| OdinHades said: The silence from Nintendo is really odd. You would expect them to advertise the shit out of their new console. But instead, just... nothing at all. I'm sure there is a lot going on at Nintendo headquarters and I think we will see a new president soon. I guess Nintendo has some problems that didn't start with the Wii U but way sooner. Of course they won't be talking about that. About going 3rd party... I don't think so, but I also wouldn't be surprised at this point. It's just that Nintendo could sell so many more games if they went multiplat, so from a business standpoint, it doesn't make sense anymore to sell consoles, even more since the Wii U is sold at a loss. If Investors think the same, the Wii U may be the last of Nintendos home consoles. But we just don't know yet. Yeah, of course, Nintendo is always doomed, I know. But sometime, be it now or in the far future, that prediction of doom will come true. Not just for Ninty, but also for Sony, Microsoft, Apple and even Google. Coca-Cola will last longer than any of those electronic companies. |
I feel like the silence is due to the fiscal year coming to an end. Why funnel tons of money into advertising that will only show up as revenue lost for this FY? They have advertised the most recent releases, but why would they advertise in earlier months when there aren't any games releasing? It's just not a smart business move. Things will kick off soon with another Nintendo Direct now that every game with a hard release date has come out. W101 is listed as "Coming Soon" in the eShop so a release date cannot be too far off, they also have to talk about the April update, VC launch, Pikmin maybe Bayonetta progress and who knows what else. Nintendo was in worse trouble after the Gamecube than they are now....2 insanely popular systems followed by a rocky launch that was turned completely around and a pretty successful launch that saw a drought, but increasing sales as games were released. After the struggles to keep up with the PS1 and PS2, Nintendo NEEDED to do something, and they got rid of Yamauchi. Since then, they have led the market in both handhelds and consoles. Iwata isn't going anywhere unless the Wii U completely tanks which most likely isn't going to happen.
Nintendo MIGHT sell more games as a third party, but it could drive other third parties away from the system that had them, leading to abandonment or buyout propositions from companies. That's why third parties have such a hard time with being on Nintendo's consoles, the competition is too fierce...they just can't keep up. If Mario went toe to toe with Assassins Creed on a release day, Mario would win. Mario Kart could take out CoD single handedly. The problem is that Nintendo would have to pay royalties and licensing fees to get their games on other systems...which Sony and MS would charge out the ass for. The Wii U is barely sold at a loss, and is profitable after 1 first party sale or 2 third party sales. It's a pretty safe assumption that Nintendo has profitted off of every Wii U sold so far once you add software and they will quite possibly make a profit on each Wii U sold period by the end of the year. Why pay money to get games on a console when you profit off of pretty much everything you do when you do it yourself?
From a business standpoint, Nintendo is the only one that should be in the console business. Sony and MS lost $8 billion total with their consoles last gen and Sony almost seems to be betting the farm on PS4. Their credit status is "junk", they haven't turned a profit in YEARS (while Nintendo only posted it's first annual loss EVER last year due to R&D on the Wii U.), they sold HQ's and shares in stock in order to fund the PS4. Microsoft has enough avenues of income that are profitable to take the hit, but it still isn't good.
The only way the Wii U will be the last of Nintendo's home consoles is if the definition of home console changes. With the way they are combining their hardware divisions and gameplay styles between console and handheld, it seems like their next hardware will be some sort of hybrid. Connected to the tv, save the game to the handheld device and take it anywhere....not streaming over the internet or between the console and controller, with literally every game. Not just particular "cross-buy" games and there won't be a disparity between handheld and console titles. Especially if graphene in computers is perfected by then and they use it....stuff's crazy. Wireless bandwidth rates of 100tb/s, faster through graphene itself, 1 atom thick, incredibly fast battery recharge times, stupidly cheap (over 100 graphene supercapacitors put onto the surface of a DVD with a consumer grade LightScribe burner in under 30 minutes) and be placed on just about anything.
At the very worst, Nintendo will lose hundreds of millions a year and still be around in 40 years. Before that would happen, they would switch to handheld only and bail themselves out, only to make a comeback into the living room (if the above doesn't come true). Nintendo is the only company making smart business decisions and they came out of the first gaming crash like a Phoenix from the ashes. Expect that to continue.
