Million said:
I don't think my point disagrees with yours , infact I think it strengthens my argument . The fact that Nintnedo didn't have to battle for their new found demographic means that their future hold over that demographic is surrounded in mystery , what I think will is happen is that Sony and Microsoft will revise their strategies and attack that new demographic in a way their feeble attempts (Natal and Sony motion controller) have been unable too , this gen is really to late for a drastic change , the demographics have been set in stone. I guess it can be argued both ways , Nintendo has captured a new market and no one really knows how they are going to play it from here , they could do more of the same with the Wii 2 or they could radicaly innovate their control scheme again (a risky move but one that is guaranteed to profit huge if the market responds well ) . Regardless of what Nintendo does I don't think they'll be able to have the lead they had last time ,like you said Nintendo didn't have to fight for this new market . But now the markets been established and is experiencing expotential growth, both Microsoft and Sony are in on it now. |
The whole point of Nintendo's strategy is that they acquire markets that aren't being catered to. That's why it's the Blue Ocean Strategy. You're talking about fighting over this audience, which is the red ocean(blood in the water attracting the sharks), and is exactly what Nintendo purposely got themselves out of. Microsoft and Sony I feel only have the capacity to try and fight over the audience Nintendo has acquired. I don't think they can utilize the mentality Nintendo has to seek out new markets unattended to. I derive this from their PR statements and executive interviews, which have never shown an inkling that either company really gets it. Iwata was talking about market expansion before the Wii hit. It wasn't some roll the dice thing. They are now talking about how to acquire new markets. He spoke about it candidly during the the E3 conference. At the same time, Sony and Microsoft showed us silly tech demos like paint splashing minigames and shooting cartoon guns around a room full of toys. You tell me who looks more poised to expand the market again.
If Sony and Microsoft manage to tap into Nintendo's current expanded audience, I believe Nintendo will have moved into catering to a much larger group of formely disgruntled or non-gamers. They will still put an effort into their old strategy, same as how we still get our upstream games like Mario RPG, Fire Emblem and Disaster Day of Crisis to give this traditionalist audience what they want also. Nintendo does fight in the red ocean, and puts up a decent effort, but the eyes are always on the real prize. Sony and Microsoft are basically now trying to go down the path Nintendo laid out, and as long as they do that, they'll never get further than Nintendo does.
Tag: Became a freaking mod and a complete douche, coincidentally, at the same time.
