What's with the lack of new IPs from Nintendo. For all of the Switch's success, one area it seems to be lacking in is launching major new 1st party IPs.

I think the biggest original 1st party IP on Switch is Ring Fit Adventure, but its appeal is based on its peripheral not really the world and characters it offers.

The others I can think of are Arms, Game Builder Garage, and Astral Chain, none of which were massive sellers.

As of late Nintendo seems to be focusing on sequels, remakes, remasters, and ports.

I was encouraged to see that Nintendo was beta testing that MMO game the other day, because at least it shows they are trying something new.

One thing I will say about Nintendo is that they often use their existing characters for spinoffs to explore new gameplay ideas, such as Princess Peach Showtime. Still this is not the same as creating a new IP from scratch.

I'm reminded about how the developers said that Splatoon started out as a Mario game before becoming its own thing. Thank goodness they decided to create a new IP out of it. Actually, Splatoon seems to be their last high profile new IP in a while.

What do you think? Should Nintendo put more money behind new IPs?

I used to think so, but Im not really sure anymore. Theres a lot of support from third parties who bring new IPs to their system now and Nintendo are great at coming up with new experiences in their already established IPs. Theyre characters are so iconic at this point and they dont seem to become less loved as time goes on. Sure it would be nice to see something new, but I personally cant even remember the last new IP from them I cared about. Maybe Pikmin?

Nintendo reinvented Zelda. Between those two games alone, over 53 million sales.

Reinventing old IPs is arguably a superior strategy to inventing new ones because it creates something new without throwing away tradition. Nintendo has done this since at least Donkey Kong Country; maybe even Super Mario Bros.

Nintendo has so many IPs that, despite having revived some old titles that were almost forgotten this generation, while giving their most famous series a crap ton of love AND creating some new IPs (although fewer than in other periods) they are unable to use all of them in the span of an entire generation.

Having reached this point, I think it's more about taking care of what they already have while creating something new from time to time. If we get one or two Astral Chains per generation + a few smaller titles while keeping using their old IPs as they have done this gen, I'm good.

This comes up every so often. The reality is that there's lots of new ideas, but Nintendo just put Mario or Zelda characters into it.

Does Mario and Rabbids count as a new IP? What about Super Mario Wonder? The new Zelda game? Splatoon? Arms? Captain Toad? Mario Maker?

So really the question is, should Nintendo create new characters/settings? Does it matter if every new Nintendo game is in the Mushroom kingdom, with Mario characters playing Tennis, or a pile of mini-games? All of these games play very differently... so I'd say that all of these games are new IP...

That's a very good point too.

They don't really need to. People are bonkers over Mario, Zelda, Pokemon etc and they sell tens of millions of copies.

Making new IPs is great but they have so many IPs that are frozen right now they could focus.

Nintendo like Rockstar and Activision Blizzard all like money.

They rake in tons of money by releasing the same ips over and over again, heck even the same games (GTA V, MK8, WoW). So there isn't much point in releasing new ips.

Also 1-2-Switch, Labo and I think Snipperclips was from them. In cooperation they also made Cadence of Hyrule. Possibly others I forget.

But the thing is: not every new IP can be a Splatoon. It is fine if Arms and Astral Chain don't reach the same heights. There are certainly people loving it and it adds diversity to the library.

Well, we are late in the cycle, I assume Nintendo keeps now every big thing (new releases in established IPs and new IPs) for the next system. Switch took off because it had a strong start with games. People say Breath of the Wild, but that was actually supported by a steady stream of smaller titles until another big bang with Mario Odyssey. That includes the Arms and also Xenoblades. This steady stream of bigger but also smaller stuff was what gave the Switch momentum.

I don't think that is a bad thing. Showtime is a nice exploration of ideas, why not support it with a known character. People seem to miss a major thing: new in games can mean different things: new story, new tone, new style, new graphics, new gameplay. There is no necessity to change all of it at once. Showtime is an example of experimenting in gameplay, but choosing a tone that is well-established in the Mario universe. So they did go with that. Splatoon takes an older gameplay idea (3D first person shooter), adds a spin on it but then let it ooze a massively different and new tone. The tone doesn't fit established IPs, so they choose a new one.

Having a new IP does not necessarily mean more creativity. It is in the end a coat of paint. It can have interesting lore or worldbuilding, but you can totally make the same game essentially. You could say Bethesda makes Skyrim, Skyrim in post apocalypse and Skyrim in space. I know, it is a bit exaggerated, but you probably can get my point. There is also a reason people talk about the Ubisoft formula, even if it references different IPs. Look at Capcom as a contrast. Street Fighter, Monster Hunter and Resident Evil not only are different IPs in different worlds - they play completely different from each other. And also innovated a lot between games, look at Monster Hunter Generation to World to Rise (and I have still to look at Wilds). Resident Evil 4 and 7 were major innovation points.

Hell no. Because big investments suffocating creativity. The reason is, that if investors put big money down they get antsy and meddle with the creative process. That is one major reason indies are full of innovation, while many AAA production look so samey, even if they are supposedly a new IP. You see the same formula over and over with different coats of paint over it through superficial story. Or not even that: Dragon Age Veilguard is supposedly a dark fantasy setting, but feels like people from modern day cities. Tonally off somehow.

So no, more money will not breed more creativity. Same as just making a new IP without having actually new ideas. I want creativity more than forced new IPs or big budget samey, samey slop.