| Mummelmann said: OT: Hmm, entering into battle with smartphones/tablets and browser/social games will not end well, I think. This might have been a decent idea a decade ago but not now. |
Assuming for the sake of this conversation that this premise is correct, are you simply proposing that Nintendo stop making its own hardware and become a dedicated mobile developer? If so, I can't agree, for reasons that have been discussed countless times on this site. The alternative to this plan is throwing in the towel.
| Mummelmann said: Instead of trying to improve in the markets they are the most out of touch with (the West), they opt to try to penetrate the markets that are the least likely to adopt new consoles to begin with, regardless of pricing (the convenience segment will conquer these markets and consoles are losing relevance even in their strongest territories). |
I assume "convenience segment" means mobile, based on the earlier portion of your post. If so, what is your support for that statement? As for the statement that consoles are losing relevance, we've just come off a generation where the combined home console sales are 260 million and rising, which I am confident in saying is a record. Shall we at least wait a little before predicting an epic and unprecedented collapse?
| Mummelmann said: In my honest opinion; this is a horrible plan in this day and age and shows that Nintendo are truly struggling to keep up with the modern market movements and development. |
The basis here being that you firmly believe home consoles are doomed and that mobile is the future, I gather, in which case your only proposed solution would be for Nintendo to go third party. I, by contrast, don't for a second believe mobile is going to take over all of gaming any time soon, just like PCs didn't destroy the home console market in spite of repeated predictions of such in the 80's and 90's. I think this plan is somewhat wise, as offering the current generation consoles (which are already pricey for the developed world, as are smartphones) probably won't fly much in the developing world, but that capturing an emerging market early can make it easier to succeed in future generations (see: Nintendo in Europe for how it's harder to be a Johnny-Come-Lately).
Admittedly, there's a glaring achilles' heel here, namely that Nintendo already has great difficulty covering its consoles with enough development resources. It's for this reason I suspect this plan will go down in flames, not because of the old narrative that mobile will be everything soon.
