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

[Osc89]

RolStoppable said:

Osc89 said:

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.

After Kinect and Move, why would you be more positive about Microsoft's and Sony's prospects than Nintendo's? Doesn't make any sense.

The only thing where Nintendo will be cheap is the hardware, but not the games. Their Wii software maintained high prices while pretty much all of the HD games hit the bargain bin within a couple of months. It didn't hurt Nintendo that everyone was undercutting their software prices, so cheap and free iOS and Android games aren't a serious threat.

Simple media options that don't raise the price of the system can be included, but when the aim is user satisfaction, you better provide games. It always goes back to the games and it's not a good sign when a console is used more for non-gaming than gaming.

Nintendo isn't reliant on shareholders to have a healthy cashflow, because they have billions in the bank. As such, shareholders don't hold much, if any, power over the company. Also, investors want to see first and foremost increased profits and companies that manage to beat their forecasts (even companies who post lower losses than anticipated are seen as good investments). Market share is useless when a company starts to collapse under its losses. Third party software sales aren't anywhere close to as important as you think, because the royalties that Nintendo gets per copy are only a fraction of what they earn with the sale of a first party game.

The calls for Nintendo to go third party were always there, even during the Wii and DS peak years, because dumb investors believe that Nintendo games on more platforms will result in more profits. They don't get that going multiplatform will cripple the core business; hardware sales will go down and thus software and accessory sales for that dedicated platform as well; additionally, the pressure to price games lower on mobile will devalue Nintendo software on the whole; profit margins of Nintendo products would drop across the board, despite unit sales likely increasing; and once you've gone there, it's hard to go back. Then again, calling those investors dumb might be the wrong thing to say. They want to see a short term boost and then sell their shares. They aren't interested in Nintendo's well-being, they see it as just another opportunity to make a quick buck. Because once they've sold their stock, why should they care what happens to Nintendo?

I'm not overly positive about what they'll come up with, I was just pointing out that they are working on their own versions of the Wii strategy. You said that Sony and MS wouldn't try anything radical to avoid alienating third parties, but they are using their peripherals to try something less conventional. And given Nintendo thought the Wii U GamePad was the next step, it's not easy to be that positive about what they'll come up with next.

I wasn't saying third party is the right thing to do, just that compared to having their software constrained by consoles that sell under 20m I can understand the frustration in the money Nintendo is leaving on the table. My point was if they do this again with the next console, it could impact their software. It would be an entire decade where Nintendo franchises get very little exposure. Hopefully the handhelds would prevent them from losing their value, but it is easy to see why you wouldn't neccessarily want to tie the fate of the software to the hardware.