RolStoppable said:
It's not a lack of third party support that is the cause for low Wii U sales. Additionally, you have to consider the big picture. A console that has a chance to get all the third party support would end up retailing in the $400 range, but that's a price that people wouldn't pay for Nintendo hardware. Consumer expectations greatly differ between Nintendo and Sony/Microsoft. The most important difference is the perception of hardware and software prices. The Sony/MS consumer doesn't mind paying a premium for hardware, but wants cheap games, and games that drop in price quickly. The Nintendo consumer considers software the true value of video games and sees hardware merely as a tool to play it, so it's software that can command a premium price while the hardware shouldn't be an obstacle to get to the games. The lesson to be learned from the Wii U is not that Nintendo needs more powerful hardware and a "normal" controller, or that third party support is important. Nintendo doesn't need powerful hardware, they don't need a "normal" controller and they don't need multiplatform games. Once you eliminate the premise "Nintendo needs multiplatform games" from the equation, Nintendo gains a lot of freedom in how they can design their next home console. Therefore, no need to use blu-ray or other optical media. |
There are a lot of ways to get 3rd party support. Nintendo needs to find an approach that can get people invested and keep them moving hardware/software. The delay of the NX for a year is meant to get Nintendo's first party effords to cover a year or two without the WiiU droughts that killed the system after launch. Nintendo doesn't traditionally have the biggest 3rd party support (not since the SNES for home consoles or the DS for handhelds) but most people interested in Nintendo doesn't get that bothered by it. A weaker support is different from no support at all, though. I still think Nintendo should seccure all the japanese support they can because japanese games are the 3rd parties that best sell on Nintendo consoles, specially now that the casual bubble burst. Plus, most japanese-centric games don't need that much power to begin with.A 400$ console as powerful as the PS4K would just slow Nintendo down hard, because they wouldn't use that power, and 3rd parties might just ignore it again. Better focus on a PS4-level console and a WiiU-level handheld that use the same architecture and can play games. Make the system easy to port things, and you'll inmediately gain that JRPG market. And please, don't block online multiplayer under a fee, Nintendo is in no position to make those kind of moves. I don't care if their online services aren't as good as the ones on PS-Xbox devices, I buy a console to play, I have a computer for everything else.
Nintendo needs the system to sell well. The Wii, despite its weaker hardware, did get a ton of 3rd party support, it wasn't just the kind most gamers would have hoped for (most of the more core gamer-focused 3rd party titles on the Wii belonged to niche genres or were watered down ports of PS360 games). If the system sells well, 3rd parties will take the time to bring games to it. They like money.
