HylianSwordsman said:
Soundwave said:
HylianSwordsman said:
I don't know why everyone asks Nintendo to do this, and not anyone else. Like really, let's assume, for a second, that Nintendo could benefit from this. If that were the case, wouldn't Sony and Microsoft benefit even MORE from it? So why does no one ask THEM to go mobile? Where the idea came from is a good question, because it truly baffles me. It makes no sense, and it's hard to imagine what train of thought got people to decide that NINTENDO SPECIFICALLY should be the ones to go into smartphone gaming. Like, really? You think Nintendo, who don't make smart phones or have any expertise in the market, should do it, but not Microsoft and Sony, who BOTH make smartphones and would have a much better chance, and could stand to make a hell of a lot more money than Nintendo could? It makes no sense to ask Nintendo to do this, but it makes even LESS sense to ask ONLY Nintendo to do it. |
For whatever reason handheld games ... even mobile iOS/Android platforms ... are dominated by cartoony games that generally are easy to pick up and play.
Things like Real Racing, Infinity Blade, etc. do OK on mobile, but no where close to big guns. So no, Halo or Gran Turismo on mobile probably wouldn't be as big of a hit as say Mario Kart or Animal Crossing or Pokemon iOS (for example).
Nintendo's aesthetic and design philosophy do match up with mobile in some ways. I'm not saying it's a good idea, but I think Nintendo would fare far better in that space if forced than Sony or MS would.
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Halo and Gran Turismo are bad examples. How about Ratchet and Clank? Or Jak and Daxter? And that's if you want mascot games. Things that do better on smartphones tend to not even really need characters. Things like Patapon would probably do well on smartphones. Pokemon isn't casual enough, there are Pokemon rip-offs that appeal better to casuals out there. Mario is too complicated of a platformer and would have to be very dumbed down, it'd hardly be Mario anymore. Sonic would, and in fact has done better on smart phones than Mario ever could. Animal Crossing I could see working, but it'd be way too simplified and lose much of its appeal. There are better alternatives. Basically, if Nintendo wanted to truly go into smart phone games, they'd have to invent completely new franchises for it. There are some franchises they own now that do horribly on their own consoles that would probably do better on smartphones, but that's probably exactly what they'll end up doing now that they do want to do more with smart phones. Sony and Microsoft have an advantage that Nintendo doesn't though, in that while sure, Halo and Gran Turismo don't belong on phones, each could easily make something for a smart phone, and since they own and control the app markets for their own phones, could promote their smart phone games unlike Nintendo ever could. They could promote their phone games much more cheaply and effectively than Nintendo could.
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Ratchet & Clank might do OK, but it would be sell 1/100th of what Pikachu's Candy Rush or Bounce Mario or something.
I don't think they'd invent new franchises, they'd make new spin-offs though featuring existing characters.
That said I don't see Nintendo going that route because it opens the parental arguement to "why should I buy little Johnny a $130 3DS and pay $40 for this Mario game, when I just pay 99 cents for Mario on iPad that he can play at home".
Parents don't give a crap if its a "real" Mario or not, all they know is they're saving themselves an easy $170 this way and their kid gets to play Mario, probably something in their estimation he/she already spends too much of their time on.
It would devalue their business model even if it made them some quick $$$. That's why they aren't doing it, aside from the industry politics of making games for another platform = accepting defeat.
