JWeinCom said:
Nintendo has done shorter lifespans for their products before. The GBA had a shorter lifespan, and it led to the ultra successful DS. Gamecube had about 5 years before the Wii came out. You're also overestimating customers and their longterm memory and reasoning ability. I mean, people bought XBox Ones at launch despite the issues the XBox 360 had. People buy incremental upgrades for their phones every year. The tech industry as a whole is moving towards more rapid upgrades. Four years would be a bit below average, but not so low that people would be shocked and offended. It would be about the lifespan of the original X-Box, and people weren't too bothered about that. If it's cool, people would buy it. 2019 or later on the other hand would be absolutely insane. The Wii U doesn't look like it's turing things around, and riding it out for 7+ years would be seriously detrimental to Nintendo. The Wii U does have quality games, but first party software can only do so much, and third party software isn't forthcoming. Unlike the Wii, the U doesn't have a hook that is appealing to customers. Sadly, I don't see anything in the pipeline that will change things in the next year. In technological terms, the Wii U is already approaching middle age, and it's going to be hard to manage a turnaround now. Not impossible, but unlikely. Personally, I feel like there are enough quality games to warrant my purchase. I wouldn't be thrilled for Nintendo to cut the Wii U off so soon, but I also wouldn't feel cheated. Some people would inevitably be upset, but the cost of not making a move to make Nintendo relevant would outweigh the loss of consumer confidence. |
Considering the prices of the 8th gen's consoles during their releases it's too expensive to "upgrade" to a new gen console every 5 years. You might as well buy a dedicated gaming computer or better yet, just buy a ps4 or xbox one for cheaper than a pc. A new console ($300 to 500) and a couple of games ($180) to go with it every 4 or 5 years is just too damn expensive. That's not including the several or more games you would buy during that 5 year period. Most actual gamers will just stick with consoles that stay around longer and spend that extra $480 to 680 on new games.
Back in the day it was more tolerable for a console to have a short lifespan because the consoles and games then were cheap. Now, it's a different story. We're not the idiot cell phone consumers who buy overpriced rereleased cell phones (apple). I like to know I'm getting the most for the money I pay. Nintendo really can't get away with much on consumer confidence because it only has it's fan base keeping it alive. Look what happened to MS with trying to shaft us with no used games and online only. It lost a console war just because of that.
Nintendo can turn itself around with the wii u easily. First, it needs a price drop to $250 or less then make some actual adult games (5 or more) to entice the largest core gaming demographic to buy it. It's that simple. Kids games only appeal to a minority of gamers. No point in jumping out of a floating ship.
