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Soundwave on 05 October 2014
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t3mporary_126 said:
Soundwave said:

3DS will sell 20+ million in both North America and Europe individually.

That's more than the GameCube in both of those territories WW.

They still have some juice there.

Coming up with gimmicks to sell hardware is not easy. You don't just snap your finger, a lot of it boils down to timing, having some fortune in finding the right idea, and really ... a lot of luck. Nintendo tried with glasses-free 3D and a tablet controller to find the next fads and failed. I guess vitality sensor never even made it out of their R&D because it simply doesn't work on large portions of the population. 

MS bailed out on Kinect too. I think in general people are getting tired of controller gimmicks ... after last gen of plastic guitars, balance boards, Wiimotes, steering wheels, cameras, plastic zappers, etc. etc. people are burnt out on accessorie garbage all over their living room.

The barrier of gaming has been broken down by the multitouch touch screen on tablets/phones now ... now anyone can play if they want to. That's what the DS Touch Generations and Wii Sports/Fit crazes evolved into. Apple won that battle. So that's not even a problem anymore either. Casuals are well served now and so are hardcore players.

 

I'm not doubting the 3DS success this generation. I'm doubting the market success for dedicated handheld games next generation. Dedicated gaming is becoming niche and the smart device gaming industry has potential to evolve into something bigger. Of course that's speculation, but its something to worry about.

And you're right that finding the next big thing (or gimmick as you see it) is difficult. But the reality is Nintendo consoles just don't sell without third party support or a interesting new device or game series.

I don't think the Fusion can sell 80 million systems if the Smart device gaming gets bigger and evolves into a fiercer competition.


Well you know what? Tough sh*t for Nintendo then. This is the industry they're in. No one said they're entitled to some easy road to success. Smart devices are here and aren't going anywhere. 

Putting the best of what they have into one software ecosystem is making their best case to the consumer is probably their best play now. 

Hardware gimmicks are done because in part people can see when you're just throwing gimmicks at them for the sake of having a gimmick. Touch screen gaming and motion gaming had a logical purpose people could understand ... breaking down the barrier for novice/lapsed gamers. But that barrier now is broken down and being (over) served by smart devices. The average person today who can't make heads or tails out of even a SNES controller today has access to hundreds of easy pick up and play, button-free games that they can play in a device that's always in their pocket. So there's no need for Nintendo there (this wasn't the case 10 years ago). Anything else is likely them just forcing a gimmick, which people will see right through.