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Forums - Sales - PC World: Nintendo Loses Grip on Handheld Gaming, Drops Into Loss

mai said:

haxxiy said:

For me at least there is a considerable chance of the 3DS and the PSP-2 being devoid of third party support on the middle term.

With this kind of assertion you may as well claim that home consoles will lack support because of growing PC userbase, which is bigger than all home consoles combined, while PC gaming revenue is bigger than X360 and PS3 combined and growing at faster pace.


Not quite I think. Because what's really growining on PC gaming? Flash and MMORPGs as far as I know. It could have some effect on Live Arcade games and the like but I doubt it will affect big guns anytime soon. It's a different market the way I see it.



 

 

 

 

 

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haxxiy said:


Not quite I think. Because what's really growining on PC gaming? Flash and MMORPGs as far as I know. It could have some effect on Live Arcade games and the like but I doubt it will affect big guns anytime soon. It's a different market the way I see it.

Online (incl. but not limited to MMO) is growing, digital distribution is growing. Concerning DD we don't know what are these games exactly, since there're little public available details on PC digital distribution market. Anyways why this makes you think that's a whole different market, though at the same time you're implying that there're no difference between smartphone and handheld gaming markets, while it's clear that smartphones mostly occupy low-end segment, technically the same position PC gaming is all about ($15/month MMO subscriptions, MMO & social games micro-transactions, a lot of cheap small games and  lower costs of traditional bigger games on Steam and other DD services mean that average PC gamer spend quite less than console gamer, i.e. PC gamer is lower-end gamer).

Back to your original point... in reality anything with userbase of few millions is worth at least porting platform for third parties as long as tech (= easy to port, and availability of middleware solutions for higher-tier projects) and platform philosophies (= digital distribution for lower-tier projects) are comparable. More support = bigger userbase = more support etc. Of course, it's expected that entry fee (devkit cost, royalties) is higher on consoles, but any small dev that have money to rent an office will consider going multiplat on smartphones/handhelds.



5 million Wii's, is that in line with vgchartz expectations?

 

Edit: Oh, it's two quarters.



A game I'm developing with some friends:

www.xnagg.com/zombieasteroids/publish.htm

It is largely a technical exercise but feedback is appreciated.

Nintendo expects to ship 4 million units of 3DS hardware and 15 million units of 3DS software by March 2011.



UncleScrooge said:
haxxiy said:
UncleScrooge said:

If smartphones truly are a threat to Nintendo's and Sony's handheld business, fine. But so far all claims seem to be based on slowing DS sales... and those are clearly a result of slowing support and the age of the hardware.

The point is that the iPhone alone for instance is selling like 1m a week. If you consider the small costs of developing to it and the number of people that will casually buy games on a smartphone (let's say 25% to be on safe grounds) and you'll see how tempting the business is becoming. For me at least there is a considerable chance of the 3DS and the PSP-2 being devoid of third party support on the middle term.

1 million games (which sounds low) or one million iPhone units? Because that would equal 52 million iPhones per year. Maybe 1 million iOS devices?

Sure the iPhone is a very attractive market for developers but so far it looks like the iPhone is expanding the market, not competing with the DS.

Don't get me wrong I don't doubt the iPhones potential to eat into Nintendo's market but so far this is only backed up by slowing DS sales and no real data.

And Nintendo's biggest markets which are children, core gamers and most expanded audience members (like women around the age of 40, elder people, families) won't start buying iPhones because they are not part of the iPhones target market.


I think your skepticism is pretty healthy, but slowing DS sales aren't the only evidence. There was also a (slightly dodgy) study that placed iPhone game software revenue above PSP software revenue in the US, and now we have this UK survey of what kids want for Christmas:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/8084305/Children-want-gadgets-not-toys-for-Christmas.html

The top 10 toys for Christmas 2010, according to the report are:

1) iPhone 4 (14%)

2) iPod touch (13%)

3) iPad (12%)

4) Kinect for Xbox (6%)

5) Zhu Zhu Pet Hamsters / Kung Zhu Hamsters (5%)

6) Flip Video Camera (4%)

7) Toy Story 3 Jet Pack Buzz Lightyear (4%)

8) PlayStation Move (4%)

9) LEGO Harry Potter Years 1-4 Video Game (3%)

10) Barbie Video Girl (3%)

I have no idea who would give their child a $500 iPad or a smartphone with an expensive data contract, but the iPod Touch seems a pretty reasonable alternative. Here's hoping the total lack of Nintendo products in that list is because all these kids already have Wiis and DSes.

As haxxiy says, Apple is on track to sell around 50 million iPhones this calendar year, and perhaps as many as 40 million other iOS devices on top of that. These devices are much more attractive to the expanded audience than you think. iOS is basically doing for general computing what the Wii and DS did for gaming: It's lowering barriers for non-users by making the interface simpler and more engaging.



"The worst part about these reviews is they are [subjective]--and their scores often depend on how drunk you got the media at a Street Fighter event."  — Mona Hamilton, Capcom Senior VP of Marketing
*Image indefinitely borrowed from BrainBoxLtd without his consent.

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Must be nice to have parents that can afford an iPhone for their kids.



Anyone can guess. It takes no effort to throw out lots of predictions and have some of them be correct. You are not and wiser or better for having your guesses be right. Even a blind man can hit the bullseye.

Grimes said:

Must be nice to have parents that can afford an iPhone for their kids.


There's always the DS as a consolation prize for those who can't afford the iPhone.



 

 

 

 

 

So, DS, 3DS and Nintendo in general are pretty d0med, I take it.



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