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What would happen to Nintendo if the NX flops like Wii U?

They can always go back to being a toymaker, I guess. After all, their IPs still can sell. And probably a lot more mobile output.
 

Eiolon

Member
Nintendo isn't in debt like Sega was when it released the Saturn and Dreamcast so I doubt it will go third party. my guess is it will keep trying to create something unique that will click like the Wii did.
 

P44

Member
Probably third party.

It would be really bad for Nintendo, but probably not that bad for gamers. This way we wouldn't have to buy 2 consoles (like Wii U and PS4) to enjoy different games.

It would be fantastic for gamers to be honest. Spending less money for more games. Doing interesting things with hardware is all well and good, but if it lacks market penetration then what's the point really.
 

Eolz

Member
How many times can they try though? Sega tried twice.

Do you not remember in which shape Sega was at that point? Nothing comparable to Nintendo.
They're also taking measures against similar problems (licensing, mobile, etc) for good reasons.

Saw this thread last decade.

Basically this. Nintendoomed forever.

If it happens, I'd like to see Apple buy Nintendo. I always thought the two would complement each other well and would work as one company.

As much as I know everyone would love to see Nintendo go third party, I think 3 platform providers+ PC is best for diversity in the industry.

It will never happen though.

Realistically, depending on how much of a hit their finances take, they will just try again.

Then you really don't understand how Apple works as a company. Nor Nintendo.
 
Just because Nintendo can survive more flop consoles doesn't mean they would keep trying again until they have another success. Eventually you're just throwing good money after bad. Why would Nintendo burn their cash on hand on something they're no longer good at?

I wouldn't advise that sort of thing, no, but I'm only stating the idea on paper. Obviously continuous failures would lead to a LOT OF INTERNAL RESTRUCTURING, and that's not something anyone can really predict.
 
I think they would try again, but it would put immense pressure on them from their investors to sell out in many more ways.
 

OCD Guy

Member
I think Nintendo will eventually turn into a toy company again.

I honestly can't ever see them turning into a third party devoloper making games for other hardware. I could also imagine if they were developing for several platforms, some of that "Nintendo Polish" would disappear.

But I think from what Reggie often says, they don't see themselves in the same "game" as Microsoft and Sony. They're aware now that they can't (or rather don't want to) compete in the spec war, or splashing out millions on third party exclusivity.

Regardless of how well the hardware sells, each generation Nintendo provide some of the greatest games ever made for me personally.
 

Burai

shitonmychest57
They have enough money to deal with it.

They really don't. As we saw with RIM/Blackberry, once people don't buy your products from one cycle to the next you burn through cash reserves really, really quickly. That along with the loss of outside investors and you start looking like Sega really damn quickly.

A war chest is there for a cash injection in case of a dire emergency. You can't live off of it long term.
 

Hakai

Member
To me it's their last shot at this, if it fails, they will move forward doing something else.

The biggest issue to Nintendo right now is mind share, as Kyle Bosman says "No one in this industry respects Nintendo."
 
They have the cash reserves. Remember, with the Wii U/early cycle 3DS combo debacle it was the first time in company history that they ever lost money.

Just pointing out a peeve, though you obviously meant only their video game industry era company, Nintendo's been near bankruptcy several times further in the past.
 

P44

Member
If it happens, I'd like to see Apple buy Nintendo. I always thought the two would complement each other well and would work as one company.

As much as I know everyone would love to see Nintendo go third party, I think 3 platform providers+ PC is best for diversity in the industry.

It will never happen though.

Realistically, depending on how much of a hit their finances take, they will just try again.

If the market shares, the attach rates were more even I would agree, but I feel like the reality is for the majority of gamers is Nintendo having little to no effect on their gaming experience - most people can't, or won't buy multiple systems.
 
They'll change their business model to become a software only company, license out their IPs, become a toy or a movie company. There are many options, putting out another console probably isn't one of them.
 
They'd give up on home consoles, and go all in on the handheld/mobile market, while expanding the business into other ventures.

Honestly, I see them sooner simply abandoning games altogether than ever going third party.
 
Gaffers,

I was thinking yesterday about the future of Nintendo. It seems the NX will not be very powerful, probably less robust than scorpio and Neo. Some people are saying it will be compatible with regular xboxone/ps4.

That will probably be a bad thing, since it might not attract a lot of 3rd parties or ports once the next generation kicks in in 3 years.

Unless they have something unique game-play wise that will attract the casuals back, there is a high chance it will flop just like wii u, since the Nintendo hardcore fan base will not be enough (see wii u sales)

If that happens, what Nintendo would do? Will they stop making hardware, and focus on software only for other companies (or focus just on portable gaming)? Or they will go back to the drawing board and try a different hardware with more horsepower and less gimmicks (gamecube era)?
Will Nintendo ever have the 3rd party support back ?

Thanks

If the technology for the NX is forward-compatible, Nintendo can try again with another variation of the hardware (think what they did with the GCN --> Wii, but with faster refreshes and even more flexibility.)
 

Pie and Beans

Look for me on the local news, I'll be the guy arrested for trying to burn down a Nintendo exec's house.
I honestly can't ever see them turning into a third party devoloper making games for other hardware.
It's already happened with more to come this year.
jb2bRHb.jpg
 
I don't think anything would change, honestly. They'd probably just try again using the same mindset and tactics except with a somewhat different product.
 

OCD Guy

Member
license out their IPs,

I can't ever see that happeneing. Also I think their games would be shit. No other developer could produce what Nintendo do.

I'm not shitting on other developers, of course there are some amazing developers out there, but Nintendo have a magical touch.
 
Nintendo will make bigger games like Zelda and Mario Kart 8 but because the NX will be underpowered (far below PS4 Neo and Xbox One S, ridiculously far below PS5 and Scorpio) and based on gimmicks again, third parties will still not care. They will try to have it be what they wanted the Wii U to be - "hardcore" games from Nintendo, mixed with "casual" games that use the console's gimmicks, to attract both Nintendo fans & casual players.

It will not work because mobile has done enough to captivate the casual public and Nintendo is not willing to fully commit themselves to mobile gaming. NX will be like the GameCube - lots of great, creative, ambitious games from Nintendo but nothing from third party developers and overall everyone thinks it is a joke.

Nintendo will certainly not recover from the Wii U's losses with the NX. They will either (from most to least likely):

- decide to compete with the Xbox and Playstation for once
- allow their IPs to be used by other companies
- go full-on mobile
- drop out of the console race
 
They'd give up on home consoles, and go all in on the handheld/mobile market, while expanding the business into other ventures.

Honestly, I see them sooner simply abandoning games altogether than ever going third party.

I honestly believe this as well

The WiiU might have been a slight failure, but Nintendo are still coming off of successes with the 3DS and Amiibos just rocketing to the moon.

Their next gen would have to perform WORSE than the WiiU (never going to happen), and if they did for whatever reason leave the home console race they will just move their business in another direction. We will never see Nintendo making games for a Sony or Microsoft console, and probably not the PC.
 

Bl@de

Member
They will continue selling Amibos and invest in things like amusment parks, spin-offs, mobile games etc.. They will not suddenly change and say "8 TFlops, GTA6 exclusive, all the third partieeeeeeees". They will sell the console at a proft but won't go crazy.
 

OCD Guy

Member
It's already happened with more to come this year.
jb2bRHb.jpg

I wouldn't count what they have planned for mobile as the same as producing Mario Galaxy 3 for PS4.

I'm aware of the likes of Miitomo, but Nintendo have specifically made it clear that the experiences on mobile will be very different to what you would find on a Nintendo console.

I don't in anyway think that it's a sign of them potentially making their traditional games on Microsoft and Sony consoles, but then again at the time who ever thought Sega would make a game on a Nintendo console.....
 

JoeM86

Member
Too many people place home consoles to be the primary part of Nintendo's business, but it really isn't and has never really been since 1989.

Yeah it's a big bit, but Nintendo hasn't been "failing" the past few years, the Wii U has. The 3DS has done really well in the face of smartphones.

So, basically this is bang on:
1. A hopefully in-depth analysis of what went wrong AGAIN this time
2. Lesson learning
3. More mobile games to grab cash
4. Double down on the handheld part
5. Move on to the next system
6. Countless "Nintendo doomed" cries and "Nintendo 3rd party"-beggars

Not sure about the timing in the list, but that should sum it up.
 
There will always been room for a Nintendo console as long as it's cheap and rugged and suitable for young children. A high end Nintendo console? Good luck with that.
 

Plinko

Wildcard berths that can't beat teams without a winning record should have homefield advantage
The "third party" stuff is ludicrous at this point.

1. Pachter says they have enough money to weather at least one more console flop, if not two.
2. They're finally releasing games on mobile, which should be another cashflow.
3. They're finally licensing IPs, which should be another cashflow.

They'll be ok for the near future. I don't think we'd see any hints at third party stuff for a decade, and even then who knows. Those wishing for them to go third party don't even understand what actually would happen to the company at that point.
 
I'm not so sure they are all that flush with cash as people think.
Didn't the Yamauchi family withdraw their capital (via stock buy back)?
 
1. A hopefully in-depth analysis of what went wrong AGAIN this time
2. Lesson learning
3. More mobile games to grab cash
4. Double down on the handheld part
5. Move on to the next system
6. Countless "Nintendo doomed" cries and "Nintendo 3rd party"-beggars

Not sure about the timing in the list, but that should sum it up.

A new console I can only see if they shift strategy heavily. I mean nintendo has been making slim profits lately but I can't see them continuously throwing money into a strategy that hasn't worked for them. If NX fails I could see some serious talks about ditching the console business happening, not sure if they'd do it, but it would be interesting to see what the company transitions too.
 

Eolz

Member
Forever teetering on the edge of doom isn't something to be smug about.

I was joking about how people say this kind of stuff since more than 20 years now.
They're not "on the edge of doom", as much as some are hoping for it.
 

0racle

Member
Look, im not shit posting but being after playing games for 30 years and having almost every console in that time period I feel I can call it what it is.

This will flop.

Nintendo is out of touch. They will have to do a complete 180 and entirely change in order to have a chance to compete, and even if they did that they would more than likely fail due to sony/ms having deep roots in the marketshare.

They have been on the decline since thr N64. I have no shame in realising their console days are done. Hand-held market is their thing. Stick with that and all is good.
 
I'm not so sure they are all that flush with cash as people think.
Didn't the Yamauchi family withdraw their capital (via stock buy back)?

They aren't at the 10 billion high they were before the Wii U. Because of the stock buybacks, buying smaller tech firms, building new offices, buying interests in other areas, making new development groups and even investing in theme parks, all while shouldering more than 3 years of losses and the alleged warchest is now down to.... somewhere around 4 billion.
 
I was joking about how people say this kind of stuff since more than 20 years now.
They're not "on the edge of doom", as much as some are hoping for it.

"Doom" is a silly word for it, but they're far from great atm. They have tons of money on hand, but they aren't going to continue a using strategy for a decade. Not sure what they'd be doing if the NX flops, but they'd be smart to get out of consoles, and if they one after that flops then I'd say it's basically guaranteed.
 

jdmonmou

Member
Nintendo needs to figure out how to attract back and keep 3rd party developers to its platform. If they can't do that they really need to get out of the hardware business and become just a publisher. It'd be very sad for Nintendo to leave the console business. We need as much competition as we can in that area to keep Microsoft and Sony from implementing anti-consumer plans.
 
In five years they'll make another weak console with a new gimmick.
Most likely 2 or 3 years, and they can be very flexible with the power. Nintendo could probably easily make a NX+ like the Neo/Scorpio or beyond if they want to. This is assuming that the architecture is as flexible as it may be.
 

OCD Guy

Member
L
This will flop.

Nintendo is out of touch. They will have to do a complete 180 and entirely change in order to have a chance to compete, and even if they did that they would more than likely fail due to sony/ms having deep roots in the marketshare.

That's the thing though, apparently Nintendo are "doomed" regardless of what they do.

You get people saying they need to release a powerful console with no gimmicks to compete, but then people turn round and say they'd still fail.

So I'd love to hear from someone that can state explicitly what Nintendo need to do to have a successful home console?

While I'm not a fan of gimmicks, I think that's their best option. There are more non-gamers than there are gamers, and if they can find another way of getting the non-gamers attention they'll be successful.

Here's a fun wager, I bet the NX sells more units than PSVR....
 
How many times can they try though? Sega tried twice.

The thing about Nintendo is they don't need to sell 100 million home consoles to be profitable. If they sell 12 million home consoles and remain profitable throughout that time, why would they not release another console and try to capture more of the market while continuing to turn a profit?
 
Look, im not shit posting but being after playing games for 30 years and having almost every console in that time period I feel I can call it what it is.

This will flop.

Nintendo is out of touch. They will have to do a complete 180 and entirely change in order to have a chance to compete, and even if they did that they would more than likely fail due to sony/ms having deep roots in the marketshare.

They have been on the decline since thr N64. I have no shame in realising their console days are done. Hand-held market is their thing. Stick with that and all is good.

A complete 180 to what tho? What would you have them change? Producing a more powerful traditional console isn't a 180, it's not like they've been actively avoiding that.

I would also not say they have been on the decline since the N64. The Wii was a ridiculous commercial success and the Gamecube and WiiU, while they both sold below expectations, still sold units and are very solid machines with good libraries.

That's not even including their GBA/DS/3DS successes
 
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