February 3, 2016 - The latest round of financial reports from Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo has been released, so this is a golden time for gamers who are interested in the business side of gaming. We consulted an expert for an insightful analysis, and not just anyone. The renowned Sebastian Kramer from market research firm NTH* was the only analyst who predicted the success of Splatoon. Even better for us, he doesn't demand any money for his service because he simply loves to see his name in the news. We felt that Microsoft should be first in something gaming-related for once, so this is where we start.
"It's a bit difficult to properly analyze Microsoft because they keep things close to their chest. When I pressed them for some actual shipment data for their video game consoles, they responded that numbers can be deceiving and tend to distort the big picture. Right afterwards they assured me that they are doing fine, highlighting that Xbox Live's monthly active users grew 30% year-over-year to a record 48 million and that Windows 10 is now active on over 200 million devices."
Moving on to Nintendo, Kramer was surprisingly positive. Yes, this is the same company that wins "most disappointing" polls by a landslide. He also had some interesting things to say about Sony.
"Nintendo is in much better shape than you think. Their operating income for the holiday quarter (~S281m) wasn't far behind the one of Sony's gaming division (~S333m), despite the latter's PS4 eclipsing combined shipments of the Xbox One, Wii U, 3DS and... ... ..."
Vita?
"Vita! Yes, exactly." Kramer continued, "The main reason for that is that Nintendo gamers will buy anything Nintendo, no matter how ****ty it is. This is a fact that often gets overlooked by other industry analysts. It's unreasonable to suggest that Nintendo will exit the hardware business. All they have to do is push out another wave of amiibo and cash-grab spinoffs, and all their problems are solved. Another good example is The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD which was met with a lukewarm reception upon its reveal, only to turn into a must-have a couple of months later. Nintendo fans love to preach their high standards to other companies' fans, but in reality they are the worst when it comes to putting their money where their mouths are."
So what is it that Sony is doing wrong? The PS4 and its software are dominating the sales charts, but why are the profits so low?
"It's still the same old problem. Sony games don't sell on Sony systems, but first party software is where the big money comes from. For example, Splatoon outsold The Order 1886 and Bloodborne combined in a matter of months despite the Wii U having only one third of the installed base of the PS4. My advice for Sony is to develop games for Nintendo platforms because their users have historically been very receptive for high quality first party software. It's a strategy that is already working for Microsoft, so Sony should follow suit. What's especially sad on PlayStation is that gamers routinely pick Ubisoft games over Sony titles, and people don't even like Ubisoft."
*NTH (Now that's hardcore) is a fictive market research firm that collects its data primarily from internet message boards.
