster.

No one expects Nintendo to start releasing mobile games tomorrow, even whit the ongoing collapse of dedicated portable gaming machines.

Saying that Sony and MS don't have a future in the gaming world is just being delusional.

 

[Anth0ny]

There's no money in the smartphone market for hardcore games. That market just won't pay premium prices for games. Rovio's Angry Birds series has over 2 billion downloads and millions of in app purchase transactions yet makes precious little revenue. Rovio only made €156 million in revenue as a company in 2013 and profits just shy of 27 million euro.

An individual Nintendo title like Mario Kart Wii sold just 35 million copies (not billions), but generated over $2billion worth of revenue - more than Rovio as an entire company. Console games are an order of magnitude more lucrative than Smartphone games.

Exactly. I swear someone posted detailed numbers to back this up. A multimillion selling $40 3DS game (and the console sales that are a direct result of that) makes them more money than a 99cent/free iphone game will, even with in app purchases and all that shit.

Your analysis falls apart when you look at how much Supercell makes though. You don't think a F2P Pokemon MMO on iOS would be wildly profitable? Really?

Of course it would be wildly profitable.

But then sales of the next, mainline $40 Pokemon plummet.

Sales of the next Nintendo heldheld plummet, because people don't need to buy one anymore to play Pokemon.

As a result of those lower hardware numbers, ALL $40 games sell less (Mario, Monster Hunter, Mario Kart, Zelda, etc)

And now Nintendo is making less money. It's like people think everything stays the same, consoles and handhelds sell the same, all the multimillion selling franchises sell the same, PLUS Pokemon is now on iOS doing Angry Birds numbers! Is that how the shareholders think? They really think parents, once they know their kids can play Pokemon and Mario on their free, hand me down iphone, are going to dish out $150+ and $40 for the new Nintendo handheld and Pokemon? Come the fuck on.

 

[tronic307]

I'm sure Iwata has a super master plan that will take years to realize. Sure he could've seen where the market went after the Wii and planned accordingly, but it seems like none of the big three have. MS double downed with Kinect just like Nintendo did with the Wii name and they're both paying for it. Sony is the current gen leader for no reason at all other than marketing. The games aren't there, but the hype is and so they win.

I guess that's my stream of consciousness.

I'm sure of this too, but I can't shake the feeling that he's reserving the really big changes for 9th gen, making the 3DS and Wii U seem like stopgap systems. I don't think we'll see unified accounts until then, for example.

 

[Aquamarine]

Iwata may not be a great CEO, but if he ever gets replaced, it's gonna be bad news.

Nintendo investors genuinely want the company to become a crappy f2p phone game maker. If they successfully kick Iwata out, and replace him with some yes man that follows all their whims to the letter, Nintendo will turn to garbage in less than two years.

I agree.

A new, mobile-obsessed CEO may grant investors short-term gains and rising stock prices...at the expense of the integrity of the company.

And there is also the issue of dividends. Iwata is always quite generous with dividend distribution. A more cautious CEO may not be nearly as kind.

 

[QaaQer]

iwata gave into their demands and rushed the wii/ds successors in an attempt to spike the stock and it burned everyone.

They were rushed?

The problem with this assumption is that the most important thing for quality of life ssoftware is services,which is by far Nintendos biggest weakness.

Look at software like fitbit and that is the minimum Nintendo has to beat to make any dent in that market. Wiifit is fun, but it is sooo bad in terms of online services and integration with peoples other technology that it is not even funny.

In Iwata's defense, however, software engineering and services in general are looked down upon as far as prestige and social status go. It's really hard to find and keep talented non-game coders there because they don't train nearly enough and the brightest don't usually go into that.

This wouldn't be a problem if Nintendo was a company that delegated authority to regional subsidiaries, but they don't seem to do that at all.

I also think that Monozukuri attitude is part of the reason they will keep making hardware long after it stops making sense.

If there is unrest within Nintendo, it's going to be due to some more operational/direction of the company sort of conflict, not the number one (often ignorant, short-selling) investor demand. .

.

A rebellion based on employees wanting to make iOS games or investor pressure makes no sense.

 

[jimi_dini]

Just because the vast majority of console video games are marketed toward males doesn't mean women don't make up 50% of the gaming population. It just means that most publishers are leaving women on the table.

It's not that simple. Someone, who plays on an iPhone or plays minesweeper for hours, surely is a gamer by definition, but not automatically someone, who has to be interested in video game consoles nor even portable game consoles at all. Most of them aren't. Just look at Japan. Lots of gamers. But less and less gamers, who want to play on video game consoles anymore. That's surely not a "marketing issue".

I'm for example playing mainly on consoles, followed by a bit on portables. But I'm not playing on cellphones. At all. I don't even own one. And I'm also not interested in PC gaming nor in tablet gaming. And I'm also not interested in MMORPGs. I'm also going 100% Nintendo exclusive since half a year or so, because I'm also sick of PlayStation in various ways. No amount of marketing could ever change that.

That's why I don't like it when people quote that 50% figure. It makes no sense when people are discussing console-based video games and it is simply not valid for that specific area. Even more so, when people talk about 360+PS3. Or PS4+Bone, where I'm pretty sure that female gamers are in the one digit percent range.

But overall, sure. Microsoft + Sony fucked up hard. I doubt that it will change, because they are too much into their young male gamer audience. And it's not "just" marketing. Just take a look at voice chat. As soon as you remove the ability for randoms to trash talk (that's basically the only thing that is done using such a voice chat feature, which makes it completely useless except for people, who enjoy getting on the nerves of everyone else), parts of that typical male gamer audience will complain about it. Because lots of those love to trash talk. And tea-bag. And all the other immature shit.

Nintendo made their games and their systems for ages the way they are. That's why so many females are playing their games.

 

[RedSwirl]

To my understanding this is pretty common with Japanese devs, even ones making home console games, in their free time they dont actually play anything else besides mobile & 3DS games. If i recall correctly, Kojima was asked what else he was playing whilst making MGS4 (i think) and he said nothing besides SSB with his son.

Thats why i think Japanese games these days are for the most part so lame when it comes to gameplay and why so many rely on "old school" controls (bar a few). Not knowing what else in on the market and what the west are doing these days is pretty bad.

So its no surprise the Nintendo guys had no idea what the competition was doing.

It varies, but generally I'm not surprised at all that people at Nintendo haven't used PSN or XBL (personally I think everyone should be copying Steam but whatever).

A lot of Japanese developers have been playing more western games over the last several years. Games like Elder Scrolls, Red Dead Redemption, Dead Space, and God of War get mentioned more than usual by Japanese devs. Kojima has mentioned frequently playing games like Left 4 Dead and other shooters, and considers himself an anomaly in Japan for it. On the flipside, Miyamoto doesn't really play games at all in his spare time. Part of the problem though is the people these guys have to make games for. A few western games are gaining popularity in Japan, but in general their tastes are completely different form the rest of the world. You can see it in the threads where people talk about what they don't like in Japanese games -- it's because they're appealing to a different audience.

As for PSN and XBL, the main issue here is that online gaming on consoles never took off in Japan. Japanese gamers don't really need it since they're more mobile and have more opportunities for local multiplayer.

This is all, again, the issue with a platform holder being Japan-centric. Sony's problem during the early PS3 years was they came into that generation with a Japan-centric strategy when Microsoft completed the transition of console gaming into a western-centric industry. Sony had to switch, and now the PS4 is basically an American platform. Nintendo has stuck with its Japan-centric strategy and despite that the Wii U still isn't doing too hot in Japan. Iwata probably has ideas about reviving console gaming over there, but it might be too late.

 

[Flachmatuch]

Well, get rid of Iwata, release Mario on smartphones, diversify, Westernify - and lose whatever's unique about Nintendo. Sounds great from the idiotic generic management pov, but ultimately, this will result in the destruction of Nintendo's strength. Basically, anything like this will amount to a firesale of the core of Nintendo and will lead in the not so long term to becoming another Sega.

 

[JordanN]

Even though I'm not [passively] wishing for Nintendo to enter mobile, the comments that say "Nintendo would be dead" are quite eery.

Is Nintendo a one trick pony? A company so stuck up with pride they can't see the forest for the trees?

If they go mobile, they might as well make the best of it. This could be their chance to rewrite the definition of mobile games, making it more accessible to core and casual.

Pretending mobile would straight up kill them or everything would go wrong is the same ignorance people said when Nintendo made the Wii/DS.

 

[Rösti]

I wonder if the Corporate Communications Department Investors Relations Group has been spammed with phonecalls from upset/confused investors about this madness today. I doubt Nintendo will provide a statement on this, and we will likely have to wait until the end of October and the First Quarter Earnings Release/Briefing for FY 2014 before we know anything concrete. Now, I personally think this is just a sensationalism story, as some others also have expressed thoughts about, and that there's no plan to keelhaul Mr. Iwata once he resumes regular business. Still, the story has once again exposed the "threat" of mobile and Nintendo's necessity to address it. Say what you want about mobile, but at least some proactive action from Nintendo's side wouldn't hurt.

 

[Father_Brain]

I don't think Nintendo is by any means guaranteed to succeed as a third party on either MS/Sony consoles or iOS/Android, given the very different software markets on those platforms and the vast internal restructuring such a move would require.

I do, however, think that their chances of succeeding as a third party are greater than their chances of producing another successful hardware platform in a post-iOS/Android world, and I would rather see them preparing an exit strategy from the hardware business now than doing so four or five years down the line, from what I currently expect to be an even worse position.

 

[TreasureHunterG]

Oh cool, I see we're revising history. The mountains of third party PSone support was bought and paid for. Makes more sense then publishers simply backing the far more popular gaming system, that also happened to be easier to develop for, more powerful, and cheaper.

Saturn was more popular than PSX in the beginning in Japan, yet, third-parties were committed to support Sony. By your logic, Saturn should have more support than PSX in Japan when it had the lead. It wasn't like this.

Sony was notorious to money hat third-parties in the PSX era and was widely known at the time. I don't get the surprise here.

The crux of your first post was that Nintendo "wasn't so Draconian" to which all of my posts have been arguing, why yes, yes they most certainly were.

You fell into contradition when you tried to explain why western third-parties, despite the claims of draconians practices as yourself claim, didn't cease support for N64. You said this:

Because, despite shitty practices, walking away from Nintendo at the time was walking away from a lot of potential sales/money if their games qualified for the platform.

This makes no sense, as most japanese companies shifted support for N64 completely. NCL might had awful business practices but NOA definitively not.

I agree.

A new, mobile-obsessed CEO may grant investors short-term gains and rising stock prices...at the expense of the integrity of the company.

And there is also the issue of dividends. Iwata is always quite generous with dividend distribution. A more cautious CEO may not be nearly as kind.

I don't think this will ever happen. Hardware sales are very important for Nintendo's profits and if they went smartphones obsessed they would have to stop supporting their own hardware, which would hurt badly the perception of their own systems. This would probably face resistance on the board of directors, too.

I think there's a lot of fear about Nintendo supporting smartphones at the expense of their own hardware, probably will not.

 

[BotoxAgent]

There's no money in the smartphone market for hardcore games. That market just won't pay premium prices for games. Rovio's Angry Birds series has over 2 billion downloads and millions of in app purchase transactions yet makes precious little revenue. Rovio only made €156 million in revenue as a company in 2013 and profits just shy of 27 million euro.

An individual Nintendo title like Mario Kart Wii sold just 35 million copies (not billions), but generated over $2billion worth of revenue - more than Rovio as an entire company. Console games are an order of magnitude more lucrative than Smartphone games.

I did not know this. Thanks for that info. Makes me feel better about the hardcore gaming market.

 

[tronic307]

A Nintendo smartphone presence need not necessarily include games. How about Nintendo news, MiiVerse, eShop purchases, marketing, that sort of thing?

 

[DizzyCrow]

A Nintendo smartphone presence need not necessarily include games. How about Nintendo news, MiiVerse, eShop purchases, marketing, that sort of thing?

Yes, they're missing out not having apps for their services or games this app for example, it's something simple, but Nintendo should have released something similar together with Mario Kart 8. They said that would be companion apps, MKTV is a neat feature, but not as useful as this.

 

[Disaster Nebraska]

Don't know why Iwata gets all the blame when people like Miyamoto and Aonuma are on the Board of Directors and also heads of the company. Miyamoto is also head of Game Development dept., afaik. At least Iwata has business acumen. I think Iwata's main problem is that he allows the veteran devs (Aonuma, Miyamoto, Sakamoto) to do whatever they like.

Miyamoto - pushed for the 3DS to be 3D. Pushed for Wii Music. Said he was "sick" of working on 2D Mario even though that's what sells well. Pushed for Wii U's design. Promised Pikmin 3 which was a waste of money (business wise).

Aonuma - pushed for Wind Waker remake (??). Pushed for Wii U design. Also pushed for 3D on 3DS. Is running the Zelda franchise into the ground, sales-wise (though he seems to be doing better...I hope).

Sakamoto - ran Metroid into the ground. Also rumor has it that he was the main player in taking Retro off Metroid development.

If Iwata needs to go, then the same goes for Miyamoto and Aonuma, too.

 

[ArkhamFantasy]

I don't think Nintendo is by any means guaranteed to succeed as a third party on either MS/Sony consoles .

They have the best developers in the world and the strongest IPs in the industry, why wouldn't they be successful on Playstation/Xbox?

 

[Disaster Nebraska]

They have the best developers in the world and the strongest IPs in the industry, why wouldn't they be successful on Playstation/Xbox?

See SEGA and Atari and SNK Playmore and pretty much every other console manufacturer who started off on their own hardware and then went 3rd party. Are they as successful as they once were?

The issue with Nintendo going 3rd party is that there are many people who buy Nintendo hardware for Nintendo games and Nintendo quality. It's not a given that all of those same people would by (for instance) Sony hardware or Apple hardware to play Nintendo games.

 

[User Name Here]

Beyond being the son of Yamauchi what else is there to him?

I have no clue lol.

 

[Tenki]

Don't know why Iwata gets all the blame when people like Miyamoto and Aonuma are on the Board of Directors and also heads of the company. Miyamoto is also head of Game Development dept., afaik. At least Iwata has business acumen. I think Iwata's main problem is that he allows the veteran devs (Aonuma, Miyamoto, Sakamoto) to do whatever they like.

Miyamoto - pushed for the 3DS to be 3D. Pushed for Wii Music. Said he was "sick" of working on 2D Mario even though that's what sells well. Pushed for Wii U's design. Promised Pikmin 3 which was a waste of money (business wise).

Aonuma - pushed for Wind Waker remake (??). Pushed for Wii U design. Also pushed for 3D on 3DS. Is running the Zelda franchise into the ground, sales-wise (though he seems to be doing better...I hope).

Sakamoto - ran Metroid into the ground. Also rumor has it that he was the main player in taking Retro off Metroid development.

If Iwata needs to go, then the same goes for Miyamoto and Aonuma, too.

 

[Scum]

I don't think Nintendo is by any means guaranteed to succeed as a third party on either MS/Sony consoles or iOS/Android, given the very different software markets on those platforms and the vast internal restructuring such a move would require.

I do, however, think that their chances of succeeding as a third party are greater than their chances of producing another successful hardware platform in a post-iOS/Android world, and I would rather see them preparing an exit strategy from the hardware business now than doing so four or five years down the line, from what I currently expect to be an even worse position.

Third party publisher on Steam seems much better.

 

[JordanN]

See SEGA and Atari and SNK Playmore and pretty much every other console manufacturer who started off on their own hardware and then went 3rd party. Are they as successful as they once were?

The issue with Nintendo going 3rd party is that there are many people who buy Nintendo hardware for Nintendo games and Nintendo quality. It's not a given that all of those same people would by (for instance) Sony hardware or Apple hardware to play Nintendo games.

Why wouldn't they? Unless they give up gaming forever (lol) they can just buy a Playstation or Xbox.

Bayonetta 2 is on Wii U. The diehards who really care are gonna buy a Wii U* for it despite it being originally on PS3/360. It's also not like these people don't own other systems. You see it in every poll made by Sony/MS/Nintendo asking you if you own more systems. Too bad we can't see the numbers.

*Yes, I know how flimsy that example is.

 

[AmyS]

This is the weirdest expression on Iwata's face that I've ever seen:

Nintendo’s Management Reportedly At Conflict With Satoru Iwata

Nintendo’s refusal to allow their games to be ported onto mobile devices is well-known. It is also well-known that this refusal is made largely in part by the company’s president, Satoru Iwata, who feels that Nintendo’s strength is in their complementary nature of both hardware and software, although in today’s shifting landscapes, perhaps adapting to the current situation might pay off.

However according to the reports from Japan’s Business Journal, there is reportedly some inner turmoil over in Nintendo regarding Iwata. They claim that the management at Nintendo believes that Iwata is to blame for the company’s current predicament and that it is his pride as a former developer that refuses to entertain thoughts about bringing Nintendo’s games onto mobile devices.

The report also goes on to claim that the management at Nintendo are scheming and trying to come up with a way to get rid of him. We should point out that this is based roughly on a translation from the NeoGAF forums, so there could be subtleties in the language that could have been lost in translation, or it could be less sinister than it makes it out to be.

 

[Ivan el Trolazo]

what about an app thats like a virtual pokemon pet, that lets you EV train it? fight some simple-rule battles, like a HG/SS pokewalker expanded, make it so you cand send it to 3ds games, that way kids will want to buy 3ds.

thats my strategy = really good simple apps that tie into games, so they are fun solo and give you benefits in main games. even amiibo apps for nfc phones would also work. Compete in ladders with your friends, mario runner or something, wario ware like microgames.

 

[DizzyCrow]

Third party publisher on Steam seems much better.

They wouldn't give Valve 30% from every sale, with their giant back catalog they can create their own store.

 

[Scum]

They wouldn't give Valve 30% from every sale, with their giant back catalog they can create their own store.

That's what I'd like, to be honest, and NCL can start by acquiring M2 for the Virtual Console side of things.

 

[Tripon]

This is the weirdest expression on Iwata's face that I've ever seen:

Nintendo’s Management Reportedly At Conflict With Satoru Iwata

Edit: Sorry, you pointed that out already.

 

[DizzyCrow]

That's what I'd like, to be honest, and NCL can start by acquiring M2 for the Virtual Console side of things.

Then they could partner with a Steam Machine manufacturer for a budget version (IIRC SteamOS is open source) which would run their games plus some less graphical intensive games and bam! Back (sort of) to hardware business.

 

[Sandfox]

If Nintendo were to get out of the HW business it seems like they would obviously restructure the company and go mobile.

Then they could partner with a Steam Machine manufacturer for a budget version (IIRC SteamOS is open source) which would run their games plus some less graphical intensive games and bam! Back (sort of) to hardware business.

I don't really see Steam machines taking off to that level and even then why would anyone buy their hardware over any other with SteamOS in that scenario?

 

[ArkhamFantasy]

If Nintendo were to get out of the HW business it seems like they would obviously restructure the company and go mobile.

Why can EA/Ubisoft/Activision/2K etc make billions off consoles/PC and Nintendo has to become a mobile publisher?