spemanig said:
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. |
Ugh, enough with the "buy Capcom", Nintendo is not buying a bloated, past its prime Japanese third party to make Japanese games that won't really help them in the West. Resident Evil simply just sells better on Sony platforms, Nintendo has had exclusive Resident Evil games before and it's never really helped their hardware sales, and quite frankly the franchise is dated and tired today, it's almost 20 years old.
Like I like Capcom too, but Nintendo fans have been banging this drum for like 15 years. If Nintendo wants rights to Megaman games, I'm pretty sure Capcom would just give it to them for a small fee if Nintendo was willing to actually finance such a game (which they're probably not interested in).
They made a pitch for BANDAI as a toy company like *13 years ago* when Bandai's stock was at rock bottom. The last major new external studio they invested in an ownership stake was like ... I can't even remember. Maybe Silicon Knights or Retro Studios in the late 1990s? Even despite swimming in cash during the Wii/DS era they basically did not invest anything meaningful into foreign development or developer buy-outs.
Nintendo is fine with being a small company. I think you're confusing what you want with the actual reality here. Nintendo is just now barely coming out of their shell and doing things like amusement park rides and that's only because their traditional hardware business is in major decline. Being a massive company is not all that it's cracked up to be either, fans often don't know what they're talking about in a business sense when they make pie in the sky suggestions. Having a small work force is beneficial to being able to run a profitable company and it's much easier to maintain corporate culture with a smaller work force. Why do you think companies like Microsoft and Sony are engaging in massive layoffs ... to downsize and become more managable.
