zorg1000 said:
Fitness & education games were really big on Wii/DS and I think that market will be hard to bring back to dedicated gaming machines, that's where Quality of Life comes into play, so without that market it will be hard for NX to replicate the success of Wii/DS. As for going head to head against Sony/Microsoft, I agree that's a bad idea. Throwing around a ton of money for timed exclusives, exclusive DLC, exclusive marketing is too costly for Nintendo which is a pretty financially conservative company. The market for those AAA western titles simply is not on Nintendo and most people will find no need for a third console that caters to the same demogrpahics. I'm not saying they should completely abandon the 13-30 year old male market that thrives on PS/XB but at the same time Nintendo should not bend over backwards for them. The best bet for Nintendo is like u said, unify their software ecosystem so that all or most titles are released on both the handheld and the console, this significantly frees up their resources by not having to develop two completely separate versions of all their big IP which means they can pump out new IP or resurrect older IP at a faster rate. Instead of releasing Mario Kart 9 in 2017 for the handheld then Mario Kart 10 in 2020 for the console, they can make MK9 for both in 2017 then 2-3 years later resurrect F-Zero for example. Same goes for other teams. Marketing is one area where Nintendo has not done great this generation but from what Iwata had recently stated they plan on expanding their marketing through various means that don't necessarily include spending more money on television advertising. Things like mobile games/apps, theme park attractions, films/series are ways they can significantly increase their brand image among consumers and the great thing about this is they will be generating revenue for Nintendo regardless if they increase hardware/software sales so it's a win/win. |
Nintendo is going no where if they can't connect with the broader adult and teenager audience. It's just not happening because kids like all video games, they like Sony and Microsoft too, so Nintendo gets no special break there.
If you look at even in a broad sense too ... their last two huge break out IP on a console that actually drove hardware sales were what? GoldenEye on the N64, and then Wii Sports/Wii Fit on the Wii. The increased audience for these games actually came from teenagers/adults (as in people not interested in just Mario and friends).
That's Nintendo's main problem I think, their utter inability to consistently connect with adults. They need more "age neutral" games that have the fun gameplay associated with Nintendo but not weighed down by an extremely cartoony presentation.
For example, Wii Sports would've been nowhere near as big if it was "Mario And Friends Sports". That just would've turned off too many of the adults. GoldenEye propelled the N64 to almost equal sales to the SNES in North America and Europe (though Japan didn't bite on FPS), which is quite a feat despite having nowhere near as many games. I remember many friends of mine who bought an N64 just for GoldenEye, and they had no interest in Mario or Zelda.
That's one thing I think that kinda gets glossed over, the games that drove the Wii and DS to much large than expected marketshare came from ADULTS buying in to the system, unfortuantely as you mentioned a lot of that casual concept is now cannibalized elsewhere. But I also think this shouldn't be confused with "hyper violent" games ... things like Devil's Third that are way too far on the other end of the spectrum aren't going to work either.
