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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Can Nintendo ever produce a relevant home console again?

 

Can Nintendo produce a relevant home console again

Yes, each console with Ni... 226 43.88%
 
Perhaps, console gens hav... 126 24.47%
 
Probably not, especially ... 82 15.92%
 
Nope 44 8.54%
 
Not a single chance in hell 37 7.18%
 
Total:515
arcaneguyver said:
Relevant? No. That'd require AAA 3rd party support. Until Nintendo consistently gets GTA, CoD, anything Bethesda works on, AssCreed, etc...they remain in the Master System zone. Expect a repeat of this gen if they release NX years before 9th gen truly begins.

The Master System was very relevent outside of US. Especially in Brazil, where it even remained relevent trough the 90's, but also across europe where Sega was already duking it out with Nintendo years before the Megadrive

As for the OP, why not? Also, I don't believe a streaming console would be a big hit, not now and not in the future. Just ask Gaikal how it turned out for them. And I don't expect it to change as long as people want to own their games and play them even years after (defenetly not gonna happen on a streaming console)



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Soundwave said:



But in terms of competing, there are lots of problems namely by 2016, the PS4/XB1 will be past 80+ million in users and have a library of hundreds of games by then and probably be $299.99 in price. Just gonna be impossible for Nintendo to make much/any traction there, we saw how much trouble the GameCube had and the PS2 only had a year headstart/18 months (in Japan). This would be a full 3 year headstart.

80+?

You do realise that after almost 2 years now they haven't even breached the 40 million mark, and you expect them to more than double this in a single year? Not gonna happen. 60+ would be much more realistic.



Soundwave said:

I think there's too many factors working against them, they would basically need a miracle gimmick for the console (and how would that work with a unified handheld?). 

Truthfully I think the new 1/2 pillars for Nintendo are are no.1 the portable NX and no.2 smartphone games. Those are the two things that will drive Nintendo's profits from 2016-2020+.

The console NX I think will be more like an accessorie for the portable NX, for the sake of Nintendo's past legacy and for the 15-18 million or so Nintendo fans that just must play Nintendo games on their TV. And it's no/low risk for Nintendo if the NX console is basically just a souped up version of the handheld chip that doesn't require it's own separate software development (as games will be shared).

It's kinda like Apple ... they make the iPod Touch, which doesn't really sell that much compared to the iPhone and iPad, but it's for people who don't want an iPhone or can't have an iPhone (ie: kids who are too young for a phone) and it keeps the iPod brand alive in a technical sense.

But in terms of competing, there are lots of problems namely by 2016, the PS4/XB1 will be past 80+ million in users and have a library of hundreds of games by then and probably be $299.99 in price. Just gonna be impossible for Nintendo to make much/any traction there, we saw how much trouble the GameCube had and the PS2 only had a year headstart/18 months (in Japan). This would be a full 3 year headstart.

That and the portable Nintendo systems are getting more and more powerful and more and more able to handle ALL the Nintendo IPs, not just bite sized/massively scaled down versions. The next Nintendo handheld will be able to handle fairly high-end 3D and do just about every Nintendo IP justice even in 3D on a large scale. So that really leaves the Nintendo console in a "does anyone really need this other than core Nintendo fanatics?" predicament.


I understand what you are saying but I think you are being too complacent(if thats the word im looking for lol). I dont think Ninty truly wants to abandon home consoles. They just arent interested in going head to head with the others, its expensive and the market isnt very large to begin with. Ninty would love to pull another DS & Wii gen, it just takes alot of resources because both required libaries. No other company has to support two plats at the same time. Iwata was saying some interesting things besides the unified plat hints. He has also said it seems a truly unique piece of software can truly launch a platform. He used Mario for NES, Pokemon for Gameboy, Brainage/Nintendogs for DS, and WiiSports for Wii. I think thats truly what NX is for, making it easier to pump out blue ocean games while still supporting both markets(handheld and home). What difference will it make anyways, Ninty supports both plats with the same franchises already. Their not abandoning the home console market because it would place a limitation on their creativity (Wii/Kinect isnt possible on a portable for example).



Bofferbrauer said:
arcaneguyver said:
Relevant? No. That'd require AAA 3rd party support. Until Nintendo consistently gets GTA, CoD, anything Bethesda works on, AssCreed, etc...they remain in the Master System zone. Expect a repeat of this gen if they release NX years before 9th gen truly begins.

The Master System was very relevent outside of US. Especially in Brazil, where it even remained relevent trough the 90's, but also across europe where Sega was already duking it out with Nintendo years before the Megadrive.

Yes, should have been more specific I suppose. The 'US Master System Zone' then. 



I think they can... But IMO why would they want to be? Even when their consoles have been successful, their handhelds have always outsold them...

The NX seems like the right Idea... Of course I would buy another Ninty system... But maybe it's best if they separate themselves from the Whole console Idea for now... Every where I see there's always someone on a Tablet or a phone... half the time they playing a game on it too... Only Hardcore gamers have Nintendo 3DS's nowadays so it seems... that or kids...

If Nintendo can somehow create a unique handheld system that can corner the market now... man Sony and Microsoft would be playing catch up to them...



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Not granted, obviously, but it surely can. Countless companies fell, even badly, and got up again, some in console market too, including Sony and Microsoft and Nintendo itself. Obviously, being an almost exclusively gaming and strictly related entertainment company only, Ninty must do its way, remaining profitable even during slow periods, it cannot throw away money trying, but it already succeeded at this thing, with Wii after GC, and it can do it again.



Stwike him, Centuwion. Stwike him vewy wuffly! (Pontius Pilate, "Life of Brian")
A fart without stink is like a sky without stars.
TGS, Third Grade Shooter: brand new genre invented by Kevin Butler exclusively for Natal WiiToo Kinect. PEW! PEW-PEW-PEW! 
 


I don't believe in magic. Nintendo uses skills.



Nintyfan90 said:
Soundwave said:

I think there's too many factors working against them, they would basically need a miracle gimmick for the console (and how would that work with a unified handheld?). 

Truthfully I think the new 1/2 pillars for Nintendo are are no.1 the portable NX and no.2 smartphone games. Those are the two things that will drive Nintendo's profits from 2016-2020+.

The console NX I think will be more like an accessorie for the portable NX, for the sake of Nintendo's past legacy and for the 15-18 million or so Nintendo fans that just must play Nintendo games on their TV. And it's no/low risk for Nintendo if the NX console is basically just a souped up version of the handheld chip that doesn't require it's own separate software development (as games will be shared).

It's kinda like Apple ... they make the iPod Touch, which doesn't really sell that much compared to the iPhone and iPad, but it's for people who don't want an iPhone or can't have an iPhone (ie: kids who are too young for a phone) and it keeps the iPod brand alive in a technical sense.

But in terms of competing, there are lots of problems namely by 2016, the PS4/XB1 will be past 80+ million in users and have a library of hundreds of games by then and probably be $299.99 in price. Just gonna be impossible for Nintendo to make much/any traction there, we saw how much trouble the GameCube had and the PS2 only had a year headstart/18 months (in Japan). This would be a full 3 year headstart.

That and the portable Nintendo systems are getting more and more powerful and more and more able to handle ALL the Nintendo IPs, not just bite sized/massively scaled down versions. The next Nintendo handheld will be able to handle fairly high-end 3D and do just about every Nintendo IP justice even in 3D on a large scale. So that really leaves the Nintendo console in a "does anyone really need this other than core Nintendo fanatics?" predicament.


I understand what you are saying but I think you are being too complacent(if thats the word im looking for lol). I dont think Ninty truly wants to abandon home consoles. They just arent interested in going head to head with the others, its expensive and the market isnt very large to begin with. Ninty would love to pull another DS & Wii gen, it just takes alot of resources because both required libaries. No other company has to support two plats at the same time. Iwata was saying some interesting things besides the unified plat hints. He has also said it seems a truly unique piece of software can truly launch a platform. He used Mario for NES, Pokemon for Gameboy, Brainage/Nintendogs for DS, and WiiSports for Wii. I think thats truly what NX is for, making it easier to pump out blue ocean games while still supporting both markets(handheld and home). What difference will it make anyways, Ninty supports both plats with the same franchises already. Their not abandoning the home console market because it would place a limitation on their creativity (Wii/Kinect isnt possible on a portable for example).

 

They'll never pull a Wii/DS generation again (not in that way). Motion gaming is old hat, and Nintendo doesn't have some monopoly over it, if it started to get popular again, MS and Sony are not stupid, they would copy it very quickly this time and offer similar experiences on top of having the better third party support and larger game library. It wouldn't take much for Sony to simply re-add the Move controller back into the PS4 for example and make a knock of Wii Sports again, but this time Nintendo wouldn't have a 4 year window where they basically hold a monopoly on the idea like the Wii did. Sony/MS have learned from their mistakes that gen, some earth shaking controller that brings in lots of consumers would be copied very quickly (much like the N64 analog stick was).

Having wildly different control inputs on unified platform kind of defeats the point too. It would be like making a big time app but it only works on the iPad and not the iPhone because of some input thing ... not too many devs would want to do that. 

Beyond that, I think Nintendo/Sony/MS have all lost that casual audience. In 2004-2006 there was nothing for casuals to play, today they all have smartphones with hundreds of free/$1 games in their pocket all day long, and those games are all mostly simple, very easy to pick up and play with no buttons required. None of them want to play Wiimote or Kinect games anymore, Apple/Google offer a more vibrant, exciting ecosystem that's constantly adding content, is more convienant (phone is always with you), and the games are free in most cases ... can't really compete with that. Quite honestly these casual games on phones have bigger marketing campaigns than any Nintendo game too, I've seen about 50 million Game of War and Boom Beach ads it feels like in the last year. 



Qwark said:

As we all know Nintendo's consoles have been declining in sales from the NES, with the Wii being an exception due to magic. Now a relevant console can compete with it's concurents in some way or another, the Wii U and the Gamecube clearly where not able to do this. So can Nintendo make a console which can compete in therms of sales within the 9th gen or any gen after the 9th gen. I doubt any console can be succesful without third party support in the West, and that the Wii was a one time succes, since the casual gamers have found a new place for their needs, which is the place which scares Nintendo the most the mobile and tablet industrie. Let's be real here the mobile market is going to consume the handheld market the decline in sales between DS and 3DS are showing such a thing is already happening and giving Nintendo's "special"policies towards third parties, games like GTA, Falout, The Witcher and many other big IP's will probably never see the light on a Nintendo console or at least not the version the twins are going to get. 

So is there a way for Nintendo to convert these downward trends, perhaps they can make a new inovative system with a gimmick which is actually liked by the gamers, because I don't see a Wii U or gamecube like console from Nintendo ever do great, neither can they become MS or Playstation. So can Nintendo make the NX or the NX 2 for that matter work or should Nintendo focus on a installbase of 30 million max for the coming gens. Because with there current strategy they will never be able to compete with MS and Sony.

Perhaps if Nintendo does become another Sony with their own IP's as first party they can overtake MS and be relevant in the homeconsole business but that's telling fantasy stories, Nintendo has always been very keen on doing their own thing and will continue to do so, which is the oposite of what third parties want.


What you and many other people fail to understand, over and over again, is that Nintendo is not competing with M$ or $ony. They stopped doing that with the Wii.

When you say "relevant", I think you're trying to say "market share." The problem is that market share does not equal "relevance." The only thing that Nintendo cares about is making a profit. Look what Apple did from the late 1990s up until now. They had the least market share in the desktop industry (and STILL DO), but were making a profit, which is all they cared about.

Iwata has said many times that they are not competing with Microsoft and Sony. I don't understand why people continue to ask this rhetorical question over and over again.



Grendelz said:
Qwark said:

As we all know Nintendo's consoles have been declining in sales from the NES, with the Wii being an exception due to magic. Now a relevant console can compete with it's concurents in some way or another, the Wii U and the Gamecube clearly where not able to do this. So can Nintendo make a console which can compete in therms of sales within the 9th gen or any gen after the 9th gen. I doubt any console can be succesful without third party support in the West, and that the Wii was a one time succes, since the casual gamers have found a new place for their needs, which is the place which scares Nintendo the most the mobile and tablet industrie. Let's be real here the mobile market is going to consume the handheld market the decline in sales between DS and 3DS are showing such a thing is already happening and giving Nintendo's "special"policies towards third parties, games like GTA, Falout, The Witcher and many other big IP's will probably never see the light on a Nintendo console or at least not the version the twins are going to get. 

So is there a way for Nintendo to convert these downward trends, perhaps they can make a new inovative system with a gimmick which is actually liked by the gamers, because I don't see a Wii U or gamecube like console from Nintendo ever do great, neither can they become MS or Playstation. So can Nintendo make the NX or the NX 2 for that matter work or should Nintendo focus on a installbase of 30 million max for the coming gens. Because with there current strategy they will never be able to compete with MS and Sony.

Perhaps if Nintendo does become another Sony with their own IP's as first party they can overtake MS and be relevant in the homeconsole business but that's telling fantasy stories, Nintendo has always been very keen on doing their own thing and will continue to do so, which is the oposite of what third parties want.


What you and many other people fail to understand, over and over again, is that Nintendo is not competing with M$ or $ony. They stopped doing that with the Wii.

When you say "relevant", I think you're trying to say "market share." The problem is that market share does not equal "relevance." The only thing that Nintendo cares about is making a profit. Look what Apple did from the late 1990s up until now. They had the least market share in the desktop industry (and STILL DO), but were making a profit, which is all they cared about.

Iwata has said many times that they are not competing with Microsoft and Sony. I don't understand why people continue to ask this rhetorical question over and over again.

Funny thing is that Nintendo made more money in PS2 era with they worst selling home console than Sony with most selling console of all times.