Nintendo Finally Considers Smartphone Move After Third Straight Annual Loss

[fertilized-egg]

This is more anti nintendo slander.

3DS has sold 40 million units in 2.5 years. No demand huh?

Ask yourself this, they would lose BILLIONS by going to iOS and Apple, rather than their own handheld hardware, which has sold in the 150+ million Range ( 3DS ) and shows no sign of slowing down.

People people, read the article. Nintendo said the 3DS isn't selling as well as they expected and they are cutting the sales target by 30% to 13.5 million this year from 18. That's not some analysts but Nintendo saying the 3DS isn't selling as well as they hoped to. It is Nintendo who's telling us the 3DS is showing signs of slowing down.

Selling more than 13 million consoles in a year is pretty good. However there are two problems and they are both extremely dangerous signs.

1) Decreasing sales despite the new variant: When Nintendo introduced the new DS Lite, the sales exploded. This time Nintendo added a lower cost 2DS but the sales decreased instead, falling to 13.5 million (estimated), a slight decline from 14 million last year. This must be very uncomfortable for Nintendo especially because

2) Decline from previous generation: By the 3rd and 4th year of the DS generation, Nintendo was selling 30 million portables in a single year. The sales figure of the 3DS now is less than half of that despite having three variants and a few price cuts.

The bigger problem? Because the Wii U is a massive failure, at this point the 3DS is the only money maker for the company and has to support the further R&D and business operations. If the 3DS was doing as well as the DS the damage would've been lessened but not only it's not selling as the DS did, it's already showing the signs of declining sales.

They should NEVER consider smartphones. You cant make original good games on it.

If the current situation continues, sooner or later Nintendo will have no choice. Nintendo does have a lot of cash, just under 10 billion dollars, and they could still downsize the company if distressed but after a few more years of bleeding cash their investors won't be kept quiet.

 

[afireintonto]

No need, Pokemon X and Y on the 3DS already does that.

I don't own a 3ds. I own an iPhone. That's what I want to play Pokemon on.

 

[peterdevries]

No need, Pokemon X and Y on the 3DS already does that.

True, but as Nintendo has just pointed out, the sales of that and their other platforms are not as expected. Hence the need to innovate either their products and markets and/or their business model.

 

[Sol]

iOS games by Nintendo would be cool. I don't see a reason why a Nintendo hand-held could not co-exist with something like this.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Any Wii U games will work easily on the iOS devices. Wii U controller has a touch base tablet plus physical controllers. Nintendo can always make custom controllers to sell iOS users, too.

That... Actually doesn't sound like all that bad an idea. Nintendo could shift from making $300 consoles with $100 controllers and $60 games to just making $100 controllers and $60 games - the profit margins on the consoles were slim to nothing anyways, so why bother?

 

[Technarchy]

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.

Sega doesn't exist as a hardware maker because they had stupid management that squandered the reputation and momentum built by the Sega Genesis.

Saturn: Out of sync with the evolution of graphics. It was basically a massive sprite generator first, and polygon renderer last. Bad thing to be in the rising era of Virtua Racing, Virtua Fighter and Daytona USA

Sega CD: Turd
Sega 32X: Turd

But to say Genesis and Dreamcast were bad hardware, is utterly insane. Genesis was the console that broke the de facto Nintendo monopoly on 3rd party games. That's how compelling it was.

Dreamcast was phenomenal and massively ahead of it's time, but it was also at the end of Sega exhausting their hardware capitol with the public. And it didn't play DVD...STUPID MOVE.

As for games, really?

Phantasy Star
Sonic
Shinobi
Virtua Fighter
Panzer Dragoon
Streets of Rage
Skies of Arcadia

And lets not even get into the Arcade properties where Sega dominated with some of the best and certainly most innovative games that redefined the entire look and feel of gaming.

I love Nintendo as much as anyone, but Sega is a beast and has a catalog worth billions.

 

[Technarchy]

A little bit of Loss on Nintendos part is new, yes. But they have tons of money in the bank.

I would think Nintendo would not reduce their selves to making crappy iOS ports.

I have had this debate with friends for about a year now.

I contend mobile is the future of gaming. At the rate mobile is evolving, especially Apple with high performance, low power consumption devices, it won't be long till we will have a console in our pocket with a bluetooth controller and Apple TV/Chrome cast like receiver to put content on the screen.

My friends who are still die hard gamers say it's always going to be about the console for the best experience.

I bet this is exactly what Nintendo is trying to figure out right now.

A GS4 sized Nintendo Smartphone that is a successor to the DS would even give Apple cause for pause. Just don't run it on crappy android. Make it 100% Nintendo through and through and sorta like this...

 

[lannisters4life]

I highly doubt this means we'd have Mario or Pokemon on iPhones and iPads. It would be beautiful dream come true, but I would be shocked if that ever happened.

But at the same time, I have respected their uncompromising fidelity to their own products. They make their hardware and software in sync, to make the best games and gaming experiences they can. Developing a touch version of Mario for iOS would be a huge step away from the proudly in-house successes they've had for a long time. It is unsurprising that this attitude has had negative financial consequences, but to be fair, I wish more developers cared for their games and consoles before they cared about their annual reports.

 

[0098386]

I don't own a 3ds. I own an iPhone. That's what I want to play Pokemon on.

So? Not every device can do everything. My 55" bravia with a 7.1 sound system is better than watching videos on my iPhone, my piano is better than using a virtual keyboard on IOS GarageBand. If you want something another machine does; you get it.

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True, but as Nintendo has just pointed out, the sales of that and their other platforms are not as expected. Hence the need to innovate either their products and markets and/or their business model.

Nono, the 3DS is fine, the Wii U is not.
http://venturebeat.com/2014/01/16/pokemon-x-and-y-sales-cross-3-million-as-3ds-outsells-all-other-gaming-systems-in-2013/
Pokemon sold 3 million, £35-minimum copies already.
They had similar troubles in the late 90's to mid 00's surviving happily on their fantastic portable lines.

 

[1rottenapple]

Writing is on the wall for Nintendo.

Smartphones and tablets are the goto choice for kids. Heck I see more kids playing with tablets and iPod touches when I'm studying at the library. So the kid demographic is leaving Nintendo. And of course older gamers and hardcore fans flock to xbox one and PS4s.

 

[Technarchy]

[/COLOR]

Nono, the 3DS is fine, the Wii U is not.
http://venturebeat.com/2014/01/16/p...ds-outsells-all-other-gaming-systems-in-2013/
Pokemon sold 3 million, £35-minimum copies already.
They had similar troubles in the late 90's to mid 00's surviving happily on their fantastic portable lines.

The strange thing is the Wii is probably the best console Nintendo has done since Super Nintendo. The public just isn't biting.

However the DS line is smoking. The Nintendo DS is the best selling game platform of all time by a pretty huge margin, so Nintendo already knows mobile is a winner. Hell the Gameboy line is the #2 best selling console of all time.

Nintendo could very easily make the next DS their lead device over another console. Hell if Sony has about 80% of the PS3 in the Vita, Nintendo at this stage could do PS3 class+ performance in a new handheld. Give it TV compatibility and console and mobile become one, which is where the industry is headed anyway.

Edit: PS2 was actually the 2nd best console of all time.

 

[dba415]

You can already play Pokemon and Mario on iPhone. Heck I was doing it on my OG IPhone. Emulators.

 

[rdej47]

The Wii U was the first Nintendo console that I ever sold. I bought it near launch and I sold it within 1-2 months and I haven't regretted it. I feel that Nintendo missed the mark in so many ways this generation (with both Wii U and 3DS).

In my mind, the biggest mistake with the Wii U is the fact that it's killer feature (tablet controller) can only be used by one person at a time. This is such a huge step backwards from the Wii. The Wii immediately made sense when you saw someone use it and it was a great party console. I'd never suggest firing up the Xbox when we had people over but it was easy to put Wii Sports on. This is even ridiculous from a developers standpoint. If you want to make a game for Wii U, you have to try make use of the tablet, and if it's going to be multiplayer you have to try incorporate some motion control as well. If motion doesn't work you can always use a gamepad controller. This sounds like hell already.

Now to discuss the 3DS. My biggest complaint is the battery life. Their poor battery life feels unacceptable in this day and age of 10 hour battery life with iPad or all day battery life with a smartphone (generalizing for simplicity). Plus how do you go from the DS Lite with great battery life and sleek design to the bulky 3DS with terrible battery life. Again to go back to the iPad, each upgrade has gotten more powerful while still giving 10 hour battery life. Hell the iPad Air even shrunk and still maintained the same battery life. Maybe we've just been spoiled with the yearly updates but stuff like this just makes Nintendo seem like a dinosaur.

For those that argue that Nintendo can survive on it's own with it's own hardware and IP's, you're crazy. Just look at something like the iPhone. As good as the stock/Apple apps are, the iPhone would not be a success if it wasn't for the developer support that it gets. At this point Nintendo has almost 0 developer support. That's a lot of weight to bear by themselves.

 

[peterdevries]

Nono, the 3DS is fine, the Wii U is not.
http://venturebeat.com/2014/01/16/p...ds-outsells-all-other-gaming-systems-in-2013/
Pokemon sold 3 million, £35-minimum copies already.
They had similar troubles in the late 90's to mid 00's surviving happily on their fantastic portable lines.

Ah, oh thanks for that and very interesting. I would be very interested to see how Nintendo is planning future generations of the 3DS. With mobile gaming becoming ever more mature and the penetration of toucscreen devices moving down the age-gradient (younger people are using them) I expect Nintendo to get in trouble in their DS segment too.

My nephew and niece (7 and 10 resp) both have DS'es but have ditched those in favor of an iPad mini and an iPod Touch. The larger selection of (free) games which are in many cases in terms of content competitive with the best Nintendo titles (e.g. Angry Birds, Real Racing etc) is one of the main reasons for that, next to the increased usability of both devices compared to the DS (emails to friends, web surfing etc).

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You can already play Pokemon and Mario on iPhone. Heck I was doing it on my OG IPhone. Emulators.

The overwhelming majority of general users don't jailbreak and the minority that does is shrinking each year.

 

[0098386]

Writing is on the wall for Nintendo.

Smartphones and tablets are the goto choice for kids. Heck I see more kids playing with tablets and iPod touches when I'm studying at the library. So the kid demographic is leaving Nintendo. And of course older gamers and hardcore fans flock to xbox one and PS4s.

Yet their handheld console sales are up, more software sales too. Pokemon X and Y, released 3 months ago have sold 3 million full-priced titles. What writing is on the wall? That consoles are dying? Possibly, yet with Valve creating a "PC console" that will cost more than any consoles we currently have, maybe not?

 

[peterdevries]

Yet their handheld console sales are up, more software sales too.

The article says, though, that 3DS sales were lower than expected. It appears that not all is well with that platform either.

 

[H.Finch]

Zelda Ocarina of Time (pref a graphically updated version) for iPad = I'll never leave the iOs universe again

 

[Jilibk]

I am intrigued to see what they will come up with! And definitely the right move in my opinion, even if it is a bit late. They should have done this years ago, when smartphones and tablets were beginning to get big.

iOS games by Nintendo would be cool. I don't see a reason why a Nintendo hand-held could not co-exist with something like this.

This. Exactly what I thought. Using smartphones and tablets as stepping stones for their consoles.

 

[Rossatron]

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

no, it does not. the tablet is used to reading watching videos at home while the laptop is carried when i need it to do some work.

besides, the you can't compare these situations when you carry a phone and a portable console, you have 2 devices with similar form factor, one of which can do both devices' job, but the other is more limited and designed to do only 1 thing. portable consoles will have to converge into smartphone at some point.

 

[jordanm86]

It's not as simple as enabling Mario to move on a smartphone."

Yes. Yes it is. Put the back catalogue of Mario games onto iOS and Android and your financial woes will be gone.

Unfortunately, Nintendo thought because they had great success with the Wii, it automatically makes all future consoles great.

Now don't get me wrong, the Wii was a great innovation - but as soon as Microsoft and Sony saw the opportunities in physical interaction coupled with multiple sensors as a form of new 'fun' gaming, they were pumping out 'two eyed' camera's and glowing dildo shaped controllers quicker than you can say "pokemon".

So yes, Nintendo, you are responsible for moving gaming technology forward at a dramatic pace and we're all grateful, but you have neither the financial nor physical resources to be able to compete with the 'big boys' so just do what you know you are going to do and release some of your software gems on more relevant hardware - preferably without some ******* in app purchases and freemium options (EA are not gaming role models). I'd be happy to pay £10-15 for a mario collection (1 - super mario world).

 

[Steve121178]

It's very simple.

Mario + Zelda on iOS/Android = $$$

 

[JGRE]

Nope. The 3DS is selling like crazy.

The company also scaled back its expectations for its 3DS portable game console from 18 million units to 13.5 million,

Selling like crazy....Am I missing something here?

 

[danielowenuk]

Mario Kart on ipad = Top Selling App for a long time!

 

[BigCanoe]

3DS games on a buttonless-iOS, ewww.

 

[thekeyring]

Super Mario Bros for 3DS was quite good, and the Mario games for Wii and Wii U look good, but I just can't justify spending £100+ on a consol for a handful of games.

However, I'd happily buy them for my iPhone/iPad, even if the user experience had to be updated for touch screen / lack of buttons.

Nintendo's a great company, it'd be a shame to see them go under.