Which company's future looks more dim? Nintendo or Sony?

[MikeRox]

DevilRising said:

MikeRox said:
Tough question really. If Sony were just a games company, it'd clearly be Nintendo, however they have a lot of other things bleeding money.

At the same time however, they have the option to spin loss making sectors off, as they are doing, whilst having a highly successful video game division.

In comparison on a gaming front Nintendo has a strong handheld format, and a near dead home console. Sony is pretty much a perfect mirror of that, however software sales on home consoles are generally far better meaning, from a gaming only perspective, Sony currently has the rosier horizon.

1. Sony's gaming division is not "highly successful". It is and has been bleeding money for some time. It took years for the PS3 to become profitable, and the PS4, considering it's tech for that price, is almost certainly losing money.

2. I wouldn't suggest that Sony has the "rosier horizon" at all. Nintendo's portable sales are doing very well, they have literally billions of dollars in the bank, and the only reason they "posted a loss" for this past fiscal year, is because their own forcast was FAR too high in the first place.

3. Nintendo's home console, the Wii U, is hardly "near dead". It got a nice shot in the arm late last year, and has a much more consistent release schedule for 2014, with games like MK and SB absolutely primed to provide stronger sales. Things aren't GREAT for Wii U, but they're not as dire as some make things out to be either. What Wii U has lacked, is what it is soon getting, some actual, "big gun" type games that are must haves for many people, such as Mario Kart, that will help drive sales, as many have held off buying the console till these kinds of games come out. The PS4, on the other hand, while doing great right now in sales, the gaming division as a whole is not making much money for Sony, and some of their other divisions are in big trouble. Sony could not survive if gaming was all they had, and if the company as a whole goes under, so shall the Playstation. Some other company might certainly buy the brand, but it would still be a disaster.

4. All of this meaning, that I would say Sony is the stronger bet as to who might be "in trouble". Even if Wii U DOES ultimately fail, which I do not currently believe it shall, even if it DOES, that won't cost Nintendo a shitload in the long-run, they have plenty of money, their portable system is doing fine, they will no dobut just make another console, and they are planning to branch out into other business areas, and license more of their properties out for non-gaming products, which will be another big source of revenue. If Wii U fails to make them a lot of money, they will just keep on trucking. They are one of the strongest brands in the world. Sony, over the last several years, has not been. Not like they used to be.

1: The PS3 losses were down to a crazed engineer (Kuturagi) who was given free reign for far too long and his managers being too incompetent to see what was going on. If they'd realised just what the unit price was for the spec, Kuturagi would have been told to ease off, however by the time they realised just how ludicrous the PS3 spec was, they were too close to launch to do anything about it. The PS4 is far more cost effective in design and I understand break's even with 1 piece of software. Aren't Nintendo also losing money on each Wii U sold despite having previous gen technology due to the cost of the pad?

2: Sony currently have a much more promising looking outlook for this generation. I don't really see what Nintendo can do to salvage anything from this gen now other than to aim to break even and rectify it for next generation. However, Wii U has hurt their reputation. Add in the damage done by the panic 3DS price slash etc in 2011 and Nintendo's likely scaring off a lot of early adopters on their future systems. They now have the advantage of being able to regroup knowing what their competition is for the best part of the next decade, but whether they will be able to convince people it's worth buying into their next product remains to be seen. No point having billions in the bank, if they have no significant foothold in their only market. It would just dwindle away.

3: To say Wii U is on anything other than life support is optimistic at best. Don't get me wrong, I do have a Wii U with 8 games. But I don't see anything this year that is going to significantly reverse it's fortunes and if XB1 and PS4 continue to sell as well as they have done out of the starting block, I don't see a route back into significance for it. I honestly thought 3D World would have more impact than it did. Hopefully Mario Kart 8 will help it shift units, but it currently looks like the audience that carried them so well with the Wii may have now had their fun and moved onto other things.

4: 3DS has sold great to date, but the declines YoY will certainly be worrying for Nintendo. They blew their load in 2013 with big name releases. What is left to help the system continue it's hardware momentum at the moment? Making another console looks like their only route out at the moment, however if they've shot their brand loyalty as a result of Wii U, and the main gaming population are happy with XBONE and PS4, it's going to be a difficult sale. They won't have the price advantage because any hardware they make will need to at least be on parity with PS4/XBONE. Those epic financial reserves could well end up being depleted far faster than you would expect.

To say Nintendo's outlook is rosier than Sony's or Microsoft's right now purely from a gaming perspective is very optimistic. Sega went from a very successful console to bankrupt in 2 generations. I don't think Nintendo will do the same as I'd hope they won't make quite as stupid business decisions, but when gaming is your only revenue stream, if your gaming sector mis-steps, they need to get back on track ASAP otherwise it's game over. Nintendo have had 2 blunders in a row now. Will people be as keen to jump head first into their next system?

That said, I know they have a sale from me, had a Wii U at launch and perfectly happy with it. I'll buy any console with a Nintendo logo on it just for Nintendo games and I hope they do manage to find a way out of their current rut. But I still think Sony's gaming division is currently looking rosier. Call be blind, living in an alternate reality or whatever, it's just my irrelivant opinion.