Pokemon is still gold, and Mario Kart always sells, but Nintendo can't succeed by trotting out their tired franchises over and over. They need something like a Minecraft that can capture the imagination of the younger generation, and make it a must have. Mario isn't going to do it, and neither is Zelda.
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Analyst: Nintendo sold 55,000 Wii Us in March, 85,000 Wiis
- Thread starter ClovingWestbrook
- Start date
ok that makes sense thanks
PS1 had major franchises like Final Fantasy and Metal Gear Solid. PS2 had new hit franchises like Grand Theft Auto. Those franchises aren't going to be on the Wii U but they will be going to Playstation and Xbox. Software advantage doesn't help Wii U because Sony and Microsoft are going to have the software advantage.
There was a major paradigm shift regarding third party exclusivity last generation. Development costs skyrocketed while porting costs as a proportion of development costs plunged. Xbox, which in prior generations, didn't get much third party support, was able to get Final Fantasy XIII, Grand Theft Auto IV and will get Metal Gear Solid V as day and date releases while the Wii didn't. Third parties avoided the Wii because it costs too much money to retool their games to run on Wii and even when they did, it sold less than on PS3 and Xbox 360. Remember how Iwata said that people bought the Wii as their secondary console? If people own a Wii and one of PS3 and Xbox 360, they wouldn't want to buy the Wii version which would be an inferior port.
The same thing is going to happen the next generation where big franchises that helped the PS1 and PS2 beat Nintendo despite the power gap are still going to go to PS4 and Xbox instead of Nintendo. Nintendo is going to have the same software disadvantage that they had during the PS1 and PS2 generations. In terms of software support, Wii U isn't the PS2 to the PS4's GameCube, the Wii U is the GameCube to the PS4's PS2, but now has a massive power disadvantage in addition to the software disadvantage.
Kids I know rather play with Ipad than Wii. and all those kids already have smartphones (damn those rich parents. -_-), and texting and photo sharing seems far funnier to them than playing mario kart.
But what do I know? I don't have kids.
we're talking about kids. kids haven't been playing their games for the last two decades. nintendo is more like marvel or disney with this shit. you won't hear me saying "you think kids are okay with another Spider-Man reboot? they need something new!". no, because that would be ridiculous. they could reboot Spider Man until the world ends. nintendo can keep making Mario until the world ends.
Smartphones and iPads are the sort of thing you play when you're by yourself. When you go over to a friend's house or to a party, you play local multiplayer console games.
and that local console game doesn't have to be a wii game. As much as I hate kinect, I saw some people had fun with dance central kinect during the party.
But seriously when kids go to the party, they play with some weird... stuffs. especially among girls. They will find the way to play whatever.
A Link to the Past
Banned
The sad thing is that this could have been softened with a little better planning.
shinra-bansho
Member
Simple: Content that isn't perceived as possible on the current generation hardware. Content that will drive a generational transition. Even the Wii provided this, to an extent, with the advent of motion control. Whether the PS4 and next XBOX can do this remains to be seen, sure, but I think it's quite apparent the Wii U does not.
Nintendo have provided a system that neither offers any significant improvement over the current generation performance and doesn't offer a compelling argument for the tablet controller, which to most consumers isn't an innovation.
It is a system that lacks a market. That is why this thread exists.
Right. They haven't. So Mario doesn't have any instinctive appeal to them, and when a lot of them are playing with phones and tablets instead of more traditional handhelds, the gameplay of Mario doesn't have the usual appeal for them either. Nintendo would be better off pushing Animal Crossing on the Wii U than a new Zelda to hook younger kids.
What is the penetration ratio between Just Dance series on Wii and Dance Central, 10:1? Probably more than that. The point being, millions of casuals are still playing on Wii and don't have this bad taste in their mouth you described.
If you put it that way, how about this? They play dance central when they have a party. and how many parties people have a year? 5? So those people who bought the machine, game machine, and play 5 times a year. You cannot play mario kart forever, you know. You can't have party forever either.
Kids play games with their friends and when they enter junior high and friends starts playing COD or Halo or whatever and they can't play with them because they are on Wii, they start to shit on it.
I don't know how old your kids are, but most of teenagers I talked to don't give a shit about Wii anymore.
/thread.
Except not, not that simple. Performance wise Wii U is an improvement enough vs GameCube and Wii. The GamePad is an appealing component that needs to be fed with more games, which we know are coming (we may even have dates today!).
Nintendo will develop must have games for Wii U, and will eventually figure out the right marketing mix. Thread after thread I think you are overracting. These are not unsolvable issues Nintendo is facing. It's a matter of time to market/execution.
it's absolutely not true. Mario has a huge presence.
Not necessarily, because for them to succeed they need to change, that much is obvious.
I bet if Wii U was getting all the third party multi plats as well as a steady stream of old Nintendo IP's as well as Nintendo doing some new, core ones, the Wii U would be doing a LOT better. It's not so much the hardware as the software and features.
That said I still think Nintendo needed to make the machine obviously more powerful than current gen from a pure marketting perspective. If it is, then they needed the games to show it at launch. Knowing you have a machine that's at most marginally better than the current generation, has little third party support (and straight up 'No' about Wii U versions) then expecting early adopters to buy the thing is naive.
Oh I make a distinction between kids and teenagers, we agree on that.
shinra-bansho
Member
These are frankly the same thing: the "Nintendo core," those that need Nintendo's first-party output. And they're already buying the system in their... thousands.
This market has moved on, Nintendo haven't shown anything that would suggest they'll come back.
Yes, those franchises sure made the GameCube and N64 set the world on fire. Again, this is premised on the assumption that everyone necessarily "needs" to play Nintendo's games.
Nintendo doesn't exist in a vacuum.
It's not. Regardless, of your personal view that it's some ground breaking revolution, the rest of world does not give a crap.
By teen, I mean age above 10.
and I don't see kids crying to their parents to get the WiiU. They do cry, however, for new Ipad mini.
freenudemacusers
Member
yep, a $25 case makes the ipad kid proof. I can let my 2 year old poke at it for a few minutes, attempting to very poorly play some duplo games, and snatch it back without worry. I can't imagine this changing much in the next few years.
We'll see, my Nintendo spider senses tell me the future is bright. Off to work, see you in the ND thread.
11 and 12 year olds aren't teenagers...
ProfessorMoran
Member
The kids who grew up playing Mario are now grown men and women, and you have a generation who didn't grow up playing Mario, but instead GTA and COD, Nintendo no longer owns that segment of gamers and those far outnumber the userbase Nintendo is able to tap into, and Nintendo's non-wii fanbase is likely shrinking.
Spiderman is a cool character that can reach the kids, Mario never was.
Mario is still plastered all over toy sections. MK7 was just in the kids choice awards and it came out like 2 years ago. all it takes is a round of advertising to reach the kids. i'd be even more curious how you think kids find out about Mickey Mouse. that guy is even further removed from children than Mario yet most kids know who he is. also what do you think happened the last 5 years as well? GTA and COD? we're just coming down off the Wii and DS which sold massive units to kids.
i was talkin about like 4-9. i didn't even know 2 year olds were supposed to be playing video games
freenudemacusers
Member
I know I'm an awful father
TryHardShounen
Banned
Nintendo needs to cut the crap and just release the "Super Nintendo Ultra" already. *shrug*
Games of all kinds aid cognitive development. If anything, more 2 year olds should be playing videogames.
Poimandres
Member
Kids at that age try to touch/grab everything. Getting feedback for touching a screen on an iPad for a very young child is utterly entrancing! They look confused when other screens don't react to their touch.
I think people underestimate the amount of cash nintendo has. The Wii u could fail, the 3ds could fail (it will not), and the next two consoles nintendo makes could fail and nintendo would still have a few billion in the bank.
Also the sales for the Wii U now look bad compared to a cheaper PS3, 360, and wii. But what if in a year from now these sales are actually considered good when the PS4 and 720 are performing horribly at their $500 prices? Nintendo is pretty smart and the company has proven that it could make significant profit with a low selling console (see GameCube). I wouldn't count them out yet. By looking at the stock price now it seems like investors haven't given up either. I really wish I didn't sell for $13
I don't care about how much cash Nintendo have because the lazy stingy bastards don't like to spend it.
You have to spend money to make money. A bit more R&D in the WiiU dept would have resulted in a timely release with an OS that works...or a console that isn't half baked.
If that's the reason to buy it, you may as well just buy a 3DS and NSMB2 at half the price of the Wii U and NSMBU. Off-TV play isn't really exciting or innovative.
The funniest thing I read about Reggie was when he heard about Tvii and sprung to life. "This is what I know, I'll make this work, I'm really excited about this shit yo! This is my area of expertise!" or words to that effect.
Dude basically said he doesn't give a shit about games and doesn't know jack. We know this, but it's always useful to have it confirm.
Sack this buffoon now. But that won't happen as Iwata has surrounded himself with yes men who don't know what the fuck is going on.
They need to stick Koji Kondo in charge. That dude is ace!
test_account
XP-39C²
I know that several of people dont like Kotick, but what exactly did he do?
Tricky I Shadow
Banned
Because they dont deserve to be successful for half-assing everything.
They got away with it for the Wii and thankfully it backfired this time.....
If you read just a few lines about disruptive innovation, you'd probably realize that Nintendo wasn't just dicking around hoping to be lucky.
Tricky I Shadow
Banned
Whist they were absolutely not as lazy as they are now with the Wii U, I still feel like they cut waaaaaaaaaaaaay too many corners with the Wii.
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.
Theyre paying for it now. I equate the Wii to a teenage student going on a gap year or five to go travelling and meet new people, futz around on beaches, play new sports, and fraternise with parts of society they normally wouldn't. The WiiU is them returning to college or sixth form after the refinement of the internet, creation of the app market, and technology having blazed on in their absence. Theyre woefully behind, and while those memories of beaches and far flung friends are sweet, those people have also returned to their normal lives and its a struggle for WiiU to fit back into its normal life in the year 2013.
Kojima had a sterling quote I keep referencing where by only moving horizontally, you risk losing the chance to keep moving forward for good.
Sato Koiji
Member
Seems like Nintendo is up for a grind job this generation. Wish em' well!
SmokedMeat
Gamer™
My kid's videogame addicted friends who visit stopped playing Wii long ago, and moved on to the 360 and PS3. We know of no one that bought a Wii U.
My nongaming coworkers that bought a Wii for Wii Fit and Sports haven't touched their system in ages. The only gaming they might do now is on their iPad or Smartphone.
So my anecdotal evidence is different than yours, but giving the poor performance of the U, and the sharp decline in Wii sales, I'd say your situation is the minority.
Unknown One
Member
All signs points to that to me.
Slow OS, no proper account system, hardly any games, delayed games. They even wasted those two years between the Wii abandonment to now. This system is half assed.
My kids love Mario and Zelda (I raised 'em right), but it's Minecraft that they talk about at school. Reminds me of when I was a kid swapping Mario or Final Fantasy secrets and myths.
Yup. I see lots of Angry Bird shirts. Where is Mario?
Don't know.
A whole new generation of kids growing up without Mario/Pokemon.
SmokedMeat
Gamer™
I think hardware is a big part of it. The first people that rush out for new hardware are the diehard gamers, and Nintendo has failed to capture even them. Had they released a system that was at least a "Dreamcast" in being a clear leap over current systems, it would be faring far better and would have more interest from gamers who want something that's beyond what they've owned for the past 7yrs.
Of course the games are also a big factor and Nintendo has failed in glorious fashion by not preparing anything for their new console. It's mind boggling that a company that's been doing this longer than any of the current players has forgotten how to launch a new videogame system.
Tricky I Shadow
Banned
I was actually thinking of this the other day. Here in Australia I see heaps of kids wearing Angry Birds shirts and hardly any wearing Mario.
Angry Birds this, Angry Birds that! It kinda depresses me that Angry Birds seems to be the Mario for this generation of kids. Just blah! -__-
Can we really blame kids for, currently, liking Angry Bird more than Mario? Mario is not, officially, on tablets and smartphones like Angry Birds. It's a consequence of being a franchise tied to it's companies hardware. Not that this is a bad thing by itself, I don't have numbers, but I think Mario is still, overall, more profitable than the Angry Bird brand, and more likely to remain consistent, since I doubt the Angry Birds brand is going to last many years.
That said, I do think the Mario brand has potential to become more know and generate more income from merchandise than currently is. They could take some pages from the book that the Pokémon Company is reading.
That said, I do think the Mario brand has potential to become more know and generate more income from merchandise than currently is. They could take some pages from the book that the Pokémon Company is reading.
Of course you see it that way, you're one of the biggest optimistic Nintendo fanboy I've ever seen on GAF.
ProtomanNeo
Member
One thing I've never understood is why Nintendo has not leveraged their handheld success into consoles more. Out of box, no add on, you should be to play or stream games through system to your TV. As well as have access to the handheld VC on the home console.
BolognaSoup
Member
Maybe they need to team up and create Angry Birds: Mario Land for the Nintendo consoles.
*shutters*