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Wyrdness on 09 April 2015
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spemanig said:


But Nintendo's isn't appealing in the west reguardless of the mainstream. It doesn't matter how much the games they currently make are appealing a small audience, because it's not even remotely close to being enough to sustain a console business. That's clear, as their console is not selling and they're losing money because of it. No one can look at Nintendo's situation with a straight face and say that Nintendo isn't doing something seriously wrong that Sony and Microsoft are doing right. And when you think of it that way, and you should, there are things that become immediately clear. One of them is that the mainstream audience is a western one, and most of them don't factor Nintendo into their equasion when deciding which console to buy.

Now obviously there are numerous factors as to why, but the biggest and most undeniable one is the perseption that Nintendo doesn't make "hardcore" games, which is obviously bullshit, but it still translates to the fact that Nintendo doesn't produce games that appeal to the mainstream western demographic. Third parties will never be enough, because Nintendo doesn't have any exclusive reasons to chose them over the competition in the first place when it comes to those titles. Some people find it hard to believe that there's an audience out their scoffing at Zelda and Metroid, but there is, and it's most of the current gaming populace, whether you consider them casual or not.

They make up the majority demographic that Nintendo has 0 appeal to, and that's costing them serious console sales. Retro is the perfect studio to start making games, quality games, that can appeal to that audience. Especially since that's the whole reason why they exist in the first place. It would be, frankly, stupid of Nintendo to not try and appeal to the majority of the market in some serious way right now leading to their next console.

Except the games are appealing to the west as their software still sells well don't mistake platform sales for appeal, that's appealing regardless of the mainstream, Microsoft's position isn't much better either and they're doing everything you claim Nintendo should. Nintendo maybe a Japanese company but even then their games aren't really like other Japanese games they're pretty much Nintendo's own brand and style.

The majority of the mainstream audience has always been western this is the first flaw I see in your stance here, go all the way back to the NES days you'll find that's always been the case and you can check the platform totals section this site has for reference. What happens is that the majority changes after a few gens and something else becomes mainstream, it's not the culture it's the market itself as it keeps shifting, this is one reason Nintendo shouldn't go out there way to appeal to a specific audience who the majority are going to shift, the mainstream audience now may not be the mainstream audience next gen because 7 years is a long time and other aspects in people's lives start to take over this is why the mainstream keeps shifting.

Secondly making quality games is not what appeals to the current mainstream, it's hype and marketing that does that, Destiny for one is a mediocre game but appeals to the majority because a classic sales tactic has been employed to tell them it's what they should buy. We're in an era where quality is not a factor in sales and this doesn't only apply to gaming either, what would sell Nintendo's platform better then anything you suggest is selling at a loss for a much cheaper price point on their platforms and using software sales to offset the loss until the hardware breaks even.

The third flaw I see is that many of the mainstream only buy one platform anyway, Retro trying to make games that appeals to them doesn't equal them coming over in droves, mainstream audiences are more stuck in their way then anyone else.