Nintendo GOing Forward.
- Thread starter Wynix
- Start date
This is one area where I think they could test the waters a bit. Put some of the old popular NES titles on mobile, like Mario Bros, Punch Out, and Donkey Kong, and see how these titles do. Sell them for $5 each just like you do on your own devices, you don't want to slap your core customer base in the face by charging less on mobile than you do on their dedicated device.
Mobile is a huge market, and people constantly suggest that Nintendo needs to go there, but honestly, show me software publishers like Nintendo that are making mobile a big part of their business. Is EA starting to focus on mobile? Activision? Ubisoft? No, and that's because the dedicated gaming market, even being far smaller, is still far more lucrative that those billion's of phones can ever be. Yes, there are some anomalies that have been ultra successful, but the majority of games sold on IOS could never hope to make the revenue that Nintendo makes on even modestly successful software like Captain Toad.
Nintendo needs to continue to grind out the remainder of this generation. The thing with Wii U, is that even though hardware sales are pretty poor, the first party software attach ratio is very good. Unlike their competitors, Nintendo doesn't drop the price of their software for a very long time. So for every new Wii U user, they will likely sell them 2-3 first party games almost immediately. I could see Wii U only selling 15-18 million units, but games like Mario Kart 8 and Smash Bros selling 7-9 million units each. So even though hardware sales will be at an all time low, software sales will be very similar to prior generations, other than the anomaly that was the Wii. Nintendo is proving that it can be profitable within a very small market, not saying they don't want it to be bigger, but they can do it none the less.
Time will tell if they can find larger success there than they did in the dedicated gaming device market. I doubt it, and I really think this is simply a desperation move by a company struggling to create desirable software. What was the last Sega published game that sold over 2 million units? Or just as important for long term success, where are the critically acclaimed games from Sega?
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Multiple sonic games on Google play store has >5 million downloads and some with >10 million downloads. Their published games have been doing pretty well like alien isolation and Total war. Sega seems to be doing better than nintendo from a short term financial perspective and probably better in the long term at this point too. Its not about making critically acclaimed games, its about making money in the end of the day. It would be nice to do both but the bottom line has to come first for any company.
Those are free games. Sonic the hedgehog costs around 4 dollars and has 100.000 downloads.
Sega must have reasonable data on their F2P games to know that, for them, investing in that space will yield returns.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2014-10-31-sega-makes-a-loss-in-the-first-half-of-fy2015
) are PC and mobile download titles, with Phantasy Star online an example. Or rather, games with microtransactions and/or subscriptions.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2014-10-31-sega-makes-a-loss-in-the-first-half-of-fy2015
It appears "Digital Games" (like anyone makes analogue games...
) are PC and mobile download titles, with Phantasy Star online an example. Or rather, games with microtransactions and/or subscriptions.Free games or not, its getting their game into a market and they are making money off it. Unlike nintendo.
Is that the same Sega that is laying of 1300 people right now?
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Deleted member 11852
Guest
Let's not make up numbers, it's 300. 1,300 would be 64% of the entire workforce.
Its still the same Sega that has been getting smaller and smaller every year. Where are the critically acclaimed games? They arent pulishing high quality software, and Sonic is an IP synonomous with poor quality games for years now. Sonic Colors was an exception. This is an act of desperation, nothing more.
The IOS Sonic games must not make any money if they can have it downloaded 10 million times and still have such low revenue. Free software being downloaded is hardly something to be proud of. Show me some $10-15 software being downloaded 10 million times and then we can talk.
The IOS Sonic games must not make any money if they can have it downloaded 10 million times and still have such low revenue. Free software being downloaded is hardly something to be proud of. Show me some $10-15 software being downloaded 10 million times and then we can talk.
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Deleted member 86764
Guest
Oh come on, they're not that bad. Alien Isolation is a truly great / innovating game.
People need to stop making up numbers to support an argument. We don't know the details of Sega's revenues, but we know for a fact that they are focussing on Digital as being their future. This is in response to the request for one example of developers targeting mobile. Then there are examples like EA:
Then there's Tencent, the world's largest game publisher apparently, because they produce free to play games in China:
Selected quotes obviously affected by time period and releases within that time frame, yada yada.
Then there's Tencent, the world's largest game publisher apparently, because they produce free to play games in China:
How much of China's ~$3 billion pa. is Nintendo going to see if it sticks to console games? How much could it see if it adapted to mobile with F2P versions of Pikmin and Animal Crossing etc.? They don't even need to cannibalize their handheld and console markets because they could produce different games for a different market with different expectations and pricing models. The true Mario experience can be $40 on 3DS, and the Mario Rise-And-Shine Universe mobile game can be F2P.
No this is because Sega failed everywhere else.
Yes, sorry for the wrong number.
This is the truth. I have little faith the company will be able to thrive and succeed in the mobile market in the long run either. EA has a far better shot at making money in the mobile sector, all the while retaining their revenue from the console and PC market. I don't see SEGA being able to compete at all. The company is a shell of its former self and hasn't made many great or even good games in years. Their failure to capitalize on their giant back catalog of content with fresh updates is absolutely stupid. The company still has so much potential but they decide to continue to wither.
I do not think Nintendo would follow this path if they went software only. Ninty's games and franchises still have large appeal, its hardware does not. If they decided to develop for PS4 and XB1 I'm sure they'd be able to make a killing and grow their revenue higher than it is today. And I still say developing a competent Pokemon game for smartphone would sell greatly at $20. I've got faith Nintendo would be able to make the transition without the quality of their software going down the drain.
tongue_of_colicab
Veteran
I disagree. A lot of people seem to be missing the point regarding the smartphone market and how much you can sell.
How play Nintendo games? Kids and adults who are into Nintendo games. If an adult can afford to spend 30, 40, 50 euros a month on a smartphone he/she can afford a 150 euro handheld. Besides, as they are most likely "real" gamers they will appreciate having buttons to play with rather than a touchscreen (I spent 40 hours playing pokemon red on my phone but even on a game like pokemon buttons work far better than a touchscreen).
The second group is kids. Most kids don't own smartphones. This will depend on where you live but for example in Japan the cheapest smartphone (all come with a contract) you can buy will cost you something like 2500 yen a month. For that kind of money you can buy 3 3DS's and 3 games, plus they will last you 5 years, not 2. Easy choice for most families.
How play Nintendo games? Kids and adults who are into Nintendo games. If an adult can afford to spend 30, 40, 50 euros a month on a smartphone he/she can afford a 150 euro handheld. Besides, as they are most likely "real" gamers they will appreciate having buttons to play with rather than a touchscreen (I spent 40 hours playing pokemon red on my phone but even on a game like pokemon buttons work far better than a touchscreen).
The second group is kids. Most kids don't own smartphones. This will depend on where you live but for example in Japan the cheapest smartphone (all come with a contract) you can buy will cost you something like 2500 yen a month. For that kind of money you can buy 3 3DS's and 3 games, plus they will last you 5 years, not 2. Easy choice for most families.
I think most kids (> 8 years old) have smart phones these days....
