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Forums - Gaming - Microsoft sees Nintendo as its main rival, has Sony already in the bag

 

What's your take on Microsoft's strategy this far?

It will nip them in the butt 90 34.48%
 
They will DO-minate 14 5.36%
 
Nintendo and Microsoft wi... 36 13.79%
 
Sony and Nintendo will be... 104 39.85%
 
epic bro fist 17 6.51%
 
Total:261
ninjablade said:
lol vgcharts estimates the wiiu sold 23,000 units this week, the console is basically on life support at the moment, why would microsoft be worried about the wiiu at the moment, its not getting third party support and its not selling.

The 3DS was in a similar position last year, have you not learned yet? You don't judge a console on its first year when it's struggling.



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happydolphin said:
ninjablade said:
lol vgcharts estimates the wiiu sold 23,000 units this week, the console is basically on life support at the moment, why would microsoft be worried about the wiiu at the moment, its not getting third party support and its not selling.

The 3DS was in a similar position last year, have you not learned yet? You don't judge a console on its first year when it's struggling.


no it wasn't it, it started off slow, unlike the wiiu which is dead in the water, factor in that nintendo has been dominating the handheld forever, meaning they are the biggest brand in the handheld market. you also forget thirdparty's are not backing nintendo, and of course you can judge a console in its first year of sales.



ninjablade said:
happydolphin said:
ninjablade said:
lol vgcharts estimates the wiiu sold 23,000 units this week, the console is basically on life support at the moment, why would microsoft be worried about the wiiu at the moment, its not getting third party support and its not selling.

The 3DS was in a similar position last year, have you not learned yet? You don't judge a console on its first year when it's struggling.


no it wasn't it, it started off slow, unlike the wiiu which is dead in the water, factor in that nintendo has been dominating the handheld forever, meaning they are the biggest brand in the handheld market. you also forget thirdparty's are not backing nintendo, and of course you can judge a console in its first year of sales.

I know where this is going: nowhere.



MoHasanie said:
happydolphin said:
MoHasanie said:
No, Microsoft's main rival is Apple and Google. Both those companies are working on their on TV offering, and so Microsoft needed to do something to stop them. Its quite smart if you think about it, because they are marketing Xbox One as something that you can play games on, watch TV, and many other things.

So what about the U that offers similar features, what about those?

It seems the points in OP aren't being addressed.

Nintendo has always made their consoles specifically for gaming. All the other TV stuff would never work on the WiiU and I don't even think that's the direction Nintendo wants to take. If Nintendo was serious about making their console a device that can do a vareity of tasks other than gaming then we would have seen them marketing the WiiU like that. 

Agreed. I think this is Nintendo's plan. They're distancing themselves from Sony and Microsoft. The Xbox ONE is a gaming console but also so, so much more. They, (MS) have wanted to take this route since the original Xbox. Nintendo must have seen it then. I think, to a certain point, Sony will try to follow MS with the whole entertainment thing, will not keep up, meanwhile leaving the WiiU and Nintendo as the only true gaming company.

This could work out really well for Nintendo and Microsoft, Sony has to be careful going forward or be left somewhere in the middle between MS' "all in ONE" vision and Nintendo's games only direction.



 

Who is Microsoft targeting?  Well, I don't know how to say this nicely... but tools.  The kind of people who play COD each year not because they actually like games but because all of their friends play it.  The kind of people who line up for the iPhone 5 because they think it will make them cool, and the kind of people who buy a Samsung Galaxy 4 while making fun of the iPhone 5 people and not realizing that they're doing the exact same thing.  The kind of person who plays fantasy football and doesn't know the difference between a safety and a cornerback.  The kind of person who buys an iPad mini after they just bought an iPad 4 because last year Apple said people wanted a big screen, and this year Apple says small screens are better.  The kind of person who buys beats headphones to listen to their pop music despite the fact that beats pretty much only provide only bass. The kind of person who goes to a Giants superbowl parade and says that their favorite player is Sanchez.  The kind of person who never had an interest in any sort of zombie movie but watches the walking dead.  The kind of person who never read a comic book but lines up at midnight for Dark Knight rises.  The kind of person who cares what is trending on twitter.  The kind of person who buys a tablet when they have no logical need for one.  The kind of person who buys things not for utility but for status.  The kind of person who put Gangnam style on their iPod like it was anything more than a novelty.  The kind of person will be convinced by Microsoft that they need to multitask on their TV because that will make them tech savvy and hip. Tools.  They're targeting tools.

/Hipster rant


Well said.



 

 

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Haha, I'm sure Nintendo is shaking in their boots right now.

Seriously.. After the Xbox One reveal they're probably popping champagne in celebration right now.. With their anti-consumer stance of the Xbox One, MS has essentially ended this race before it has begun.



JWeinCom said:
happydolphin said:

Hi friends, this is a speculation thread. Yep, you're on a sales site about market analysis, and well we're gonna speculate. Anyways, on to the analysis.

After watching the xbox presentation on May 21st, here are the points I came up with, leading me to believe that Microsoft is considering Nintendo its main competition for the generation ahead:

 

Focus on non-gaming content & partnerships:

NFL Fantasy league:

Microsoft entered in a 400m$ partnership over 5 years with the NFL. In the process, the presentation highlighted the importance of a fantasy league that is always up to date and can be tracked while watching live football. We remember that Nintendo showed a similar type of interactive tv content in their WiiU demonstration in June last year.

Kinect 2.0 vs Nintendo's interactive market:

Also, Microsoft is expanding on its Kinect experience and made that clear at their presentation. This is direct competition to Nintendo's new highly interactive experience market that they opened once again with Wii (after some of the long-lost breakthroughs during the NES era). The kinect is being beefed for higher precision and better interaction between the human and the machine.

TV content on the console, a one-stop shop:

On top of that, Microsoft is opening the doors to some TV content, making the One a one-stop shop for the consumer. This is a direct response to some of the TV features Nintendo presented last year, and an expansion of it.

Rapid context switching:

Microsoft highlighted the importance of parallel skyping while playing a game, which was an important feature in the WiiU proof of concept video. While kinect 2.0 allows to switch from one app to another using voice command and gestures, Nintendo was showcasing offering options on the gamepad to allow users to share snapshots of where they were when they last died, and cam about it on the Nintendo cam application and ask for hints, all offering a seamless experience between their games and their communications.

 

The flip-side

Microsoft still competing with Sony in terms of the traditional market

With all of that, Microsoft is continuing its legacy of high-performing hardware, and is going head-to-head with Sony once again. However, we all know that Nintendo's market is the bigger one, having sold many more units than Sony and MS individually last gen. So, I believe Microsoft realized this and is leaving Sony in the dust with their increased targetting of the market that is not dedicated gamers. They got the dedicated player, now they want to challenge Nintendo on their hold of the non-gamer market and become the ultimate gaming provider, for gamers and non-gamers.

Sony might join the fray

Though this far Sony only showed their games at their unveiling, it's not far-fetched to believe that they will incorporate upgrades to the PS4 prior to launch or post launch so as to allow them to compete in the expanded market.

A bite in the butt

Some of the policies they announced or that are speculated are hurting the ears of some dedicated gamers, some of which are the inability to play games on a friends' system, having to connect once a day to the internet and a few other non-consumer friendly measures. Will this take a toll on Microsoft's competitivity with regards to the market it competes with Sony on, that of the dedicated gamer?

 

Take a stab at it.

I think it is pretty clear that Microsoft's main competition is Google and Apple.  Some of the feautres of the XBone and Wii U are similar, but this is not because Microsoft is "targetting" them.  This is simply because we expect multifunctionality from a device these days.  It's more of the Wii U and XBone travelling, to some extent, in the same direction.  I think Sony will also have a lot of these features.  Remember, Nintendo debuted the Wii U at E3 2011, and they showed off TVii at September 2012.  Sony may very well have a similar feature.

If Microsoft was really targeting Nintendo, they would need to show off the experiences that made the Wii successful.  You can't take on Nintendo without having something to combat Mario, Wii Fit, Mario Kart, Smash, Pokemon, etc.  If they were targeting Nintendo, they wouldn't focus the small games portion of their presentation on EA Sports stuff and COD.  That's not how you speak to the Wii audience. 

Who is Microsoft targeting?  Well, I don't know how to say this nicely... but tools.  The kind of people who play COD each year not because they actually like games but because all of their friends play it.  The kind of people who line up for the iPhone 5 because they think it will make them cool, and the kind of people who buy a Samsung Galaxy 4 while making fun of the iPhone 5 people and not realizing that they're doing the exact same thing.  The kind of person who plays fantasy football and doesn't know the difference between a safety and a cornerback.  The kind of person who buys an iPad mini after they just bought an iPad 4 because last year Apple said people wanted a big screen, and this year Apple says small screens are better.  The kind of person who buys beats headphones to listen to their pop music despite the fact that beats pretty much only provide only bass. The kind of person who goes to a Giants superbowl parade and says that their favorite player is Sanchez.  The kind of person who never had an interest in any sort of zombie movie but watches the walking dead.  The kind of person who never read a comic book but lines up at midnight for Dark Knight rises.  The kind of person who cares what is trending on twitter.  The kind of person who buys a tablet when they have no logical need for one.  The kind of person who buys things not for utility but for status.  The kind of person who put Gangnam style on their iPod like it was anything more than a novelty.  The kind of person will be convinced by Microsoft that they need to multitask on their TV because that will make them tech savvy and hip. Tools.  They're targeting tools.

/Hipster rant

*applause*