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Forums - Gaming Discussion - The financials behind Nintendo going 3rd party

Sure, when you look at the worst-selling Nintendo console ever it seems like going third party might be slightly more profitable for them. Now tell me Mario Kart Wii would have sold ten million more copies as a PS3/360 game.

You also forgot to factor in the increased costs of developing on two or more platforms at once.



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zorg1000 said:
Teeqoz said:
zorg1000 said:

With more affordable hardware, sold at a profit along with strong advertising/marketing, I think Nintendo can certainly get back to their 100 million hardware, 500 million software, $5 billion profits per generation that they had back in the 4th/5th/6th gen. If they can do that then there is absolutely no reason for Nintendo to go 3rd party.


Except if they could get more than their normal $5 billion profits per generation from going 3rd party....

U don't just bail out of a market that gives u $1 billion annually for something that may or may not pay off, if Nintendo was in some dire situation like Sega was than yes they should try their hand at being a 3rd party developer but they aren't so there is no reason to.

Once we take into account things like mobile games/apps, Quality of Life, Amiibo and IP licensing (films/series) than they could possibly be posting DS/Wii-era profits which was about $15 billion over the course of 5 years.

Nintendo is in a good position to make alot of money in the future, there is no reason to abandon dedicated hardware unless it's something that needs to be done and in Nintendo's case, it's not something that need to be done.


When/if Nintendo is in a dire situation like SEGA was, it's already to late.



Ya, I don't see it. Sorry but nothing on Sony or Microsoft has shown me Nintendo could be as successful as they can be on their own hardware (if done correctly). Mobile Platform works with Nintendo, Third Party Publisher (In terms of non mobile Activity) like EA, Ubisoft or Activision, no not as much. 



 

the_dengle said:

Sure, when you look at the worst-selling Nintendo console ever it seems like going third party might be slightly more profitable for them. Now tell me Mario Kart Wii would have sold ten million more copies as a PS3/360 game.

You also forgot to factor in the increased costs of developing on two or more platforms at once.


No, potentially it's a lot more profitable for them, even if we presume their next platform is a moderate success (N64 level, 30-35 million sales). If Nintendo, in some magic way would be able to even come remotely close (70 million +) to replicating the Wii's success, then sure, going third party wouldn't benefit them.

I didn't forget to factor inthe increased costs of developping for two or more platforms at once, but I don't really know how much it would cost to port a Nintendo game from the PS4 to the XBO or vice versa.



rolltide101x said:

A retailer does not make ANYWHERE NEAR 15$. I can tell you that right now.

 

Other than that a good article, and I can not decide on that issue. I kinda think they should since they it would change them for the better imo (atleast on home consoles)


That's about right, give or take a dollar or two. At least it was when I was working retail.   Of course, that's 15 dollars in margin, not profit. 



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Ka-pi96 said:
Teeqoz said:
the_dengle said:

Sure, when you look at the worst-selling Nintendo console ever it seems like going third party might be slightly more profitable for them. Now tell me Mario Kart Wii would have sold ten million more copies as a PS3/360 game.

You also forgot to factor in the increased costs of developing on two or more platforms at once.

No, potentially it's a lot more profitable for them, even if we presume their next platform is a moderate success (N64 level, 30-35 million sales). If Nintendo, in some magic way would be able to even come remotely close (70 million +) to replicating the Wii's success, then sure, going third party wouldn't benefit them.

I didn't forget to factor inthe increased costs of developping for two or more platforms at once, but I don't really know how much it would cost to port a Nintendo game from the PS4 to the XBO or vice versa.

Ubisoft says less than a million Euros to port to Wii U. http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-07-23-ubisoft-says-wii-u-ports-costing-under-USD1-3-million

If they were made from the start for PC/PS/Xbox then porting to the other 2 platforms should be easier and cheaper than that though.


Then that is a non issue really.



Ka-pi96 said:
Nem said:
Ka-pi96 said:

Was it? They were nearing bankruptcy when they were still making consoles. They went third party in 2001 and now they are still around 14 years later. Considering if they had kept making consoles they likely would have went bankrupt and wouldn't exist anymore I'd say that was a good decision.

Besides that, on the game quality front I'd say they are now better than ever!

You consider this staying around? They retreated to mobiles because they are so incompetent at everything they do. They lost all their talent. It would have been best to just bankrupt. They just went for the slow death instead of the quick one. Now instead of looking at them with nostalgia, we look at the with contempt.

Errr... i couldnt disagree more with the last statement. I would like to know wich game they make you think is particularly good.

Total War, Football Manager, Company of Heroes, Yakuza, Persona. Few years ago they had Valkyria Chronicles as well.

I'd take any of those games over the games they put out on their own consoles.


Total War, Football manager. company of Heroes and Persona are all from companies they have purchased and will probably drag to the mud woth them. It has already been happening with the european studios and its only a matter of time until ATLUS gets affected aswell.

Valkyria had 1 good game. The series then went portable and died. Yakuza, really isnt as good as you make it pass. It has great cut-scenes and main story, but the gameplay, be it the combat, the mini games or the numb quests are extremely boring. I can atest to that as i have just beaten Yakuza 3 and 4 recently. I am pondering just watching Yakuza 5 on youtube because the gameplay, im sorry to say, isnt good. Also, lets be honest, the series has been in heavy decline and probably ended with the recent entry Yakuza 0.

So, SEGA themselves really have nothing left. They are mostly a Japan only company these days as far as consoles are concerned with no sign of recovery. All they do have is companies they have bought in the meanwhile.

Quite honestly i would have prefered if they bankrupted and their IP's had been auctioned instead of just having everything going dormant.



Ka-pi96 said:
 

If we aren't counting companies that have been bought then very few publishers have anything...


Thats the point isnt it? Some publishers are just leeches. Electronic arts is the same... except they have managed to stay afloat with the destructive strategy due to the sports games.



Teeqoz said:
zorg1000 said:
Teeqoz said:
zorg1000 said:

With more affordable hardware, sold at a profit along with strong advertising/marketing, I think Nintendo can certainly get back to their 100 million hardware, 500 million software, $5 billion profits per generation that they had back in the 4th/5th/6th gen. If they can do that then there is absolutely no reason for Nintendo to go 3rd party.


Except if they could get more than their normal $5 billion profits per generation from going 3rd party....

U don't just bail out of a market that gives u $1 billion annually for something that may or may not pay off, if Nintendo was in some dire situation like Sega was than yes they should try their hand at being a 3rd party developer but they aren't so there is no reason to.

Once we take into account things like mobile games/apps, Quality of Life, Amiibo and IP licensing (films/series) than they could possibly be posting DS/Wii-era profits which was about $15 billion over the course of 5 years.

Nintendo is in a good position to make alot of money in the future, there is no reason to abandon dedicated hardware unless it's something that needs to be done and in Nintendo's case, it's not something that need to be done.


When/if Nintendo is in a dire situation like SEGA was, it's already to late.

Yes but the point is that Nintendo is in nowhere close to that situation, there is a pretty large middle ground between Sega in 2000 and Nintendo in 2015, like I said u don't just bail out on a market that has historically been very, very profitable for u with no guarantee that it will benefit u. Nintendo posted 3 years of losses because of making very large mistakes, if they fix those mistakes yet still are posting losses than maybe u have a point but as of now there is no reason for Nintendo to go 3rd party.



When the herd loses its way, the shepard must kill the bull that leads them astray.

Ka-pi96 said:
zorg1000 said:
Teeqoz said:


When/if Nintendo is in a dire situation like SEGA was, it's already to late.

Yes but the point is that Nintendo is in nowhere close to that situation, there is a pretty large middle ground between Sega in 2000 and Nintendo in 2015, like I said u don't just bail out on a market that has historically been very, very profitable for u with no guarantee that it will benefit u. Nintendo posted 3 years of losses because of making very large mistakes, if they fix those mistakes yet still are posting losses than maybe u have a point but as of now there is no reason for Nintendo to go 3rd party.

I agree. They should give home consoles at least 1 more try before they go 3rd party. The Wii U isn't particularly successful, but maybe their 9th gen console can be.

I really think Nintendo will go with a unified platform so that software sales aren't tied to a small userbase. Let's say the console sells 10-20 million and the handheld 40-80 million, that's a combined 50-100 million install base to sell to instead of 2 individual smaller markets to sell to.



When the herd loses its way, the shepard must kill the bull that leads them astray.