DanneSandin said:
DélioPT said:
Without a doubt the handheld market has shrunk.
Before, parents could only contemplate a Nintendo portable for their kids, now they just lend their tablets or smartphones to play whatever game they have there and that's it.
That's why the Fusion strategy is vital to Nintendo: less spending on games and more revenue/profit with each game they release. So, even if they can't go back to GBA levels of HW sales, they can at least hope for a better financial state.
Wii U's tablet wasn't the reason for Wii U's situation. If anything, Nintendo tried to introduce a tablet with buttons and joyticks to an audience that was used to tablets and wasn't afraid anymore of those buttons, as a result of their experiment with the Wii remote and nunchuk.
It's just that everything else around it, failed.
I can't see 3DS lasting another 3/4 years.
3DS has, by year's end, been in the market for almost 4 years.
We already saw sales being flat last year despite a huge line-up. This year sales are going to fall a lot. And next year, if NEW 3DS hasn't another great line-up, it will fall even more.
Wii U won't last because it's sales are so low that when they start to go down (normal lifecycle) it won't be able to keep on sustaining the SW sales Nintendo needs.
Even if at GC levels in HW, Nintendo gets less profits for the same amount of games sold during GC's life. How do you justify big investments?
I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo announces the fusion strategy in 2016 to be released in the same year. By then, almost 6 years for 3DS and 4 for Wii U. And whatever titles they have for the Fusion consoles, they will release it on Wii U to keep fans happy.
I'm really curious about Splatoon.
It's SP mode might be the TPS Wii U also needs. And with a frantic MP mode it could really do wonders for Wii U and Nintendo's image in general.
NIntendo also has high hopes for the game. They said they want it to be another MK or Smash, i can't remember.
The next briefing is on 29th October.
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I'm just not sure that a 2016 launch date for the Fusion would be such a great idea; that'll be the peak year of PS4 and X1, launching then could be quite troublesome...
Yeah Splatoon looks awesome
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Wouldn't 2015 be their peak year?
But even so, what can they do? By 2016 what kind of support will Wii U and 3DS have from Nintendo?
With Wii U it's basically Nintendo software and Lego/kids games. With 3DS, only in Japan are they getting real 3rd party support.
We already saw a weaker year for 3DS in terms of sales and software. In 2015 Nintendo will be heavily supporting Wii U and 3DS will most likely see less original support (NEW 3DS will most likely be the home for a good number of GC and/or Wii games) and that's going to keep hurting 3DS.
I'm not sure that even if a price cut happens for 3DS, things will change a lot.
By the way, do you know of any titles for 3DS for 2015? Has that happened before with 3DS?
And come 2016, Wii U and 3DS sales and support will dwindle.
Might aswell pick up what's left of interest in those brands and start a new cycle, instead of waiting for 2017 and seeing 3DS and Wii U go through what we saw with Wii: in 2011 we got Zelda SS, Xenoblade (old title), Pokepark 2 and Mario Sports Mix (Square-Enix) from Nintendo. In 2012 we got MP 9, The Last Story (Mistwalker), Pandora's Tower(someone...) Project Zero 2 (Tecmo Koei).
In house games, the last two years were for 3DS - which still got shortages - and really bare for Wii.
If Nintendo does this with 3DS and Wii U, this time, there won't be anyone to pick up the slack.
As much as i wanted 3DS and Wii U to really last, i can't see a scenario where both will be alive and well after 2016.
