Regarding Nintendo

[Sonic]

This topic is for discussion. I would like for well thought out posts in here and not simple minded comments. If it turns into an all out war it will be locked as soon as jvd or I see it. Now onto the topic:

Nintendo was once a company that dominated the videogame industry. Each generation that has passed since NES we have seen the dominance and marketshare of Nintendo drop. Does anyone feel like Nintendo can prevent this in the next generation and possibly regain lost marketshare? It seems as if the Nintendo pride is start to dwindle, though not by much, and they realize they cannot compete in the all out hardware race. Does anyone here believe that if Nintendo adopted an agressive plan not only in marketing but also in its games that it would be able to see growth in the industry again? Nintendo cannot hang onto the handheld market forever seeing as that Sony is getting ready to enter the market and won't stop until it grabs a big chunk.

Nintendo needs to do something drastic with its Revolution or else I feel that it won't even be able to compete in terms of being a niche player. There needs to be a change, somehow into an agressive player that is willing to risk a little to gain a whole crapload more. How much money does Nintendo have exactly? Does anyone feel that Revolution will be nothing it is cracked up to be or do you think it can save Nintendo and bring them back to some of their former glory?

 

[ERP]

Can they sure...

Will they hmmmmmm......

I think that NOA for the most part understands what it would take, I'm not sure that NCL really wants to move in that direction.

 

[Farid]

How much money does Nintendo have exactly?

~4 or ~5 Billions $ in their "war chest". The exact numbers have been posted somewhere on the forum.

Found: http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n10/news/040728e.pdf

Sorry, Sonic, this is not exactly a thoughtful post, but the Nintendo subject is, IMHO, reserved for flame warriors.

All that i can say, is as long as Yamauchi is around (understand, alive), no "revolution" will storm Nintendo... IMO, of course.

 

[pc999]

If they bring a cheap ( relative ) console and a revolution yes.
We all like good and diferent games YES , and if they are cheap it would be the 2 console of choice ( by this I am not saing that they will be the 2 console only that they can also gain this way).

 

[thop]

Nintendo cannot hang onto the handheld market forever seeing as that Sony is getting ready to enter the market and won't stop until it grabs a big chunk.

How do you know that? If the PSP bombs (unlikely but still) i think they are gonna pull out. I don't think they are gonna pull an XBOX here!

And to Nintendo: Nintendo has been used to dicate others what to do, developers had to pay the royalities and on top of that thank them that they were allowed to develop for their systems! Then came the PSX and things changed. 3rd party went elsewhere. I think Nintendo has still been in shock and denial about that until recently.

 

[V3]

and they realize they cannot compete in the all out hardware race.

The hardware is going to be competitive. Its the software that they should worry. Everyone are catching up to them.

That's why all this DS and revolution thing, basically, Nintendo wants to bring back the edge that their softwares had.

Everyone now days make good games by utilising a screen and joypads. Nintendo wants to reset this playing field, and return the advantage to them.

 

[one]

I think they shouldn't make Revolution another "efficient" (read: cheap) hardware... When you can cover the lower segment with GameBoy, why make a flagship console cheap? Give me gorgeous one! Depending its deal with IBM/ATI, Nintendo would have money to make a console as powerful as Xbox2 next time, they should present more agressive view of things.

 

[Deepak]

They only have to run Nintendo professionally without any past baggage.

 

[cybamerc]

pc999:

> If they bring a cheap ( relative ) console and a revolution yes.

GameCube was cheap.



one:

> I think they shouldn't make Revolution another "efficient" (read: cheap)
> hardware...

Nothing wrong with the GameCube hardware except for marketability.



Anyway, what's holding Nintendo back these days is Nintendo. It's a company with strong values and they clearly aren't pleased with the way the industry is today. So much so that they show no real desire to be #1 in the current marketplace.

But the success of any given piece of hardware is determined by many factors and Revolution certainly has a chance to be successful.

 

[Ozymandis]

Does anyone feel like Nintendo can prevent this in the next generation and possibly regain lost marketshare?

No. People just don't have that much of an interest in their core franchises to make Nintendo dominant again. And they'll always be last in third-party support.

They might slow the rate at which they lose marketshare. But I'd be suprised at that, even. For every step they've made in the right direction (exclusive Resident Evil, great pricing) there's been a step backwards (spotty release schedule, first-party game quality down)

 

[jvd]

Hmmm .


Sonic , nintendo is in a very good position just not that many people are willing to look at it from the proper perspective.

The n64 may have been a failure compared to the ps1 but it made a crap load of money for nintendo. Thier zelda's , mario's , smash brothers and other core games all sold millions of units on the system and they made tons of money.

The same goes with the game cube .

Out of all 3 companys nintendo has the best first party line ups . Sure sony has grand theft auto but all another company needs to do is pay the developer or publisher enough and suddenly sony doesn't have it anymore. The same goes with the final fantsys and whatever big games are on the xbox .

But you will never get a mario or a zelda on another system .

Some may say but no one cares. Well i disagree . In 2000 when they showed the cgi zelda everyone was pumped , people who hated nintendo were crazy about it. But then they put a cell shaded version out in stead and well i've never seen such a stink made across the internet about it . Yet the tittle still pushed over a million units . Now at e3 they show a new adult version of zelda and once again everyone is going nuts over it .


Nintendo does have the franchises and they can be popular. They just have to target the adults more . They can still make a kiddy mario and a kiddy zelda but they need to make the adult ones too.


For the new system they need to put something out that they wont loose money on and that will put graphics up on the screen that look as good as the xenon and ps3 out put .

They need to launch with a mario and get some good sports titles out a launch. Perhaps they need to start making thier own football , hockey , basketball and baseball games to insure they get good support .


In the hand held section.

They have the game boy . It sells like mad and its going to continue to sell like mad for as long as nintendo wants to make it . The psp is not going to affect the gba sp 's sales . Not when the psp is going to be at least a 125$ more expensive .

The ds is another story . But i have my theorys on why it exists .

The ds has a nice step up in terms of graphics from the gba sp yet it can play gba and gb games . So i'm thinking that at some point they are going to stop making gba sps . Perhaps when they are able to sell the ds for a 100$ .

Once they phase out the gba sp . The ds will be thier cheap portable with n64 lvl graphics and the same age groups that by every pokemon game will move to that system.

When nitendo is able to they will make the gameboy 2 which i believe will be more powerfull than the gamecube. This will be what hey compete against the psp with.



So i highly doubt nintendo has anything to worry about . In this generation alot of things are going to be diffrent and graphics aren't going to be the key anymore

 

[GameCat]

The problem is that Nintendo isn't market oriented. Thay never talk about doing what customers want but always about how everyone else (including Sony, the market leader) are doing the wrong thing by making games more complicated. However, so far Nintendo hasn't actually succeeded in attracting the mainstream this way. They've been trying this entire generation but have still done MUCH worse than Sony in attracting customers. There's no sign that the customers want what Nintendo is saying they want, all signs point to them liking controvresial violence like GTA, black "adult" console design and sports games, not exactly Nintendos forte.

For Nintendo to grow, they need to start marketing and producing products that the general public wants, not what Yamamuchi thinks they should want. Sadly, that would make Nintendo lose a lot of its charm. I LOVED Wind Waker's art style and I think the new Zelda looks worse, they sort of sold out with the more realistic look. But I'm sure it will sell better.

 

[thop]

Well Nintendo will never make games with blood or realistic violence. I was actually surprised they let someone do RE4 on their system.

And actually i don't even want Nintendo to change. PS2 and XBOX already have pretty much the same type of games, no need for a third developer doing the same thing next gen.

 

[London Geezer]

Well Nintendo will never make games with blood or realistic violence. I was actually surprised they let someone do RE4 on their system.

I don't think RE4 is the only game on GC (or any other Nintendo console) with explicit violence. They are reluctant to violence in games, but no one's safe from it. No one is immune to the flowing red liquid's charm.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

I don't think Nintendo can change. They're too stuck in their ways and they've been branded as kiddy, which would be very difficult to change (but not impossible). Also, jvd, I don't think the Cube made much money for Nintendo. They are pretty much riding on their success with GBA. Their cash reserves haven't really budged in 3 years. That tells us something.

 

[Sonic]

Nintendo needs to change. I'm not saying they need to change all of its games, but it needs new ideas if it is going to succeed. They need to have their machines more marketable for the mainstream. The GBA SP did wonders for the GBA platform, why not have a Gamecube SP with a more sophisticated look that will appeal to adults?

I see nothing wrong with giving in sometimes and making a game that the fans really want. I guess some of Nintendo caved in by looking at the new Zelda. That could be a game that is a blessing for the Cube in so many ways it's not even funny. I believe it will sell at least 50% more than the Wind Waker did. I see little imrpovements like that in Nintendo's way of thinking and its management. But there really hasn't been any type of move form Nintendo that shows me they are serious about making a comeback let alone surviving in the console industry without being forced to go software only. This excludes the portable market of course. That is something else entirely different, and Sony may gain some ground in that aspect. It is foolish for anyone to say that Nintendo isn't threatened by Sony. We all said the same things during the 32-bit days in regards to SEGA.

 

[thop]

I don't think Nintendo wants to change. I think the best we will see are a few so called adult titles sprinkled in here and there, like RE4. They said again and again that they don't make games for a specific demographic, but for everyone (=family). But there will probably be no more purple consoles I don't think much else is going to change.

And unless SONY can make 99$ handhelds i don't think they are even close to being a threat to Nintendo.

Also the thing is all the big franchises on PS2 and XBOX, like FF/GTA/HALO are 3rd Party and it's just a question of money to get them on another console. While no money in the world can buy Mario/Zelda and the other stuff Nintendo owns.

 

[Squeak]

The problem is that Nintendo isn't market oriented. Thay never talk about doing what customers want but always about how everyone else (including Sony, the market leader) are doing the wrong thing by making games more complicated.

Customers think they know what they want, but usually when they get it, they are disappointed somehow.
The trick is to give the customer what they don't know they want. Usually that's what they end up appreciating the most.
Some of the biggest successes products ever, were made by giving people something they wouldn’t have thought of themselves, something that at first was cautiously approached, and then suddenly turned into a major success.

 

[Teasy]

~4 or ~5 Billions $ in their "war chest". The exact numbers have been posted somewhere on the forum.

Found: http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n10/news/040728e.pdf

Doesn't that link say they have around $7 billion in cash though?

 

[OryoN]

Why would Nintendo change?

So it could be more like Sony and Microsoft, all fighting for the same demographics?

So they can no longer sit back in their position of comfort and rake in the "Big-Green" from the rest of the market that feels deprived, left out, or some who want to get into games, but think most are way too sophisticated these days?

...

Anyway, expect to see "two different Nintendos" next generation, backed by a slightly more aggressive marketing campaign.

That is; expect them to hold onto that niche market that have fed them so well over the years, but watch as they take bolder and somewhat surprising steps to bite into the part of the market that Microsoft and Sony feeds from. So you'll be seeing two sides to Nintendo that seem to contradict each other, but at the core, combined to form a strong offense on the competitors.

The marketing campaign will be slightly more agressive(kinda like what you're seeing right now, but consistent throughout the console's life). It will not be as aggressive as their competitors, but it WILL be effective.

Also..

-- Microsoft won't get benefit as much from the early launch as they had hoped(that's to say that all 3 consoles will quickly be on level playing field, in terms units sold)

-- Nintendo's performance in the next generation will surprise many.

-- Sony won't lead as forcefully as they and most expected, and mid-way through the generation, people will see that they aren't invincible.

I can't see much after that(damn crystal ball, come on, WORK!), but it'll be a nasty battle, with many surprises....