Against the Industry (Malstrom)

[mrstickball]

Khuutra said:

mrstickball said:
Nintendo uses the financial bottom line to screw customers. They've done it better than any other company. Yet at the same time, they know that in order to be financially viable, they have to satisfy the consumer.

In the end, it's kind of a roundabout argument. You can't have a viable industry without it meeting the needs of the consumer. It's a symbiotic relationship.

Of course, I guess to Mr. Malstrom, the best thing that could happen would be to have every company, sans Nintendo, implode.

Okay, let me hear this one.

Lets see:

• Lack of financial incentives for 3rd parties to come to systems causes less products on the platform 
• Proprietary memory formats (DS carts, Wii disks) allow for more control over manufacturing process, stymying competition and innovation in media (which allows Nintendo more control and revenue over the system, since they control it)
• Excessive profits on hardware means greater costs to consumers
• Lack of price drops on consoles to keep pace with comparables.

That's among other things. The key to the statement is that Nintendo is fantastic at maintaining strong profit margins. However, such a thing comes at cost to the consumer in some of the aforementioned things. It's not 'good' or 'bad' persay, as Nintendo absolutely has to do it, or else face bankruptcy. I think, in some cases, they could handle it better, but such an argument may come at a cost in another area.