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Smashchu2 on 02 February 2011
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trestres said:
Smashchu2 said:
trestres said:

So where are the games? NSMBWii came less than a year after the slow sales started, completely negating your argument. WSR is far more important than Wii Fit plus, as the latter was just an expansion and not meant to improve sales. WSR on the other hand was, since it introduced the Motion Plus. But that was less than half a year after the slowing sales, once again contradicting your reasoning.

And now that we are 2 years exactly after slow sales commenced, where are the games? That 2 year figure is inexistant. The games should have been here and they are not. What's worse is that their current 1st party line up is extremely weak, there are no notable games.

It doesn't meanthe games will magically start popping up in exactly 2 years. That idea is too literal. Also, the earliest the games could be started was 2009. It could be anywhere from March to October, depending on variations of development time and when the project was decided to enter production. Nintendo is probably being conservative and waiting until the later half of the year for anything (including Skyward Sword). let's also not forget that we know nothing about Nintendo 2011 line up because they wont tell us until later.

So where are the games? NSMBWii came less than a year after the slow sales started, completely negating your argument.

The two bolded are probably the only games made to try to combat this problem, as they would take the shortest time. I mentioned in another thread they could have as short as a 1 year cycle and they have been in production earlier.

I must also ask, what is your reasoning to release a new console. If you were in Nintendo's board room, surrounded by men who graduated from some of the best schools in Japan and probably have a lot of experience in the feild. What would you, posting on VGchartz, say to them for slower Wii sales?

Time to move on. That's what I'd say. Publishers are ignoring the console, why bother anymore? Sales are dying and competitors are seeing rising sales. Investors are wondering how will Nintendo manage to stop the downfall but there's no apparent answer. Plus the console has been very successful and the brand association would be good for next gen while the console is still mentioned in the media. Nintendo has to solve the third party issues. We know most of the companies hate the Wii console and feel repulsion for it, aversion for developing games for the Wii. Nintendo has to start working now on attracting the developers to their console and what's better than a new console, one that publishers won't hate if approached now by Nintendo before Sony and MS make a move first. Waiting for the competition to start next gen would be suicidal and would led to worse results in terms of support. Wii 2 would just be a 1st party machine, way more than what the Wii was. Plus the console is dead in Japan, in their homeland. It would be a big hit for them as a company to start getting outsold by Sony once again, which is getting all of the third party games.

Nintendo is clueless right now in regards to the Wii, it's better to move on than sink even more, at least in Japan. The West will follow suit soon as there is barely no new content for it in the upcoming first half of the year, and sales are already way below what they were last year during this period. Investors don't like to be fooled by the same promises over and over again, they want to see results. 3DS was done in order for Nintendo to maintain supremacy in the handheld market, as SW sales started to die and HW declined fast (and even then it was still selling more HW than the Wii). Wii SW sales are dying pretty much, with now 2 games bundled and a way bigger userbase, SW sales are DOWN from last FY in the same time frames, and the last quarter of this FY will only make things worse as there's no big SW coming up soon.

Now tell me, what would you say to them?

One of the problems with VGchartz is it's NeoGAF with sales data. The people who post here are your regular forum goer rather than people who study business or those who have experience.

Needless to say, paid executives with experience and knowledge would tear though your advice. There is a good reason I said "Tell the exects what to do," rather than "What is your idea." Now you need to be smarter then them. Let's look at some things they might say

  1. The economy is bad. They will say releasing a console is bad unless there is a damn good reason (like competition). People don't have the money to buy a $200 or $300 console plus games. While you may say that we are trying to get new users, you'll also have to sell it to the old ones instead.
  2. There are a lot of up front cost. You will lose money before you make it (and if your Sony, you'll just lose it). You have to produce the console, advertise it, make games for it, get third party support involved, and be able to get it in people's hands. Releasing a console is is not something you snap your fingures and do
  3. It's very risky. You are betting that people will buy your console. Software is easy because people who own the console might buy it and, if it's good enough, it will push sales forward. With a console release, if it doesn't go as expect, you lose for the next few years. You are gambling with a lot of money.
  4. It's easier to try to increase sales of an existing system then release a new one all together. There are ways to do it. Release compelling software, even a price cut could work. It's more practical to do that rather then say "We, we'll just have to release a new console."
  5. Lastly?

You said nothing about customers. Customers are the reason we can make money. None of what you said takes what the customer thinks into consideration. Would current Wii owners want to buy Wii 2? Could those customers feel cheated because of the dismissal of Motion controls? How would we attract new customers? These are questions your solution does address.

What a lot of people don't understand is what is at stake. There are millions of dollars on the line with these decisions. You say Nintendo is clueless. I disagree. They are still making profit, so they are doing something right. I'd say the people here are clueless. That is why Nintendo hasn't rushed to your door and hired you (Reggie has said Nintendo does view message boards out there).

Now, what would I tell Nintendo. I would tell them to focus on making software that sells. People bought the Wii for motion control games. They have motion plus. Why not make a lot of motion plus games. Make a new Starfox game, or maybe Nazo no Murasame-jō, or use something like an archery game. People would love to have good motion games, something Nintendo has dropped a bit. I also would have told them to kill games like Galaxy 2 and Other M and redirect the software towards the expanded audience. I'd also say to invest in non-game, those that break the mold of what a game is. Art Acadamy, which didn't get a lot of attention, did very well in Europe and is even used in Museums. These games are always a good investment.

Funny enough, this is likely the solution Nintendo is doing.