WiiU-Dude said:
Nintendo is in an extremely tough spot. People forget, but with us all being on vgchartz, you can easily look it up. Nintendo has been crushed 3 of the last 4 console generations. Crushed. These numbers are from my memory, PS1 100 million to N64 32 million, PS2 155 million to GameCube 21 million and while still going PS4 30+ million to WiiU 11 million and I believe in each of those Microsoft edged them out, only this time I think the XB1 will handily beat WiiU. I'm a Nintendo man at heart. I own ALL systems spanning 3+ decades, I'm 44, so I am pulling HARD for Nintendo. But it is going to truly be interesting to see how they navigate this. The handheld market has forever shrunk. Tablets and smartphones have devastated it and Japan has nearly turned its back on consoles. Nintendo has its work cut out for it.
Nintendo has made its self the 'family system' and personally I love them for it. I love there purity, yes I know about and own Bayo 2 and will get the much maligned Devil's Third, because even though I love Nintendos purity, I still enjoy a more gritty, mature game. That folks is one of the major conundrums facing Nintendo. How to remain a family system and still have mature games. I LOVE and always will Nintendo magic, wonder and whimsy. I NEVER want to see the colorful, beautiful Nintendo games cease. But that may be their Achilles heal when 8 year olds are playing GTA 5 these days.
The other problem is that Nintendo's sales are built on nostalgia and its fans. Well it's fans are growing up. Gone se those who cut their teeth on NES or SNES, now they are PS1&2 or 360. Also appealing to the casual as the Wii did proved they are a fickle bunch and it indeed was all about the gimmick or the controls.
I'm pulling for them. Microsoft has the deepest pockets. They will be there until the novelty of videos within the company wanes or the shareholders say enough. Sony's PlayStation brand is rock solid, but the company itself is floundering. Nintendo is tremendously conservative and that prudence has paid off. They have soldiered on for over 30 years in video games. Video games is all they do, yes I know the brand Nintendo has done many different things the last 120+ years, but the last 30 it's been video games. Not electronics like Sony and not software like MS, it's their craft. They do it better than anyone so the heart is there, we can only hope with the NX it finds its niche. I hope it out powers PS4/XB1 and manages to be that 'hybrid' handheld/home console and catches fire. I think it would be tremendously tempting for developers if they could make one game to play on both a handheld as well as the console. Currently, separate games using separate resources and money are needed for that now. Imagine developing one game and satisfying both...hmmm, could be huge! |
That's 2010-2013 speak. Sonly is no longer floundering. They are certainly not back to their best but they are steady and stable for now and most of their core divisions are doing well. They really only have one long term concern which is mobile phones and if they can keep losses to a minimum in that area they may be able to pull it through. But they do need to think long and hard about that area. Otherwise there aren't any major concerns for Sony as a whole.
The big question is what will NX be aiming to be first or second to? NX seems like it's a gen 8.5 product, which may mean it ends up a bit like Wii U from a power perspective. They can't launch NX at a significantly higher price than Xb one or PS4 will be at once it hits the market. And almost certainly Xb one will be $299 when NX comes along, and PS4 probably will be too. So If Nintendo makes a direct competitor against these consoles that retails for $350 then they won't have substantially better specs and the whole "best version of multiplats" aspect of making NX a reason to buy - which is definitely a factor for some people - won't be as significant as if NX was a genuine 9th gen product. For 9th gen specs NX would need to have 12GB GDDR5 RAM at least, CPU and GPU at least 5x PS4 and Xb one and pretty much have 1080p / 60fps as the base performance level for all games, and significantly higher than that for relatively undemanding games. Nintendo needs to do something significant to disrupt PS4 momentum globally and disrupt PS4 and Xb one momentum in the USA. I'm not sure a gen 8.5 product will do that. Perhaps a gen 8.5 product that is both a handheld and a home console in one for $350 might do it. But if they are addressing both markets with one product how do you measure the market? If They are mostly bringing the handheld people into the next handheld generation and not really bringing the CoD / GTA / TES etc fans across then that may mean a high selling system with low sales of those big 3rd party franchises, like what happened to Wii. Which means 3rd parties once again disappointed with Nintendo's product and thus drifting away from making NX a focus for their game development.
“The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.” - Bertrand Russell
"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace."
Jimi Hendrix
