| Soundwave said: Capcom has like two franchises that sell anything, Resident Evil and Monster Hunter, and Nintendo already has one of them basically exclusive (Monster Hunter), and they've had Resident Evil exclusive in the past and it did nothing for them. Disney/Marvel are successful because they have very valuable IP that appeal to the West first and foremost. Nintendo has no interest in being a giant media conglomerate anyway. They are a very conservative Kyoto-based company (meaning they are conservative even by Japanese standards). Nintendo *likes* being a small, tightly controlled company by its board of directors, one that has a very insular culture. The staff at NOA probably have to ask permission from Japan to take a shit. What I think might be more realistic is maybe going after key available movie or product licenses that are just sitting around not being used. That means maybe you look at the James Bond or Mission: Impossible IP for a game series. GoldenEye brought Nintendo a lot more adult/teenagers who didn't give a crap about Mario/Pikachu but that's partly why the N64 sold about the same as the SNES in the West at least (too bad the Japanese side of Nintendo didn't keep up their end of the bargain and the system did terribly in Japan). You need to find character IP that are underused and time less, Marvel's characters are like that, they were a goldmine that no one was using for a long time. Retail is a bad idea too (see Sony shutting down the Sony stores). Also the iPhone very much was a blue ocean product, there was no full touchscreen phone like that before the iPhone that worked like that and every smartphone since then basically has copied the iPhone layout. Before that, the popular "high end" phone meant the flip-out Motorola Razr or if you were a business type the Blackberry with a physical keyboard. But those types of things come around very, very rarely, iPhone is bigger than just that moniker, it's a product that's literally changed the world and propelled Apple into being the most profitable company in the world. |
I think that Devil May Cry, Mega Man, Street Fighter, etc are all big important franchises with huge potential to make money as well. Iron Man wasn't big until Disney came in. Neither was Thor and barely Captain America. Now they are as mainstream as Superman and Batman. Nintendo could do the same thing in a Capcom partnership. It only works in bulk, though. Just one franchise won't do it. They need bulk and they need consistancy. Not just Monster Hunter. Monster Hunter NX and a Resident Evil and a well produced modern Mega Man and a Devil May Cry and Nintendo Vs. Capcom. The stregnth comes from the numbers as well as the quality.
And each of then can, very much, appeal in the west. All of them, aside from Monster Hunter, already have, and Monster Hunter is ripe for its break though here. And they are timeless. They just haven't been utilized very well in the modern era. I think that can change with the right direction. (I also don't think Capcom needs Nintendo to bring these franchises back to major relevancy, but I think both companies could benefit from an organized partnership where that is a goal) I've mentioned before five game ideas where, if Nintendo entered a major exclusivity deal with Capcom, they could give Nintendo big exclusives while giving this franchises the funding, the advertising focus, and the polish to bring them a relevancy they simply wouldn't get as multiplats.
1. You start it with Nintendo Vs. Capcom. This would be an instant hit purely on brand power. Nintendo would obviously publish it, and Capcom would make it.
2. Then Mega Man. Nintendo would publish this and, if Capcom allowed it, would develop it. I'd say give it to Retro Studios. It would be modeled after the classics, but would be totally modern. There hasn't been a truly remarkable 2D Mega Man in years, and with an extensive amount of levels and content, as well as an audience ripe for that kind of experience, it would bring Mega Man back.
3. Monster Hunter NX. Capcom would publish this like they always do. While it would be marketed as being part of this new deal, it would just be a continuation of the support they gave Nintendo on the 3DS. The different would, hopefully, be that there would be more done to make the game appeal more to western audience, like a more significant story, and a world that isn't divided into small zones. And an appearance on consoles via NX's unified platform.
4. Then you get Devil May Cry x Bayonetta. Because it's a crossover, Capcom doesn't need to lose out on releasing DMC:5 as a multiplat, but can still gain a popular edition to the franchise with a smaller amount of, but still significant, brand power. This game would also be published by Nintendo, but developed entirely by Platinum Games. It's a spin off.
5. Finally, another Resident Evil spin off in the same vain as Resident Evil: Revalations. Heck, it could even be Revalations 3. Again, this allows Capcom to still do whatever they want with Resident Evil 7 while giving Resident Evil as a franchise the marketing focus of a first party franchise. Nintendo would handle the marketing for the game.
Low risk for Capcom, high benefit for all involved. Nintendo gets five superstar franchises exclusive to their platform. And no buyout nessicary.
The idea that Nintendo is fine with being such a small conglomerate is the most bold faced lie I've ever heard. They've tried to expand already. They tried to buy out Bandai Namco. They are ever expanding literally as we speak. But I don't think that expansion is going towards IP outside of gaming. No James Bond. No mission impossible. They'll either create their own IP, or they'll buy someone elses gaming IP and make it big again like Square did with the Eidos IP, but I definitely don't see them picking up movie IP or something. It feels out of left field. That being said, I'm not going to rule something like that out. I just don't see it personally.
Retail was bad for Sony because no one wants 90% of the products Sony sells. With an all digital platform where people are afraid that retailers will get upset and drop support, its own chain would be an excellent way to get around this. I'm not saying it will happen though. Nintendo hasn't really made any moves to suggest it will. I just think it's a good idea they should consider. It would do wonders to increase brand awareness too, since they would literally be everywhere. It would have focus too, since it would sell a very specific array of product, as opposed to the wider variety that the Sony store did, which isn't so good when the store only focuses on one brand. It would only sell NX products, Amiibo, Nintendo nick nacks, and maybe older hardware and accessories. That's it, very much like Apple Stores.
The iPhone wasn't a blue ocean product. Ocean refers to the audience, not the product. Blue ocean references an audience that it new or unknown. The iPhone didn't grab a new audience, it grabbed the old audience with a better product. The Wii was a blue ocean product. The established gaming audience weren't the ones that made the Wii successful, the new "casual" audience did. They were an audience that didn't exist in gaming to that degree before the Wii. The NX will be like the iPhone. A red ocean product. It won't try to grab a previously nonexistant/unknown audience. It will try to grab an established audience with a different, superior product. Also, the iphone wasn't just successful because it had a touch screen. Plenty of devices had touch screens. It was revolutionary because of how it changed phones from being just communication devices to being multimedia devices with a simple interface. Touch screens were important in that simplification, but if it was just a touch screen blackberry, it wouldn't have changed anything.
