maxleresistant said:
They sold 100 millions Wii, and 150 millions NDS, That's 250 millions consoles sold in the span of 5/6 years. Do you really think Nintendo is content with selling 72 millions units at this point in the gen? Do you think they would be happy and think it's a success if they sold 30 millions home console and 70 million handhelds? They always made a lot of money, they always aimed for more, they are not aiming at the gamecube numbers, they are aiming at a lot more than that. Also the cost of making games has been increased tenfold since the Gamecube. You can't make as much profit with the same sales. 30 millions would put the NX behind the Wii, NES, SNES and N64. How can anyone here thinks that Nintendo will be happy with the NX being their 5th best selling console? I'm dead sure on that, if it doesn't do better than the N64, they'll categorize it as a mild failure. Hell, I bet they would even think 40 millions is not a success. For me 40 millions means : a good third party support, a great first party support, great sales of software, and good profits. That xould be a success |
Their expectations must adjust to the market and what they see as possible through their developments. You can't just will a 150m selling system into existence or shit out another Wii type phenomenom based on desire alone, their must exist a capable product and strategy behind it.
All the consoles you reference are 10years+ old and existed in a very different climate. Their last console wasn't the Wii, it was the Wii U. Their last handheld wasnt the 150m selling DS, it was the 60-70m selling 3DS. Forecasting isn't just a bubble where you pick a number which you like the most, you study the market, your recent performance, things you've done in the past and analyse the things your future products will do to make a difference. Nintendo understand the Handheld market has been devoured by mobiles, likely why they have started releasing mobile games. The DS is no longer a relevant reference point for success.
More to the point a companies forecasts and goals are based more specifically on profit than units sold. Lets say Nintendo's goal is to quadruble their profits in the next 5 years, their aims to achieve this may be through consolidating their console space with a system which sells at a fair profit at day one (far higher hardware profit margins than Wii U) and reaches 30m units in the next 4 years (more than 2x than Wii U) and has much more software revenue through a unified platform connected to their handheld equalling more games on both systems. On top of this they supplement their profits from the console with mobile tie-in games and a premium subscription service for new game content, discounts etc. Quadrubling profits doesn't simply mean 4x hardware units sold.
I wouldn't argue with your personal definition of success for the NX, just wanted to point out that for Nintendo its more than just how many units they sell and their expectations are grounded by the current market situations and whatever product they've managed to come up with behind the scenes.
