Nintendo Finally Considers Smartphone Move After Third Straight Annual Loss

[cclloyd]

ReRelease X and Y on iOS? Yes.
Open AppleTV as an appstore? Yes.

Then make MFi controller, possibly one with a second screen for a 3DS experience, or one to use as a Wii-U controller and AppleTV.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Sir, you are assuming that Nintendo will
Never have another wii like success. As has already been pointed out, Nintendo as a company is more successful then all of Sony. Period. Do you see mentions of burn rate in articles about XBone out selling PS4 for the past month? How ever will Sony survive?

1) Yes, it's an assumption, but an educated one based on where the casual gaming market is today. The Wii U and 2DS are Nintendo's next gen consoles and the console lifecycle is about 5-6 years. Nintendo doesn't have that long to turn around because inertia will eat it up. As I said previously Nintendo was on the ropes before the Wii became an unexpected hit. It did not follow through with anything exciting with the Wii U so it's back to where it was before the Wii... nothing exciting to ignite consumers. The casual gaming $ is going to tablets and smart phones.

Here is Nintendo admitting the Wii U is a flop: http://nypost.com/2014/01/19/nintendo-admits-wii-us-failure/

2) Comparing Nintendo with Sony is like comparing a hammer manufacturer to Home Depot. Nintendo sells one thing: game consoles and software. Sony is a huge conglomerate with movie studios, consumer electronics, professional electronics,medical devices, etc. Even IF the PS3 & 4 were money losers for Sony the division is a small segment on it's P&L. That's not true of Nintendo; it's games and SW are all it has.

But the truth...the PS3 and 4 will make Sony $ because of s/w licensing. Same with MS and Xbox One. There is no burn rate with those companies because, unlike Nintendo, they are not posting consecutive year LOSSES.

 

[Robert.Walter]

"he would "never think about providing [Nintendo’s] precious resources for other platforms at all."

At the rate they are losing money, this decision will probably be left to his successor, or the company that buys them.

 

[fel10]

People still play with Nintendo?

3ds as being the best selling gaming hardware last year, I would say yes. Keep you smartass comments to yourself. Thanks.

 

[FoxMcCloud]

Since Nintendo have a rather large catalogue of games on their Virtual Console on the Wii, they such really take advantage of that by marketing it as such and doing a relaunch.

Take the Wii, die shrink its processor, remove all motion related components, remove analogue output, remove disc drive. Hopefully this should be able to be around half the size of the Wii mini. Give it HDMI, WiFi, Wireless Classic Controller. Make it's OS solely a front end of the Virtual Console and store.

£99 with a copy of Mario.

Called it the Retro Nintendo System or something snazzy.

They would sell like hot cakes I'm sure

 

[Blakjack]

Mario kart 64 and Golden Eye 007....port them.......now!!

I'll pay 4.99 a piece

 

[B4U]

If they will just stop region locking all their devices...
Why would I buy the console knowing that half the game I play will not be playable unless I buy a second console from the other regions...
It hurts the sales of the consoles and games...

 

[brdeveloper]

So when you go to a shop and buy a Nintendo game, the shop selling it does that for free? The shop employees are all volunteers working for free? The shopping mall lets the shop open there rent free, and pays for their electricity? What world are you living in?

Not so simple. If Nintendo brings a great game to iOS and people would think on buying an iPhone just because of that game, then it will harm Nintendo business. It not that plain win-win you argue.

 

[Blakjack]

Unfortunately for them, they're too late for a big piece of the pie. Not sure who their target market would be....

I think if they port over some of the classics, 64 console and back, their target market gets older. Many of us who are asking for these games I bet are 25 to 40 years old. These are the games we grew up on.

I'd still play the first Mario game if I had an NES.

 

[brdeveloper]

70% is better than 0%, and they need to understand that.


imo, the days of portable condole are about to end. those who has advanced smartphone (android or iOS based) don't carry 2 (or 3) devices when their smartphone can do it all (games/music/phone calls). maybe those with the more basic smartphones would go for a console, but then consoles' and games' prices will have to go down, so that's not really a viable solution for nintendo.

i would really love playing super mario or donkeykong (and other titles) from nintendo, but i don't want ANOTHER device to carry around, to make sure it's charged and keep an eye on.

Do you have a tablet and a laptop? If so, your argument fails.

 

[msephton]

How times change: check out this quote from 1991 by then Apple CEO Michael Spindler about Nintendo.

http://instagram.com/p/jH2Sw7g5Ko/

Personally, I am an Apple employee and Nintendo gamer. I carry 3 Nintendo handhelds (GBA SP, DS, 3DS) in my backpack at all times. In addition to my iPad. And of course my iPhone.

 

[GizmoDVD]

If they will just stop region locking all their devices...
Why would I buy the console knowing that half the game I play will not be playable unless I buy a second console from the other regions...
It hurts the sales of the consoles and games...

Half the games?

Great, they don't region locking. Now they can get 15 more sales

----------

Vita is a flop. Sony should just dump it and make games for Apple!

Derrrrrr.

That's pretty much this entire thread.

 

[taphappy56]

Wind Waker HD on Mac would get my money.

 

[GizmoDVD]

Wind Waker HD on Mac would get my money.

Uncharted 3 on my Xbox would get my money.

Might as well if we are are all dreaming.

 

[edgonzalez32]

"how smart devices can be used to grow the game-player business"

I think the title is misleading. I don't think we'll see a smartphone come from Nintendo. And honestly, I hope we don't.

 

[Technarchy]

Difference, SEGA thrived on mediocre titles and marketing, they never made any good software or hardware.

Say goodbye to any gaming credibility, right there.

----------

Mario kart 64 and Golden Eye 007....port them.......now!!

I'll pay 4.99 a piece

Nintendo has a grand catalog from the NES to GameCube that could easily be ported to an iPad and iPhone with little effort and lots of profit.

I'd be all over Pokemon, Zelda and Metroid.

----------

People still play with Nintendo?

And...your gaming credibility just died too.

 

[G51989]

Say goodbye to any gaming credibility, right there.

I don't know about you, but I grew on on SEGA and Nintendo, Nintendo games were always more fun, SEGA games always got old and repetitive pretty quickly. There is a reason SEGA doesn't exist as a hardware maker and Nintendo does.

Nintendo has a grand catalog from the NES to GameCube that could easily be ported to an iPad and iPhone with little effort and lots of profit.

I'd be all over Pokemon, Zelda and Metroid.

But why would they? They'll probably eventually remake all that stuff on whatever console they bring out next.

I don't understand why some think Nintendo needs to be an Apple developer only, they would take massive profit losses.

 

[BRO,RUMAD?]

Mario Kart with no IAPs and I'm sold.

 

[Wardenski]

Personally, Nintendo need to move on.

I feel their attitude towards modern technology makes many gamers - and more importantly - developers, unconvinced.

*with respect to the Wii U.

 

[tymaster50]

personally i am tired of seeing mario game #254 and LoZ #25

hope they will get some new IPs

 

[smoking monkey]

Do you have a tablet and a laptop? If so, your argument fails.

When was the last time you saw somebody pull out a laptop on a train or in a car to play a video game? Probably never.

I think his/her argument is the reality. Personally, I miss the functionality of having buttons and a joypad to control my character in a game. Those awful touch controls have made action and FPS games useless on tablets and smartphones in my opinion. I'd love to see lots of old SNES games ported to touch devices but I'd play them for 2 minutes before getting sick of the control scheme or lack thereof.

 

[TennisandMusic]

1) Yes, it's an assumption, but an educated one based on where the casual gaming market is today. The Wii U and 2DS are Nintendo's next gen consoles and the console lifecycle is about 5-6 years. Nintendo doesn't have that long to turn around because inertia will eat it up. As I said previously Nintendo was on the ropes before the Wii became an unexpected hit. It did not follow through with anything exciting with the Wii U so it's back to where it was before the Wii... nothing exciting to ignite consumers. The casual gaming $ is going to tablets and smart phones.

Here is Nintendo admitting the Wii U is a flop: http://nypost.com/2014/01/19/nintendo-admits-wii-us-failure/

2) Comparing Nintendo with Sony is like comparing a hammer manufacturer to Home Depot. Nintendo sells one thing: game consoles and software. Sony is a huge conglomerate with movie studios, consumer electronics, professional electronics,medical devices, etc. Even IF the PS3 & 4 were money losers for Sony the division is a small segment on it's P&L. That's not true of Nintendo; it's games and SW are all it has.

But the truth...the PS3 and 4 will make Sony $ because of s/w licensing. Same with MS and Xbox One. There is no burn rate with those companies because, unlike Nintendo, they are not posting consecutive year LOSSES.

Errr...you don't follow the news do you. Sony posted losses for SEVERAL consecutive years until recently.

And Xbox one is a consistent money loser for Microsoft. It does not make them money. In fact some of the rumors concerning the new CEO, were that if Elop gets it he would want to cut the Xbox division loose. Of course that could be total baloney but there is a reason rumors like that exist.

And then you have this...

http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Nintendo-Now-Worth-More-Than-Sony-61509.html

It is weird to me, how often people just pull stuff out of their butt, without actually looking at verifiable numbers and facts. It takes 10 seconds to look up.

 

[haruhiko]

Does no one else here see the parallels with 'Apple should just make OSX for PC and licence it or they are doomed' style nay saying?

Unless Iwata is willing to resign and another Steve Jobs like figure appears in the company to save them.

 

[smoking monkey]

And...your gaming credibility just died too.

Your quote is in reference to Nintendo not being that popular as a game device maker anymore. I think the person your trying to rebut actually has a good point.


My evidence is purely first person, it is on the front lines so to speak, but now when I ask Junior high school and elementary school Japanese kids (And I teach thousands of kids within a single year) who has a 3DS or Wii U, MOST hands stay down - less than 10 in each class of 40. Compared to 3 or 4 years ago when I asked who owns a Wii or DS where almost every single hand went up.

There is a shift. Elementary school Japanese kids still use Nintendo, but they are playing on DSs, but JHS kids are all over iPhone in a big way.

 

[bungiefan89]

Unfortunately for them, they're too late for a big piece of the pie. Not sure who their target market would be....

Only pretty much every gamer! lol
Nintendo may not be doing very well financially, but they've always had a huge selection of high-quality first-party games that have only been available on a small selection of platforms.
Consider Super Metroid, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, and Super Mario 64. Those are all AAA-quality games, but in order to play them you have to own one of two very old game consoles (the Super Nintendo and the Nintendo 64) because that's the only way to play them (re-releases aside).
All Nintendo has to do is polish up some of these games for a mobile OS, give them some decent controls, and they could make a lot of money.