Nintendo has continued to struggle with the WiiU and it gets me to thinking will Nintendo ever be a relevant factor in the home console business again?
And to be clear i think Nintendo games in general will always have a relevance but I also dont think they can single handedly compete with Sony and Microsoft mostly because the audience that Nintendo appeals to is so small. Sure the Wii was a success thanks to it becoming a phenomenon but that had little to do with Mario + Zelda + etc but more with the Wii mote and how casuals accepted the console. But theyre gone and its more apparent every day with Kinect and WiiU
And this is what I'm saying. If there is 10m fans of Mario then you are gathering a 10m fanbase for the WiiU. And fankly Nintendo pushes mario down your throat with countless spinoffs, 3D, and 2D. Mario is never ending but again its only a small fanbase if you look at the larger picture. And this is where the problem is, that audience is the same audience who likes Star Fox, Pikmin, Zelda, etc. All Nintendo games are focused on the same audience. Its not very diverse. They dont try to capture the other 100m's of people who like different stuff.
That is like Microsoft only being Halo. It would appeal to about 10m people there for Xbox would only sell 10m lifetime. Or Gran Turismo with Playstation. However Microsoft and Sony goes for a wider variaty with things with different genres, different demographics, mature rated, and E rated. Then to top it off they have more powerful graphics, better online, more features like achievements which to this day i dont understand why Nintendo wont add, and third parties that they cater to. Its a much wider variety.
And then you think NIntendo and you mostly think E for everyone, mascots, and platforming. WHile they do have other games like Xenoblade in general the games they push is very much Mario, Donkey Kong, etc which i think is a huuuuge problem. Especially when you can get the same experience on a handheld now (3DS).
So, will Nintendo have to expand creating a wider variety in their portfolio? Will they need to get away from the Mascot dominated culture and cutesy artsyles? Or do you think that adding third parties to the mix will fix their problems?
