| freedquaker said: The handheld business is good enough, at least for now, so leave it alone. If they start entering the "smartphone or tablet" space, they will need to decrease their game price drastically. This, combined with the high rate of piracy on Android will lead to a huge perceptive devaluation of their games value. What they should do with mobile, is to revive the old first party titles (Gameboy, NES, SNES, N64 etc) and release them for the mobile for a relatively small premium price like $4.99 or $9.99. Meanwhile they should continue their primary mobile market with 3DS and DS, where they are the king of the hill. On the other hand, on the home gaming system, they are no longer relevant, so it's much more future-proof to be a software publisher. They have been going downhill ever since the entry of Sony first, and even more with Microsoft, and they have little chance to compete against them. Their best bet would be - Either cooperate with Sony, on the next playstation and release all new Nintendo games exclusively for the new PS platform. It's also a good strategy to release former Nintendo titles with revamped graphics etc on the platform. I am sure Sony can agree upon some privileged conditions with Nintendo. - Or Just go multi-platform, releasing their franchises on all feasible platforms, the Sega way. |
I'm not sure any of those are great ideas. The 3DS is doing phenomenally compared to the rest of the market, and doing anything on mobile might undercut it. Releasing Nintendo games on Playstation or multiplatform may sound great to a consumer, but a) it would anger everyone who bought a Wii U, and b) it would seriously hamper their ability to make their own games because Nintendo has always developed for their own hardware.
A part of me wants to see Nintendo become a peripherals manufacturer. Sell the Wii U GamePad as PS4 and XBox One accessories for $100. But then that makes the consumer pony up $500 or $600 for hardware, which is just too much. Microsoft would likely refuse because the Gamepad would make Kinect voice commands obsolete. All that work on snapping TV screens, skype, and browsing while gaming--and more importantly the marketing for it--would be flushed down the toilet if you had a second screen.
Between a split market and that huge initial investment, Nintendo can be certain most gamers can't afford both a new console and their Nintendo peripherals in the same financial year. Sales two years from now doesn't actually help.
For my money, I think the best hardware bet Nintendo has is to stay the course with the Wii U. If Zelda U and X don't sell it, politely End Of Life it after a respectable, but disappointing, five year run and make a successor to the 3DS which can stream to a TV screen.
