Current vs Last, a Console Sales Story (COMPLETE!)

[Osc89]

RolStoppable said:

Osc89 said:

How can Nintendo survive then? If third parties want them out they won't ever have good support like the others. And Sony and MS are so similar in what they offer in terms of hardware they will focus on exclusive software to try and stand out. So Nintendo will have a very hard time standing out in the software space, especially as they will devote less time to new IPs as they have to maintain their successful old ones.

But coming up with something special in terms of hardware is even harder. Could they really come up with another Wii again? Especially as many more companies are trying to get a box in the living room. On top of Sony and MS, it looks like Valve, Apple, Google (+ other Android boxes) are all going for this area. Will they all have ignored what the Wii did? Many of them will be looking to pick up the ball Nintendo dropped, and if Nintendo didn't even realise what they did with the Wii why would it be them.

Nintendo will survive by selling affordable hardware at a profit and having plenty of high selling software on their machine, plus accessory sales. If all components are profitable, the company will stay profitable. The Wii is the most profitable video game system ever made and it didn't have good third party support. There is also nothing that prevents Nintendo from continually expanding their workforce and as long as those additional development studios make profitable games, it's all good. With enough studios around, both new and old IPs can be created/continued without either one getting the short end of the stick.

And yes, Nintendo could come up with another Wii again. In fact, Nintendo is the only company who can. In order to make something like the Wii, you need top development teams that back the system. Sony and Microsoft would never go that route, because they need third parties, thus they can't take a radically different route. Valve, Apple and Google also need third parties to make their boxes have the slightest chance, because they have no first party developers to speak of (Valve hasn't really made a game in years). Apple and Google can throw all the multimedia functions they want at their box, but that's not what a video game system is about.

Unlike superchunk, I don't believe that Nintendo has to add any non-gaming functions to their systems, simply because in this day and age (and in the future) almost everyone will own other devices that do those things already. So it's pointless for Nintendo to add that stuff, because those features have next to no value to the consumer. What people care about though are games, so that's all that a Nintendo system has to do. A box that plays games and does it well. There is a big potential market that doesn't care about what qualifies as hardcore gaming today and neither sees iOS and Android gaming as something they would do on their TV. Nintendo just has to go where nobody else can or wants to go.

Both Sony and MS are gearing up to go after this market though. The Wii broke a huge barrier between the general public and gaming, which was the controller. Instead of learning buttons, they made a motion and person on screen did the same. Sony and MS have this in the Kinect and Move, but they didn't do anything beyond the Wiimote and lacked any must have software. They are now both working on breaking the next barrier, which is the screen. Instead of working out where something is in relation to the person on screen, you are the person on screen. They will be picking up where the Wii left off in terms of ease of use if one or both of their AR/VR glasses live up to the promise.

On the other end, Apple and Google are taking over the market that prioritizes affordability. The app stores have many cheap and free games that are available on something the majority already own. Nintendo will never be able to undercut the mobile market.

The Wii managed to be both the most user friendly way to play games combined with one of the cheapest gaming options available. Nintendo will never be able to be the cheapest, and don't seem to have any interest in progessing ease of use. I don't see how they will ever be able to recreate the Wii.

The media options keep you using the system for longer, so I don't see why they don't just throw them in. They will never be a deciding factor when buying a system, but I can imagine that they would increase user satisfaction. Plus why not make the console UI a nice thing to use rather than something you push through to get to the games.

Nintendo have shareholders to answer to right? Staying profitable won't be enough, they'll want increased marketshare. If they try and coast with 20m sold and poor third party sales more than one gen in a row, there will be pressure to go third party. Especially as we have seen how well their franchises sell when not constrained by hardware sales.