| RolStoppable said: They don't even realize what's going to hit them. Nintendo's self-destruction will also have an effect on their beloved companies, because now there isn't going to be a platform where third parties can rake in the cash with cheaply produced games. Money that was used to subsidize development for the 360 and PS3 until these systems had big enough installed bases to become self-sustaining. Admittedly, some publishers never really reached that point and continued to incur losses. The upcoming transitional period is going to be tough for third parties. Activision is about the only Western publisher who has a reliable cash cow in Call of Duty. EA sells 10m+ copies of FIFA each year, but that's still not good enough to make a profit overall. The software markets on the 360 and PS3 are on the decline and it will take at least a couple of years before the Nextbox and PS4 truly get going. This time there is no DS and Wii. Mobile isn't going to pick up the slack, because consumers are conditioned to expect free games. |
I guess you must have missed when Square Enix mentioned that mobile was their lone bright spot in their terrible earnings report that cost the CEO his job...or missed how EA generated 23 million dollars in sales from the Simpsons tapped out last quarter when the game is free to consumers...or maybe its take two and them selling 1+ million copies of GTA3 for the ios and andriod platforms at $4.99 and those are successes from the big boys. You have smaller companies like rovio who created their following on the ios and andriod and now has one of the top selling 3DS game in NA. Angry Birds did not start from consoles/dedicated handhelds but it showed it can invade them and be successful.
EDIT: After a little investigation, I can say that Angry Birds Trilogy is the best selling 3rd party game in the West for dedicated handhelds($40 dollars Activision).
...and then there's Steam.
The mobile space is not in a downturn, as the market continues to mature and expand, these developers will continue to find ways to utilize their brands to make money in the space. that with the continued selling of 3rd parties games on the PS360 (both retail and through their online shops), it should be more than enough to fill the gap Nintendo left behind.
