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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - Nintendo needs new IPs now more than ever

Egann said:

 

  1. Nintendo buys the defunct Parasite Eve IP from Square Enix. Considering PE had a terrible last release on top of license issues, this will be a cheap acquisition.
  2. Nintendo reinvents the IP, makes a game and sells it. Everyone is astonished because Nintendo made a Survival Horror game. Much fanfare and sales.
  3. Nintendo sells the new brand BACK to Square Enix, probably at a profit because it's now a viable title, and reminds them that the fanbase is now on their hardware. Nintendo will get licenses from future sales and a boost to their hardware.

 

 

But what if it flops?



In this day and age, with the Internet, ignorance is a choice! And they're still choosing Ignorance! - Dr. Filthy Frank

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seiya19 said:
outlawauron said:

There is no defined line, but I'm talking games that can do at least a million, push millions with advertising. Only reason I say that is because people recognize those games because they're not interested in them. Steel Diver (while also terrible) is something so that few people can enjoy, no one was excited about it.

I'm not dismissing smaller games (largely because I predominantly play and love niche games), but you can't expect those to satisfy the need for new IPs. It's like Sony fans saying that people weren't interested in new IPs because Hyperdimension Neptunia, Rain, Puppeteer, and Time and Eternity didn't sell well. Those games are not what people wanted. People want TitanFall, inFamous, Last of Us, Gears of War, LittleBigPlanet, etc. Those are new IPs aimed at larger audiences.

Rhythm Heaven (not a new IP from last gen, but mentioned on the post you replied to) sold over 3 million on DS and over 800k on a late Wii release. I'm pretty sure a 3DS game would be able to get to a million, probably more. And Xenoblade sales were clearly limited by being localized late in the US and distributed by Gamestop exclusively, as evidenced by how its price went through the roof afterwards. Assuming "X" has a similar reception, I can see it crossing the million mark at least, as NoA is now giving it their attention. There's certainly room for expansion there.

I understand the sales argument here of course, but it should be made clear that a new IP doesn't cease to exist or becomes irrelevant for not meeting a certain sales threshold, which is what some people seem to imply whenever this topic comes up. I'm glad to see that wasn't your intention then. Now, when it comes to popular new IPs, Nintendo did produce the Wii Series, Nintendogs, Style Saavy, Big Brain Academy, Tomodachi Collection and Brain Age last gen that are as popular or more than the examples you mentioned, with other IPs like Endless Ocean, Art Academy and Fossil Fighters being close to the million seller criteria. Could they do more ? Sure, but as I stated before, they already have a lot of popular IPs to take care of, so they don't need to create as much new ones as Sony or Microsoft. And the argument that new IPs have a better shot at attracting large audiences than old ones is flawed from the start as new IPs aren't inherently popular or even more original per se. IPs, both new and old, are as good as what you do with them.

I actually looked at Rhythm Heaven before I made my post. It was very lop-sided in Japan. It did well enough in the West, but it would be a fringe qualifier imo.

@ bolded, these sold to the casual audiences of the Wii and DS. Those audiences have moved to smartphones and tablets as evidenced by the much lower sales of the new iterations. Not sure why you'd bring them up when the picture was obviously portraying a more traditional gamer who wouldn't be interested in Nintendogs or Brain Age. Also, did tomodachi collection ever make it to the US? I never thought it did. 

Lastly, it's not that new IPs are more popular, it's that people want more balance out of the big franchises they love and new experiences to enjoy. There is no reason for Nintendo not to have the capabilities to produce more games. If they're unable to, they can use the million in reserves to contract out more games like Bayonetta 2 or purchases studios. That said, they do seem to mishandle some of their studios almost as bad as Sony does Team ICO (looking at you monolith soft).



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Fusioncode said:

Nintendo has had a pretty big problem with new IPs ever since the N64. Aside from a few titles like The Wonderful 101 and X, Nintendo is mostly just making sequels. Sure Mario Kart and Smash Bros will sell a lot, but it will sell to the same audience already buying the WiiU. Nintendo needs to appeal to a new crowd, like they did with the Wii by making games like Wii Sports and Wii Fit. They were able to sell to soccor moms and old people. You can't keep selling a console to the Nintendo faithfuls, it's time to attract new audiences. 

Now I'm not saying Nintendo should stop making sequels to popular franchises, but they need to get their top brass (Retro and Miyamoto) working on new IPs to appeal to an entirely different audience. Double down new games. Get someone working on a racing sim to bring over the Gran Turismo/Forza crowd. Make a shooter to appeal to COD/Battlefield fans. A cinematic game for Uncharted lovers. Sandbox games for GTA/Saints Row fans. They could even create something with an M rating. Don't worry Nintendo, I won't be corrupted if I see blood or hear curse words. Maybe even an MMO. Experiment a little, try something new. Get Miyamoto away from manangement and have him start making games again! 

All they need to do to make the Wii U relavent again is to release a full blown console version of pokemon



Nintendo has needed new IPs since 1996. But because consumers Bought their old, dated stuff and kept telling them how great all the old,dated, washed up stuff is they didn't have to make a change. Now that they're failing maybe they'll see the light. Hopefully...
I used to be a huge Nintendo fan. But then I realized that I was going up and they weren't. One thing that gets me is that people are so nostalgic about their games that they just leave every element out and say "Well, it's fun". Well yeah, sure, many games are fun but sometimes people just want something more.



I think it would be a decent idea if Nintendo made some low cost investments to boost their portfolio.

Agreeing to fund 6-7 promising looking indie games would be a good idea in exchange for exclusivity and IP ownership of those games. Hopefully Nintendo is willing to broaden their horizons and work with Western devs here.

Financing some old school IP like Castlevania, Contra, Megaman, Outrun as exclusives on 3DS and Wii U wouldn't be a bad idea either IMO.



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KylieDog said:
IsawYoshi said:
KylieDog said:

"Xenoblade is a spiritual sequel."

"“At E3 2009 it was announced with a temporary name, ‘Monado: Beginning of the World.’ We decided to call it XENOBLADE to honor Mr. Tetsuya Takahashi who poured his soul into making this and who has been working on the XENO series.”

http://nintendoeverything.com/iwata-explains-xenoblades-name-change/

 

Spiritual sequel my ass. Don't judge a game by it's looks, or in this case, the name. They have nothing to do with each other, and are very different games. 


You and very few Nintendo fans in this thread are the only ones who believe this.  Thematically it says the same thing as Xenosaga and Xenogears before it, same theme, same genre, same team, same start of title.


Xenoblade is meant to be a seperate IP period. The creators of the game said so themselves. 



KylieDog said:
Blinker said:
KylieDog said:
IsawYoshi said:
KylieDog said:

"Xenoblade is a spiritual sequel."

"“At E3 2009 it was announced with a temporary name, ‘Monado: Beginning of the World.’ We decided to call it XENOBLADE to honor Mr. Tetsuya Takahashi who poured his soul into making this and who has been working on the XENO series.”

http://nintendoeverything.com/iwata-explains-xenoblades-name-change/

 

Spiritual sequel my ass. Don't judge a game by it's looks, or in this case, the name. They have nothing to do with each other, and are very different games. 


You and very few Nintendo fans in this thread are the only ones who believe this.  Thematically it says the same thing as Xenosaga and Xenogears before it, same theme, same genre, same team, same start of title.


Xenoblade is meant to be a seperate IP. The creators of the game said so themselves. 


Do you not understand what a spritual sequel is?

http://andriasang.com/comhbl/xenoblade_preview/

It's not a new entry in that fabled PlayStation series, though. Xenoblade director Tetsuya Takahashi made this clear in an interview in this week's Famitsu.

"The world setting, story and other elements have no relation," explained Takahashi on connections to past Xeno games. "It's a completely new title."

Yes the title is meant to be sort of a tribute, but the actual games is not considered to be part of the Xenosaga series. Thus by all intent and purposes, it is a new IP. 



outlawauron said:

I actually looked at Rhythm Heaven before I made my post. It was very lop-sided in Japan. It did well enough in the West, but it would be a fringe qualifier imo.

@ bolded, these sold to the casual audiences of the Wii and DS. Those audiences have moved to smartphones and tablets as evidenced by the much lower sales of the new iterations. Not sure why you'd bring them up when the picture was obviously portraying a more traditional gamer who wouldn't be interested in Nintendogs or Brain Age. Also, did tomodachi collection ever make it to the US? I never thought it did. 

Lastly, it's not that new IPs are more popular, it's that people want more balance out of the big franchises they love and new experiences to enjoy. There is no reason for Nintendo not to have the capabilities to produce more games. If they're unable to, they can use the million in reserves to contract out more games like Bayonetta 2 or purchases studios. That said, they do seem to mishandle some of their studios almost as bad as Sony does Team ICO (looking at you monolith soft).

I don't think it matters whether the sales come from Japan or the West in this context, and if it did, the same argument could be used the other way around for other IPs that are of little relevance in Japan. What matters for Nintendo here is profit, and the taste of Japanese gamers (and those of us who tend to agree with them in the West) is just as much valid as the rest. As for Tomodachi Collection, no, it hasn't been localized for the West. There's been some talk about it if I remember correctly, but nothing more than that. I still think it counts though, for the reasons I stated.

As for the whole "casual" and "core/hardcore" thing, I don't classify games in those terms, and I only use them ocasionally to discuss these topics with others... It's a long discussion in itself, but I'll just state here that I see them as ambiguous labels without much point to them. Labels that don't take into account the different types of games and demographics that exist within them, as well as how they overlap and/or separate from each other. For example, how JRPGs and FPSs are clearly aimed at different audiences, yet are both lumped together under the "core" or "hardcore" labels. Or how people can enjoy both despite of this. Or enjoy both "casual" and "hardcore" games. I mention this so you know where I'm coming from. Keep in mind that I already disagreed with the OP regarding what type of games Nintendo should pursue.

Now, there's indeed a valid point to be made here about how these IPs are selling much less than on DS/Wii, but that doesn't erase their former success. It would be akin to bringing up how the sales of Resistance have severely dropped as well, and then dismissing it with the same argument. And in the case of Nintendogs and Tomodachi Collection, they are still million sellers on 3DS, making them still relevant. Style Savvy is not there yet, but it's over 500k by now with an update coming to Japan, so it could still get there. And the Wii series is hard to measure considering how we're missing digital sales, but Wii Party is at least getting acceptable sales considering WiiU's situation. The future of the other 2 looks grim now, I'll concede that.     

As for your last paragraph, Nintendo already contracts external developers to work on their IPs or new ones regularly, and they will continue to do so. I don't think I need to give you the list here... And yet, whenever they get a Bayonetta 2, or a The Wonderful 101, or a The Last Story, there's always a group of people that mindlessly complain about them being there... Nintendo just can't win with some people... I agree that they could buy a few developers, but this should be carefully considered, not going on a buying spree. I say this because I think many people don't consider all the factors involved here. As for Monolith Soft, we'll have to agree to disagree there... >.< (NoA issues aside, which I already addressed)



vivster said:



But in all seriousness, Nintendo should create a new mascot by themselves and not waiting around until a third party publishes exclusively for them.


LOL, Agree



My grammar errors are justified by the fact that I am a brazilian living in Brazil. I am also very stupid.

KylieDog said:
Blinker said:
KylieDog said:


Do you not understand what a spritual sequel is?

http://andriasang.com/comhbl/xenoblade_preview/

It's not a new entry in that fabled PlayStation series, though. Xenoblade director Tetsuya Takahashi made this clear in an interview in this week's Famitsu.

"The world setting, story and other elements have no relation," explained Takahashi on connections to past Xeno games. "It's a completely new title."

Yes the title is meant to be sort of a tribute, but the actual games is not considered to be part of the Xenosaga series. Thus by all intent and purposes, it is a new IP. 


He means it isn't a sequel.  Xenosaga wasn't a sequel to Xenogears either.

Okay!

It is, still basically a new "IP".