Unfortunately for them, they're too late for a big piece of the pie. Not sure who their target market would be....
Not true, that's what the media said about Apple and the iPhone. Need I say more?
Unfortunately for them, they're too late for a big piece of the pie. Not sure who their target market would be....
I think he was talking about the new Zelda game, A Link Between Worlds.
Mario Kart, Smash Brothers, Mario Party, and their 2D platformers are all very casual multiplayer oriented. It's a bizarre niche.
The systems been out for 14 months and they'll be revealing a new Zelda game soon? What the hell does that mean? They normally reveal a game over a year before the release, which means we won't be seeing a good game besides Pikmin 3 for the system until its been out for over two years.
Yeah, but how many of them are worth playing? I have Zelda: WW HD, Pikmin 3, and Rayman Legends. I'm pretty sure I already have every single good game for the Wii U.
Rayman Legends, by the way, is freaking amazing. You repeatedly brought up Nintendo's 2D platformers - you really need to try Rayman (Origins or Legends, although Legends improves upon Origins - which was already an amazing game - in just about every way) before you make the mistake of thinking Nintendo's platformers are anything worth talking about. I tried them on the Wii and they weren't anything special - I seriously doubt Nintendo meaningfully revamped their formula with the Wii U.
Lets be honest here a gaming PC is something way too expensive and way too complicate for the average person. That's why consoles replaced PC gaming.
People buy consoles instead of just hooking their smartphones up to their TV's because they have better graphics. Than smartphones. If your iphone played battlefield 4 at the same settings a PS4 did with no difference in user experience, you'd just get a Bluetooth controller and an hdmi adapter and ditch the console.
I'm sure everyone thinks the Wii U is great though. That's why nobody is buying them.
Consoles never replaced PC gaming. In fact, the One and PS4 just reinforced PC gaming for hardcore owners. Once the Steam Machines get traction, the Xbox and PS brands are doomed.
If Nintendo did license SOME of their IPs to Apple for a one-two year exclusivity deal, you would see Nintendo bring in A LOT of dough. The key is not to price the stuff as much as a DS/3DS game.
The future for Nintendo is to move on from hardware, and focus on software.
There is gold in their game back catalogues. iOS and Android versions of classic games, or games that sold well in years gone by would be instant cash cows ready to be milked. The profits should then be used to develop newer titles.
Sony and Microsoft produced consoles that were multi-use items. DVD / Blue-Ray players and games consoles. The HDMI slot therefore went to their console, and not Nintendo. They also had broader appeal, with games for the family and for adults. Their approach has helped them win the console war. If Nintendo want to stay in the console market, they need to follow this model.
However, this is not a market with much future. People now consume digital media through their smart TVs and TV boxes like Apple TV. These devices already have console capabilities. Once these are realised, consoles are over. If Call of Duty was available on Apple TV who would spend £3-400 on a console?
Once Apple TV has an App store gaming will change for ever.
Nintendo should embrace the future.
- stop spending millions on hardware development and production costs. It's a battle they've already lost.
- start converting high-selling games from its back catalogue to run on iOS (esp any future Apple TV app store)
- consider creating specialised controllers that work with iOS.
Electronic Arts should consider monetising it's back catalogue too.
- X-Wing for iOS? I'd buy that now.
It's gonna take a few years for Steam machines to get a good, solid foothold, and start appealing to a wider market. Since Valve absolutely refuses to do exclusives on them, the moment they become appealing in their own right is the moment when they've got tons of games to choose from, when it's able to match the PS4 and Xbox One title for title on everything from indie titles to big studio AAA games. It's got a lot of potential, but it's gonna take awhile before it reaches the point that it can even be considered a solid alternative, let alone a console/Windows gaming killer.
I really hope they don't get serious about making AAA titles for iOS. Playing Mario with touch screen controls is going to suuuuck.
I don't know, maybe the people spending hundreds of dollars on Angry Birds accessories, physical board games, toys, plush dolls, colouring books, etc. A successful franchise on iOS drives other non-smartphone non-casual-game businesses.
Later titles yes. But the first couple were basically just runners so it could be done and not too horrid. And now that there are the controller API, Nintendo could make a Bluetooth version of their old controller to go with the games. Perhaps even bundle it with a free copy of the first one as a marketing stunt.
I really don't want to play a Nintendo games on ios. Playing sonic on ios is already a nightmare.
For god's sake... Mario invented the coin!!!!! You wouldn't even have to change the playability of a Mario game. He would want to collect coins. Either mine them in-game, or simply by them via IAP. Brilliant! Do you know how much money Nintendo could make their first year selling iOS games?
100 coins for a free life never sounded so good!
Very true. I give it 5 years since backward compatibility will reenter the fray after the PS4 and Xbox One are done.
The 3DS is selling pretty well though, so wouldn't selling on mobile kind of kill that? I could maybe see a virtual console kind of thing that offers older games succeeding.
Tim, please work out an exclusive deal with Nintendo.
Bit of false logic going on here. Seems like you are assuming the issue is iOS when it comes to porting console games and not the skill of the programmer. Just because whomever did Sonic did a crap job doesn't equal to all console games being given a crap over. The Nintendo team might do a better job, even to the point of hiring someone that really knows iOS to help them
They need to go cross-platform. They need to reach as wide an audience as possible. But FINALLY he sees the obvious. 3 years too late probably.
I've been a lurker for years on this site but finally something forced me to join up and address some issues about Nintendo. Clearly the Apple Fans here have no idea about Nintendo, how they run, their history and how they make money.
Nintendo is NOT moving to smartphones. They earn their money through hardware sales and their first party games. How much profit do you think they will make from $3 dollar games on the App Store. There was a suggestion that Nintendo would have to sell over 750 million games on the App Store to earn the same profit as they currently do.
Nintendo believes in high quality games built on their hardware. Just like Apple believes in high quality hardware running on IOS. Putting any of their games on smartphone would damage the brands like Mario or Zelda and people will think they have become the cheap game's makers like games are not smartphones.
And please get the bloody idea of Apple and Nintendo coming together. Nintendo would prefer to pour fuel over their assets and buildings and set it on fire than let a American company get their hands on them and turn it into something they are not. Smartphone and tablets are terrible ways to play games and Apple has slowly been turning a great video game industry into a cheap two dollar business with games that are downloaded and deleted a few days after.
Nintendo can change and move with the times, they have been around for a hundred years and they will be fine in the long term.
1) Look up "Burn Rate"
2) Money in the bank does not make a company. Viable products that people buy and a subsequent profit is made from the sale makes a company.
3) Going forward, why hardware products does Nintendo have that people want that will grow the company? Sales of its next gen home console Wii U is going sideways at best, and the 2DS is not going to revive the company -- the days of $30 portable games are past and none of the major independent game studios even publish much more than token kiddie games for it -- the same ones that can be had for $.99 on the App Store.
Stinks of SEGA.
WAY too late to the game. They will never succeed making any of their own equipment. It is absolutely critical that they make as many as their games into apps as possible, and with their console-only games turning to apps on Roku and Apple TV using iOS devices as controllers. A lot of this won't be hard to do and will result in MILLIONS of happy people, which means LOTS OF MONEY!
Nintendo has as large and a rabid a fanbase as Apple did when they launched the iPhoned. They also are really good at making physical devices usable.
I'd say they have a much better change of making a successful iPhone competitor than either Google or Microsoft.
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?
Nintendo Finally Considers Smartphone Move After Third Straight Annual Loss