Louie said:
The problem with the games you listed is that Nintendo's focus with the Wii U (and 3DS) clearly wasn't a blue ocean strategy, despite these titles being on the system. Games like Wii Fit U, Mario Bros. U and Nintendoland were by the numbers, soul-less titles, unlike the games on Wii and DS. Also, the hardware of the Wii U and 3DS clearly didn't attract mass market customers. So even if Nintendo wanted to attract a blue ocean audience, it failed to do so with Wii U and 3DS. The Wii U was the polar opposite of the Wii. As for your second post: I think the point here is that it was always obvious that Nintendo needed a blue ocean strategy to make the Switch a big success. I remember having these discussions years ago with certain users who always claimed Nintendo would only need to attract male gamers aged 20-40 to make the Switch wildly successful - which was obviously wrong and Nintendo always knew they wouldn't have massive success without attracting a wide audience. After all, that's what they've been doing in the handheld sector since the 1980s and the only time their handheld failed to perform to expectations (3DS) was when they didn't attract that audience in large enough numbers. So yes, it was always clear (to Nintendo and observers like Rol) that the Switch would be a blue ocean product, even if the audience consisted mostly of hardcore Nintendo fans right after launch (after all, that's going to be the case for any established console or consumer product: The most enthusiastic "core" fans of your product will buy it first). |
Regarding your first paragraph, I somewhat agree but the comparison shouldn't be made to the Wii & DS but more the Switch which is what I was talking about. Clearly Nintendo made efforts to maintain the audience captured by Wii/DS during the Wii U/3DS era hence those titles l listed (also Nintendogs cats, Brain Training 3DS). My point was that Nintendo's drive towards the new audiences in the early days of the Switch were not more notable than what they were for the Wii U/3DS. 1,2 Switch was there (a lot less effort than Nintendoland) & a convenient port of MK8, but not much else for the first year. I'd argue it was an even less conscious software effort compared to Wii U.
Continueing into your second part, I'd argue Switch is was no more an attempt at the Blue Ocean than the Wii U. Several of its biggest titles are literally just Wii U ports. The difference in success was initiated by Nintendo consolidating their core audiences and software lineup onto one platform and this is reflected in the initial demographic. It had a strong foundation that would result in 70-100m units sold regardless of whether they actually reached new audiences (GBA/3DS trajectory). So just to be clear of my take, Nintendo have not stopped trying for the blue ocean since the arrival of the DS even if a few past gimmicks failed (Gamepad/3D).
