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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - Is it a good idea for Nintendo to move away from the casual market?

wfz on 03 December 2012
Soundwave said:
wfz said:
Wait.... if the casual market is about accessibility, and all tablets and smartphones use touch screens (and are considered huge "casual" devices)....

Then it was BAD for Nintendo to create a touch screen device? And that's somehow moving away from the casual market?

What am I missing here?


Problem is it's a saturated market for that style of product. Also the screen quality is pretty terrible compared to what people are used to on a modern tablet/smartphone. 

Just because you're hopping on a trend doesn't mean you'll be successful, if that was the case then Blackberry's Playbook tablet should've been a monstrous success. 


That's a good point, but it doesn't refute my claim in any way. I was arguing that Nintendo really isn't moving away from the casual market. Whether they will be successful in that market is a whole different question.



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cusman on 03 December 2012

Nintendo should stick to mostly making games for everyone (NSMBU and Nintendo Land) while also catering to more niche markets like SiNG Party (Teen girls?), Ninja Gaiden 3 - Razor's Edge (core action game fans), and many more.

They should always remain an AND company

Otherwise we will soon be dealing with too many consoles servicing different niches instead of any kind of consolidated offerings taking place

  • Nintendo - Wii U
  • Microsoft - Xbox 720 (Casual and Core models vastly different?)
  • Sony - Playstation 4
  • Valve - Steambox
  • Apple - ??? Apple TV + Games ???
  • Android - Ouya (and few others even less known)


Soma on 03 December 2012
Metrium said:
Soma said:
Metrium said:
They are not moving away from the casual market. Have you even seen the WiiU adds lately? Those are aimed at the casual market.

No casuals buy a brand new system at 350$ at launch. Nintendo knows this. Casual doesnt even know what the WiiU is. Nintendo can't possible hop to get the casuals w/o getting some market penetration first. When more ppl buys the system (mainly cores) the casuals will know what the system is and thx to word to mouth they will start buying it.


Then why this people were buying the Wii to inflated prices exceeding the $350 price? I think "casuals" (ugh that word again) know what the WiiU is, they just don't care. Hell, I'm a Nintendo fan and don't care too much right now!

These were 1) Core gamers and 2) Parents who NEEDED the system for their spoiled kids. Wich most of them were ''core gamers'' and when I call kids ''core gamers'' I'm talking about 14year old kids playing CoD who knows what's going on in gaming. And offcaurse this is a figure of speech since these kids were not playing CoD back in 2006 since the franchise was not popular yet but I'm sure you know what I mean.


Not true, remember the IGN article, I think it was Craig Harris or whatever his name is, about him talking to some of his friends who were not gamers, how he was telling them the characteristics of the Wii and how they were getting interested in it eventhough he also told them the graphics were not great etc. The Wii was able to attract a LOT of people, not only core gamers and kids, there was a clear interest in people of all ages on the system, let's not forget even old people were playing with it!



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Soma on 03 December 2012
S.T.A.G.E. said:
Soma said:
Metrium said:
They are not moving away from the casual market. Have you even seen the WiiU adds lately? Those are aimed at the casual market.

No casuals buy a brand new system at 350$ at launch. Nintendo knows this. Casual doesnt even know what the WiiU is. Nintendo can't possible hop to get the casuals w/o getting some market penetration first. When more ppl buys the system (mainly cores) the casuals will know what the system is and thx to word to mouth they will start buying it.


Then why this people were buying the Wii to inflated prices exceeding the $350 price? I think "casuals" (ugh that word again) know what the WiiU is, they just don't care. Hell, I'm a Nintendo fan and don't care too much right now!

They don't know well enough what it is, but even if they knew they wouldn't care because they all have iPads.


If they don't know what it is then that's only Nintendo's fault. Funny this "casualz" people have the money to buy the more expensive iPads but not the WiiU.



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S.T.A.G.E. on 03 December 2012
Soma said:
S.T.A.G.E. said:
Soma said:
Metrium said:
They are not moving away from the casual market. Have you even seen the WiiU adds lately? Those are aimed at the casual market.

No casuals buy a brand new system at 350$ at launch. Nintendo knows this. Casual doesnt even know what the WiiU is. Nintendo can't possible hop to get the casuals w/o getting some market penetration first. When more ppl buys the system (mainly cores) the casuals will know what the system is and thx to word to mouth they will start buying it.


Then why this people were buying the Wii to inflated prices exceeding the $350 price? I think "casuals" (ugh that word again) know what the WiiU is, they just don't care. Hell, I'm a Nintendo fan and don't care too much right now!

They don't know well enough what it is, but even if they knew they wouldn't care because they all have iPads.


If they don't know what it is then that's only Nintendo's fault. Funny this "casualz" people have the money to buy the more expensive iPads but not the WiiU

None of the launch games apply to them outside of Mario, anyway. I dont want to get into the dry area concerning Japanese made titles.



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TheLastStarFighter on 03 December 2012

Mainstream buyers will love the tablet interface. People don't see it yet, but Nintendo's principle was the same with wii u as with wii. With we the goal was not motion gaming. It was a conroler that anyone would be familiar with. So they modeled it after a TV remote. This time they have modeled it after a smartphone/tablet, which everyone has. Maybe more than tv's now, lol. People will see it. They will understand it. They will think it is modern and cool because smartphones and tablets are modern and cool. And they will buy it.



DanneSandin on 04 December 2012
TheLastStarFighter said:
DanneSandin 3 minutes ago
TheLastStarFighter said:
Wii Fit U is coming next year, I think the date is not yet set. But it's the type of thing that is purchased by adults and doesn't need to be sold at Christmas. I think Nintendo will push this and other adult-casual titles through the middile of next year. Something "brainy" or "artsy", something that can only be done using a tablet, something that can only be done one Wii U.

And of course Nintendo is already nailing the "Nintendo Casual" market with Super Mario Bros. People like to say that it's grandpas and soccer moms that bought the wii for wii sports. That's not really true, the big casuals that wii hit are true gamers, just not COD gamers. Lots of girls love the wii for Mario Bros and Mario Kart. Since Mario Bros is available day 1, the mass-market will love the system. I literally twice saw groups of girls in Gamestop recently squeeling over Wii U. Girls love Mario as much as the Twilight boys.

Yeah, Mario is one sexy plummer ;)

But it appears as if Nintendo is going after the Nintendo core this holiday, and in spring they're opening up for casuals with Wii Fit U, and by fall next year I expect them to role out the big guns for the hardcore whinnies...

 

Yup. I think the idea is Nintendo Core first, then casuals looking for something new in 2013, then launch some eye-popping software for fall 2013 that will make people choose the still-new Wii U over competing new systems that would probably be lacking a "killer-app" at launch.

Yeah, it sounds like a good strategy. I think we'll find out if it worked this time next year :p



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DaRev on 04 December 2012
Veknoid_Outcast said:
DaRev said:
No way, because in certain/many instances, Nintendo has proven that they can make a lot of money from selling to casuals. Equally, if you cater just for the hardcore, no matter how good your game is, it still has the potential to undersell. I think there were a few hardcore games that undersold this year 2012 - no?

I would agree, however, that Nintendo should focus on selling certain games only to Westerners, and where they cannot make such games themselves, maybe because they just don't have the time or will, they should then be in the business heavily of publishing those games as Nintendo exclusives.

Great point. I don't think it's as much an issue of "casual" versus "hardcore," but rather games that play to a Japanese consumer versus games that play to an American consumer. There are two problems, of course. The first is that Nintendo development teams are already spread thin working on other projects; the second is one of philosophy -- Nintendo, and particularly its resident genius Miyamoto, shy away from violent games with guns. And let's face it: military and sci-fi shooters sell very well in North America. Perhaps Nintendo needs to scoop up more development teams like Retro, or support them by publishing a Wii U exclusive that speaks to an American audience.

What they need is Rare in its heyday

I totally agree. Nintendo needs to continue doing what they do best, and what they don't do well e.g. guns and violence, get other people/developers to do it for them.



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HappySqurriel on 04 December 2012

It is really too early to read much into the Wii U sales, and until we see what Nintendo is releasing in 2013 I think it is difficult to say that they abandoned the "casual gamer" ...

At the same time, the 3DS is selling very well in general and most of the "casual" games Nintendo released for the Nintendo DS have seen sequels for the 3DS ...



With that said, I think Nintendo is trying to take advantage of their year lead, get third party publishers to release decent "core" titles for the Wii U, and then use the sales of those titles to argue for future development before publishers move all their development teams to next generation projects. I could be wrong but I suspect that it is easier to argue for a good version of the next Call of Duty game if it sells more than 500,000 units on a new system and the developers who produce the title haven't completely re-tooled for PS4/XBox 720 development.



KungKras on 04 December 2012

That's like asking "Is it a good idea for Sony to stop making cinematic-style games"



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