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Lonely_Dolphin on 02 September 2016
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Asriel said:

You're misunderstanding me, and I'm not even sure where to begin when it feels like you've barely even read what I wrote.

3DS still has a huge audience, so it makes sense for Nintendo to cater to that. Consumer dissatisfaction isn't an issue for 3DS right now, but it remains Nintendo's primary revenue driver. It's easy money, it's not a huge investment, and if NX fails out of the gate, they need revenue to fall back on. Continued support for 3DS provides that. It makes business sense to provide support for 3DS using minimal resources to maximise potential profit.

The fact you think I don't understand that software sells systems is flat out insulting.  Perhaps read what I wrote, rather than jumping to a series of assumptions? I'm not saying NX only needs a few games,  or that fewer games are better than having a large software library. I didn't make either of those points.  I'm saying there's no point in flooding the system with games--especially not quick spin-offs and ports--at launch, because those games don't sell systems. Nintendo need to launch more software than they did with Wii U, yes, obviously. Nintendo need big hits to get the system into people's homes initially, and then they need a steady, varied supply of software to broaden the appeal of the system and keep sales ticking over. They need to ensure that big titles come at regular intervals. That's what they utterly failed at with Wii U, and nailing that will be essential to ensuring NX is successful. There were 24 games available for Wii U on day one in the UK. Did that help the system??

This is important: what's the point in throwing everything at the system without thinking about a consistent release schedule? That's the point I'm making. Nintendogs was a huge hit on DS, so Nintendo pushed it as a launch title for 3DS, and very little was accomplished. In theory there's a huge hit there, in practise the result is different. The same with New Super Mario Bros U, which has sold decently on Wii U, but which couldn't accommodate for Wii U's other failings. Nintendo don't just need a variety of software launching consistently, they need the right software at the right time. Imagine if Super Mario Maker had launched with Wii U. Wii U wouldn't be a smash hit, but wouldn't a new, exciting take on Mario, which properly communicates the benefits of the gamepad, have done better than the second New Super Mario Bros title in a year, and the fourth in seven years? Hypothetical at this point, but that's what Nintendo will be thinking. They had two dozen games at launch on Wii U, and the system still failed, because (in addition to other problems, Wii U was a trainwreck at launch after all) there weren't the right games to sell the system. NX already has an edge on Wii U because it has a hotly anticipated Zelda title presumably coming at launch, but they need to make sure there's more than that--yes, on day one--but much more importantly, there needs to be more than that coming regularly in the months and years ahead. At no point in my original post did I dispute that, so please read what people are contributing to your thread rather than jumping to assumptions.

There's room for a more nuanced understanding of the situation than "Nintendo are stupid for releasing more games on 3DS, everything needs to launch on NX". There has to be a balance between getting NX off to a strong start, ensuring a steady supply of software for the system without flooding the market, and continuing to profit from 3DS (and having a fallback if NX fails out the gate). 

 

Well it seems like you're misunderstanding me aswell, but I do apologize for jumping on ya.

I'm not saying what Nintendo is doing has no logic whatsoever, I totally get why they're doing it, but the 3DS is dying with no way to reverse it, and it already has a wealth of games. It'd probably still sell decent next year on Pokemon, Ever Oasis, and third partys alone. So to me, even as a 3DS owner, it makes more sense to focus solely on making sure the NX is successful.

Oh, well then I'm not sure why you're saying that, I'm definitely not saying Nintendo should release all their games on launch. I of course want them to be spread out to avoid droughts. However, I highly disagree with the idea that people buy systems for a select game rather than the library as a whole, so ports/spin-offs/niche titles are definitely not unnecessary. They're the reason I got a Wii first year when I never buy systems during the first year. It isn't feasible especially without third party support to have a big seller every month, that's why you need the lower tier games to fill the gaps.

I'm glad you bring up the 3DS and Wii U, as their first year of software support was abysmal. You're definitely right that they didn't have the right games to sell the system, or rather not enough of them. Of the 24 games the Wii U launched with I believe only two of them were Nintendo games, the main reason people buy Nintendo systems, while the rest were late inferior ports of third party games, and then it barely got anything for months. I think 3DS only had Nintendogs and Pilot Wings, then nothing for a few months. It just goes to show that big name games can't sell a system almost by themselves. If Zelda BotW and 3-4 other games is all they have for NX in the first 6 months then it'll be NSMBU all over again.

Again, I do not mean release everything day one. I just want it's first year, and all years really, to be droughtless, and to do that, they're gonna need a lot of games. I'm not confident they'll be able to that while supporting another system given their track record.