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[hydragonwarrior]

I'm sorry, but this is a poor excuse. It completely disregards the heap of mistakes Iwata has made that are COMPLETELY independent of the success of the mobile industry.

The Wii U is a travesty of a device with no clear focus, terrible marketing, no system selling games, poor 3rd party support that Nintendo continue to not fight for, a price too high for what it is, a laughably shitty OS, and an expensive controller gimmick that's practically DOA.

These are ALL fuckups that Nintendo can blame on nobody but Iwata's poor leadership and complete lack of vision. Not the burgeoning mobile industry, not the resurgence of PC gaming, not the bad economy. Iwata.

That being said, the massive success of the Wii is probably what is keeping him afloat in the company and why the higher ups are still OK with a wait and see for the results. I mean, because of Iwata the Wii was successful, so you have to look at it that way too.

I'm thinking he just really forgot about how to sell a new console aside from introducing something "different."

 

[Imm0rt4l]

4: Japan is where Nintendo is located

Having such a myopic view isn't good business

 

[Kimawolf]

I can only assume their absolute silence on the Wii U and the nonexistant PR for the system and games tells me they are either completely lost, and most likely someone's head will roll, or some people's quite soon, or they are gearing up for one major push to try to right the ship.

 

[Shikamaru Ninja]

Good Things Iwata has been involved with.
+ Almost single handedly drafted the idea of Brain Age, and went to Dr. Kawashima himself to acquire the license and concept. Then created the internal Nintendo teams that would develop Brain Age, English Training, DS Dictionary, and all those mega successful Touch Generation games.
+ Iwata Asks
+ Nintendo Direct
+ Expand EAD to Tokyo. (But what about Osaka and Sapporo?)
+ Purchased Monolith Soft.
+ Salvaged ND Cube

Bad Things Iwata has been involved with.
- Destroyed Nintendo of America's self government.
- Over empowered Shigeru Miyamoto. Miyamoto has mismanaged EAD Division's scheduling and concepts on several occasions.
- Poorly managed Western first-party productions and localization approval
- Virtual Console horrible management
- Failed to expand Overall R&D at a sufficient rate
- Western R&D management

I'm not even touching the hardware decisions.

 

[ambientmystic]

Iwata needs to go, and NOA needs Howard Lincoln again

Problem is, even if they have another Howard Lincoln again, times have changed.

Nintendo doesn't have that all powerful monopoly to leverage against the publishers like they did during's Lincoln's reign of power in the NOA. They can't adopt a combative attitude against 3rd parties like they used to and they most definitely can't fuck them over like Lincoln did in the past in Nintendo's favour.

 

[Scum]

Good Things Iwata has been involved with.
+ Almost single handedly drafted the idea of Brain Age, and went to Dr. Kawashima himself to acquire the license and concept. Then created the internal Nintendo teams that would develop Brain Age, English Training, DS Dictionary, and all those mega successful Touch Generation games.
+ Iwata Asks
+ Nintendo Direct
+ Expand EAD to Tokyo. (But what about Osaka and Sapporo?)
+ Purchased Monolith Soft.
+ Salvaged ND Cube

Bad Things Iwata has been involved with.
- Destroyed Nintendo of America's self government.
- Over empowered Shigeru Miyamoto. Miyamoto has mismanaged EAD Division's scheduling and concepts on several occasions.
- Poorly managed Western first-party productions and localization approval
- Virtual Console horrible management
- Failed to expand Overall R&D at a sufficient rate
- Western R&D management

I'm not even touching the hardware decisions.

So he needs to bring in his fancy ideas of the East over to the West. I'd like to see NoE and NoA gain some independence and setup their own development studios.

 

[Kimawolf]

Problem is, even if they have another Howard Lincoln again, times have changed.

Nintendo doesn't have that all powerful monopoly to leverage against the publishers like they did during's Lincoln's reign of power in the NOA. They can't adopt a combative attitude against 3rd parties like they used to and they most definitely can't fuck them over like Lincoln did in the past in Nintendo's favour.

Maybe not with 3rd parties currently. but I bet he'd at least have some kind of support there. If traditional 3rd parties don't want to play, you better damn well bet he'd have others in to fill their place, and I bet the advertising would also be different. Bottom line as a business you need to show them that hey, you don't want to play that's fine, we'll find others. because im sure there are plenty of smaller, hungry developers and studios who'd like the chance to shine.

i think partially he's trying to do something like that with his indie outreach, which i also think is their admittance they can't get the legacy 3rd parties so they go after someone else. Epic doesn't want to play ball, they go for another engine to try to help, so they are trying, and I think their plans will pay off, just not this generation.

 

[Refreshment.01]

I don't think anyone at Nintendo is more capable than Iwata. Swap him for other one and i think could be a lot worse, the problem lies in the company's culture and how antiquated it is.

 

[JordanN]

Good Things Iwata has been involved with.
+ Almost single handedly drafted the idea of Brain Age, and went to Dr. Kawashima himself to acquire the license and concept. Then created the internal Nintendo teams that would develop Brain Age, English Training, DS Dictionary, and all those mega successful Touch Generation games.
+ Iwata Asks
+ Nintendo Direct
+ Expand EAD to Tokyo. (But what about Osaka and Sapporo?)
+ Purchased Monolith Soft.
+ Salvaged ND Cube

Bad Things Iwata has been involved with.
- Destroyed Nintendo of America's self government.
- Over empowered Shigeru Miyamoto. Miyamoto has mismanaged EAD Division's scheduling and concepts on several occasions.
- Poorly managed Western first-party productions and localization approval
- Virtual Console horrible management
- Failed to expand Overall R&D at a sufficient rate
- Western R&D management

I'm not even touching the hardware decisions.

Iwata seems like a person who doesn't need CEO powers.

I still think he could stick around with the company but in some other form.

Maybe build a small room for him to stay in where he can conduct Nintendo Directs and Iwata Asks 24/7.

 

[Shiggy]

I don't think anyone at Nintendo is more capable than Iwata. Swap him for other one and i think could be a lot worse, the problem lies in the company's culture and how antiquated it is.

I don't think it's the middle manager's call to say "hey, let's just do Mario games" or "hey, let's just make another Animal Crossing or NSMB that plays exactly like the one we just finished". That's probably rather part of the corporate strategy. I mean, NST tried to do a lot of Wii projects but they were all torpedoed by Japanese managers until pretty much everyone capable of Wii development had left.
Still, the entire corporate structure seems to be too hierarchical to some extent, but that's also a problem Iwata would need to tackle then.


Sometimes it's just better to have a business person in charge rather than a former developer without much experience in managing such a huge company (Edit: I retract this statement as Iwata had long management experience with HAL and has also worked for Nintendo in a managing position). In this case, the entire board has failed though.

 

[jineha]

I don't think anyone at Nintendo is more capable than Iwata. Swap him for other one and i think could be a lot worse, the problem lies in the company's culture and how antiquated it is.

I think Iwata respects the company's culture and Miyamoto too much. Since he was outsider, he seems to want to be "a real Nintendo guy"

 

[NotLiquid]

I don't think it's the middle manager's call to say "hey, let's just do Mario games" or "hey, let's just make another Animal Crossing or NSMB that plays exactly like the one we just finished". That's probably rather part of the corporate strategy. I mean, NST tried to do a lot of Wii projects but they were all torpedoed by Japanese managers until pretty much everyone capable of Wii development had left.

Sometimes it's just better to have a business person in charge rather than a former developer without much experience in managing such a huge company. In this case, the entire board has failed though.

To be fair I think any other business-centered CEO would assume that a new console would have to launch with a new entry within one of Nintendo's flagship titles. But having something like NSMBU literally months after a game in that exact series is released on a more popular platform with not many differences is bound to cause franchise fatigue at this point.

Iwata having a developer background behind him is a good quality a CEO should have and in it's defense it's yielded some fantastic titles, developments and experiences that haven't been seen before he was at the helm. The problem I see is he has some good ideas with bad ways of doing them, and sometimes it becomes too much.

I'm honestly inclined to believe that Nintendo doesn't need a new CEO; Iwata just needs a wingman to whip him into shape. Strengthening NOA's influence would be a start.

 

[royalan]

I don't think anyone at Nintendo is more capable than Iwata. Swap him for other one and i think could be a lot worse, the problem lies in the company's culture and how antiquated it is.

Honestly, if this is true then Nintendo is fucked, because Iwata is a terrible CEO at the moment and for the forseeable future.

And, to be fair to him, it should come as no surprise to us. Iwata is a game designer from a small Japanese studio. He's never had to deal with global side of Nintendo's business, so of COURSE Nintendo's regional divisions would suffer under his leadership. He has no fucking clue about the industry outside of Japan and he proves it time and time again.

I think that are more capable people already present at Nintendo. Who are the people that have had to deal with Ninty's global affairs? That's where you'll find them.

 

[thomasmahler]

They're the most Japanese-centric out of any major Japanese gaming company right now.

Their primary audience first and foremost is Japan.

So at the moment they're outsourcing Western development. To that end, they have funded SiNG Party and LEGO City Undercover, with more Western titles to come.

It also helps that Mario is a global brand...that appeals to all territories.

Nintendos audience is definitely not primarily Japan. Nintendos audience is - and has been for a long time - the whole word ages 3 - 99.

 

[Risette]

Honestly, if this is true then Nintendo is fucked, because Iwata is a terrible CEO at the moment and for the forseeable future.

And, to be fair to him, it should come as no surprise to us. Iwata is a game designer from a small Japanese studio. He's never had to deal with global side of Nintendo's business, so of COURSE Nintendo's regional divisions would suffer under his leadership. He has no fucking clue about the industry outside of Japan and he proves it time and time again.

I think that are more capable people already present at Nintendo. Who are the people that have had to deal with Ninty's global affairs? That's where you'll find them.

Is that guy who runs NoE any good

 

[Aquamarine]

Nintendos audience is definitely not primarily Japan. Nintendos audience is - and has been for a long time - the whole word ages 3 - 99.

Take a closer look at their recent game output. You will see a distinct lack of "Westernized" titles than you would with Sony 1st-party.

 

[Petrae]

I get that Mr. Iwata is a swell guy. Likable. Sincere.

He's also presided over two consecutive awful platform releases, one of which took a major price drop and giving away free ROMs to turn around. The other is in danger of being shunned by most third-party publishers and will have to contend with two new and potentially more relevant competitors in a short while.

You have to look at the man in charge when stuff like this happens. Why were Nintendo's development teams unable to complete their Wii U projects after more than 2 years? Why has the marketing for Wii U been either terrible or non-existent? Why are we just now starting to see more 3DS games hitting outside of Japan? Why is Nintendo content to let third-party relations disintegrate?

Iwata is the man in charge. Wii and DS were successes under his watch, but those are history-- in the past. What Iwata's Nintendo has done more recently is to see losses building, hardware not selling, and doubts that Nintendo can return to form.

If Iwata doesn't go, someone else should... and he needs to be held accountable. No more "please understand" begging. Get this stuff fixed.

If he does go, Nintendo needs to clean house, starting with its US subsidiary. Reggie Fils-Aime could get away with being a badass when Nintendo was on top, but these days, he's more combative and defensive than confident and understanding. Not to mention his penchant for being less than truthful on camera.

But that's another story.

 

[Somnid]

Honestly, if this is true then Nintendo is fucked, because Iwata is a terrible CEO at the moment and for the forseeable future.

And, to be fair to him, it should come as no surprise to us. Iwata is a game designer from a small Japanese studio. He's never had to deal with global side of Nintendo's business, so of COURSE Nintendo's regional divisions would suffer under his leadership. He has no fucking clue about the industry outside of Japan and he proves it time and time again.

I think that are more capable people already present at Nintendo. Who are the people that have had to deal with Ninty's global affairs? That's where you'll find them.

Except no existing publisher or platform holder has the same sort of global reach and appeal as Nintendo and no Western publisher carries the same weight even in the West. What this would essentially boil down to is that Nintendo doesn't have enough shooters or target the 12-35 male audience strongly enough (because that's what every western publisher does), a valid complaint but also missing the forest for the trees.

 

[Megalosaro]

Iwata needs to go, and NOA needs Howard Lincoln again

It's Lincoln's fault Nintendo has such shitty relations with 3rd parties. He thought he could get away with bullying, but the moment a viable option opened up all of them jumped ship

 

[Fourth Storm]

Iwata seems like a person who doesn't need CEO powers.

I still think he could stick around with the company but in some other form.

Maybe build a small room for him to stay in where he can conduct Nintendo Directs and Iwata Asks 24/7.

Would be nice, but I don't see it happening. Imagine the shame. If anything, both he and Miyamoto need to go back to leading individual teams. It doesn't matter if they are large or small productions - whatever they want to do. Just let them do what they do best: make games.

 

[thomasmahler]

Take a closer look at their recent game output. You will see a distinct lack of "Westernized" titles than you would with Sony 1st-party.

Yeah, games like Mario, Zelda, Fire Emblem, Luigis Mansion, etc. really only work for japanese people.

Sony First Party simply also directly employ western studios like Santa Monica.

 

[VAPitts]

Ask Iwata

Good Things Iwata has been involved with.
+ Almost single handedly drafted the idea of Brain Age, and went to Dr. Kawashima himself to acquire the license and concept. Then created the internal Nintendo teams that would develop Brain Age, English Training, DS Dictionary, and all those mega successful Touch Generation games.
+ Iwata Asks
+ Nintendo Direct
+ Expand EAD to Tokyo. (But what about Osaka and Sapporo?)
+ Purchased Monolith Soft.
+ Salvaged ND Cube

Bad Things Iwata has been involved with.
- Destroyed Nintendo of America's self government.
- Over empowered Shigeru Miyamoto. Miyamoto has mismanaged EAD Division's scheduling and concepts on several occasions.
- Poorly managed Western first-party productions and localization approval
- Virtual Console horrible management
- Failed to expand Overall R&D at a sufficient rate
- Western R&D management

I'm not even touching the hardware decisions.

this is why i love this forum. even the local experts start spouting out nonsense like the rest of the buffoons on this thread.

 

[BlazinAm]

Nintendos audience is definitely not primarily Japan. Nintendos audience is - and has been for a long time - the whole word ages 3 - 99.

The thing that the PS3 and xbox 360 had going for it when they first came out was that people were interested in the platform but the right combos of price drops and game releases moved many to purchase those devices. The wiiU doesn't the appeal of the wii nor any of those consoles so where does it really fit?

Yeah, games like Mario, Zelda, Fire Emblem, Luigis Mansion, etc. really only work for japanese people.

Sony First Party simply also directly employ western studios like Santa Monica.

What are you doing?

 

[royalan]

Except no existing publisher or platform holder has the same sort of global reach and appeal as Nintendo and no Western publisher carries the same weight even in the West. What this would essentially boil down to is that Nintendo doesn't have enough shooters or target the 12-35 male audience strongly enough (because that's what every western publisher does), a valid complaint but also missing the forest for the trees.

I didn't say that, nor did I imply it.

It doesn't matter what type of games at this point. It has become exceedingly clear with the Wii U that Nintendo does not factor in the West when making important decisions for their global business and they need to, especially since Iwata has acknowledged that Nintendo both needs and wants that support.

 

[Refreshment.01]

Honestly, if this is true then Nintendo is fucked, because Iwata is a terrible CEO at the moment and for the forseeable future.

I see Iwata as a CEO that has to cope with a radical different market (3DS/On the go gaming) and a terrible product (Wii U). No one dared to question his competence in the Wii golden years.

Does Iwata harness enough power to downright say something in the lines of: "We are not going with the Wii U", cook something else. A device similar in concept to the Wii U was gestating for quite some time at Nintendo. That's what i concluded by watching some little hints throw here and there in some interviews.

 

[Shikamaru Ninja]

this is why i love this forum. even the local experts start spouting out nonsense like the rest of the buffoons on this thread.

Counter a point if you like instead of labeling it erroneous. That was a balance sheet pretty much. 6 positive things and 6 negative things I felt Iwata was involved with. Not sure what more objectivity a person with opinions can present. Shouldn't you be allowed to point out good and bad? Or should discussion be routed to a one way street of adoration.

 

[TreasureHunterG]

this is why i love this forum. even the local experts start spouting out nonsense like the rest of the buffoons on this thread.

 

[royalan]

this is why i love this forum. even the local experts start spouting out nonsense like the rest of the buffoons on this thread.

Great insight. Very comprehensive.

 

[Kai Dracon]

If we're talking about how Nintendo lacks "westernized" titles, I think the real talk is: Nintendo lacks titles aimed very explicitly at a narrow but profitable audience of 20-30 year old western male players.

Otherwise, there's truth in the idea that Nintendo targets everyone else, ages 8 to 80.

The problem they face is the home game console business in the west has become dominated by homogenized titles aimed at that thin slice of game customers. Moreover, the consoles themselves put all priorities on design and hardware to benefit games aimed at what that audience wants.

 

[Shikamaru Ninja]

Otherwise, there's truth in the idea that Nintendo targets everyone else, ages 8 to 80

Right, here is the inherent problem. Nintendo has such a varied and wide diameter of a demographic, yet they hold on to this ancient philosophy that games only require ONE STANDARDIZED DIFFICULTY. Games like The Legend of Zelda have suffered from this greatly. You just can't design a 3D Mario or Zelda game the same way for new users and old experienced veterans without any difficulty options.

 

[Knux-Future]

Why is this thread bumped after every direct? It is literally the same arguments.

Nintendo doesn't do this

Or they should do this!

No 3rd party support

Relying too much on nostalgia

No new ips

Like seriously guys? No new ground at all lol

 

[mclem]

If we're talking about how Nintendo lacks "westernized" titles, I think the real talk is: Nintendo lacks titles aimed very explicitly at a narrow but profitable audience of 20-30 year old western male players.

Otherwise, there's truth in the idea that Nintendo targets everyone else, ages 8 to 80.

The problem they face is the home game console business in the west has become dominated by homogenized titles aimed at that thin slice of game customers. Moreover, the consoles themselves put all priorities on design and hardware to benefit games aimed at what that audience wants.

Yeah, I'd agree with that. The challenge right now is that that 20-30year old audience is being squeezed *very* tightly. It is absolutely possible to make a significant profit by targetting that group - but there's only space for a few titles to do so... and unfortunately, that group does appear to be one that is particularly swayed by the production values that high budgets bring to the table, making planning a project to appeal to them is a pretty dangerous situation; high-risk, high-reward. And if the budgets get much higher, the pool of money that group has to hand is going to have to be split into fewer larger chunks

The games industry, in my eyes, *absolutely* needs to target other audiences. IF you can encompass the 20-30 year olds in the process, so much the better. I think Nintendo's *strategy* in that regard is actually much more sensible than the companies who are going all-out at the existing marketmany ... they're just not being particularly *successful* at it!

 

[Thunder Monkey]

Having such a myopic view isn't good business

Generally no.

It's led to some moments of genius though.

Is that enough?

 

[royalan]

If we're talking about how Nintendo lacks "westernized" titles, I think the real talk is: Nintendo lacks titles aimed very explicitly at a narrow but profitable audience of 20-30 year old western male players.

Otherwise, there's truth in the idea that Nintendo targets everyone else, ages 8 to 80.

The problem they face is the home game console business in the west has become dominated by homogenized titles aimed at that thin slice of game customers. Moreover, the consoles themselves put all priorities on design and hardware to benefit games aimed at what that audience wants.

That very narrow market is larger than all of Japan. Nintendo knows it AND wants a piece of the action.

Also, let's stop downplaying female gamers and the fact that children are becoming accustomed to playing Western games like Call of Duty and Uncharted and not just the latest Mario or Pokemon.

You're ignoring an overall MASSIVE market if you brush aside the West as just "20-30 males," even if that IS a dominant demographic.

 

[JrBaconCheeseburger]

That is a high goal and they better start releasing big games on the Wii U.


I need Nintendo HD games.

 

[cosmicblizzard]

Right, here is the inherent problem. Nintendo has such a varied and wide diameter of a demographic, yet they hold on to this ancient philosophy that games only require ONE STANDARDIZED DIFFICULTY. Games like The Legend of Zelda have suffered from this greatly. You just can't design a 3D Mario or Zelda game the same way for new users and old experienced veterans without any difficulty options.

That's not some all encompassing-rule for Nintendo games. You play Fire Emblem: Awakening? Pretty big range there.

Also, you could say the guided playthroughs kind of fixes this.

 

[mclem]

Having such a myopic view isn't good business

Endlessly targetting the 20-30 high-risk high-reward bracket is kinda myopic too.

 

[Thunder Monkey]

Endlessly targetting the 20-30 high-risk high-reward bracket is kinda myopic too.

Definitely.

But right now that's where the perceived money is. When other markets become the money grabbers expect a sea change.

 

[Knux-Future]

That very narrow market is larger than all of Japan. Nintendo knows it AND wants a piece of the action.

Also, let's stop downplaying female gamers and the fact that children are becoming accustomed to playing Western games like Call of Duty and Uncharted and not just the latest Mario or Pokemon.

You're ignoring an overall MASSIVE market if you brush aside the West as just "20-30 males," even if that IS a dominant demographic.

Well to be honest...

No devs really tap into the female gamers that well...if anything Nintendo might be the best...by default.

Secondly, Nintendo does quite well with the kids. The common thought is that all kids want is the new COD...which isn't the full story...A lot of kids still get hyped by Mario and Sonic.

Nintendo however has failed to catch the gamers that are grown up...basically they didn't age with their initial customer base...which is good and bad. It's good because they won't go the Capcom route of grimdarking everything up and making it mad western yo....it's bad because a lot of the new audience also is interested in experiences Nintendo just doesn't offer.

Nintendo can do so much better....mainly with the Wii U. The 3ds has really delivered for me as of late and I wasn't even big into handhelds (I bought my 3DS for cheap). Hopefully the can figure out something for the Wii U too.

I also find it hillarious that some think they should focus more on the West when that is the same shit Capcom gets dinged for. For all of Capcom's fuckery, they have focused on the West a hell of a lot...and it hasn't exactly worked...nor has it worked for Square or Namco.

Maybe the Japanese Companies...should try to do what they do best..to the fullest. Not saying go crazy and release Japanese only stuff but over focusing on the West when that isn't their strength is foolish and only leads to Fan outrage and bombas. You can't make something for someone you don't fully understand and probably never will without it coming off a trying too hard.

 

[Iacobellis]

Second half of the year is gonna make or break the Wii U.

 

[mclem]

Second half of the year is gonna make or break the Wii U.

I reckon first half of next year will be key, culminating at next year's E3. In part the future of the Wii U may be defined by how the PS4 and Durango do at launch, and how reliable revenues are on them, and we're not going to get feedback on that for a while.

 

[royalan]

Well to be honest...

No devs really tap into the female gamers that well...if anything Nintendo might be the best...by default.

Secondly, Nintendo does quite well with the kids. The common thought is that all kids want is the new COD...which isn't the full story...A lot of kids still get hyped by Mario and Sonic.

Nintendo however has failed to catch the gamers that are grown up...basically they didn't age with their initial customer base...which is good and bad. It's good because they won't go the Capcom route of grimdarking everything up and making it mad western yo....it's bad because a lot of the new audience also is interested in experiences Nintendo just doesn't offer.

Nintendo can do so much better....mainly with the Wii U. The 3ds has really delivered for me as of late and I wasn't even big into handhelds (I bought my 3DS for cheap). Hopefully the can figure out something for the Wii U too.

I also find it hillarious that some think they should focus more on the West when that is the same shit Capcom gets dinged for. For all of Capcom's fuckery, they have focused on the West a hell of a lot...and it hasn't exactly worked...nor has it worked for Square or Namco.

Maybe the Japanese Companies...should try to do what they do best..to the fullest. Not saying go crazy and release Japanese only stuff but over focusing on the West when that isn't their strength is foolish and only leads to Fan outrage and bombas. You can't make something for someone you don't fully understand and probably never will without it coming off a trying too hard.

I agree with most of this post.

And I'm not arguing that Nintendo try to do things that they're not good at. I think all of Nintendo's Japan studios should continue doing what they're doing. But Nontendo NEEDS to expand and include studios that specialize in these types of in-demand experiences.

I hope Retro is working on a new IP because that's what Nintendo needs most from them right now. They should also be allowed to expand and given more control over what kind of content they specialize in. Retro is Nintendo's only real IN in this mysterious world of western development. Let them have a VOICE and IDENTITY. Retro could easily be for Nintendo what Naughty Dog is to Sony, but Ninty would never let that happen.

Nintendo also needs to empower NOA again. This cannot be stressed enough. In fact, whoever castrated NOA in the first place is probably responsible for the biggest single fuckup in the history of the company, considering the West is now the dominant gaming influence, globally.

I wonder who did that...

 

[MarkusRJR]

Why is this thread bumped after every direct? It is literally the same arguments.

Nintendo doesn't do this

Or they should do this!

No 3rd party support

Relying too much on nostalgia

No new ips

Like seriously guys? No new ground at all lol

I think it got bumped due to the March NPD revealing only 67k/68k Wii U sold, MH3: U only selling 60k or so on Wii U, and NFS: MW for Wii U selling way less than 10k. Hardware sales are worse than Feb (on a weekly sales basis) despite it being a 5 week month and having Lego City and Monster Hunter released. Plus now that the release schedule is somewhat announced, it's clear that Game & Wario and Pikmin 3 are the only major Wii U games coming out until September.

I think it's pathetic that beyond the two launch titles (one of which seemed low budget compared to the usual Nintendo fare, aka NSMBU) it took Nintendo 8 months to release a single internally developed game, which is an incredibly simplistic mini-game collection. Then a month later we get a Wii game that got moved over to the Wii U (Pikmin 3) and should have been released ages ago. Shit has to be going seriously wrong at Nintendo for releases to be this late. These were both "launch window" and now they're coming out nearly a year past console launch. I haven't even gotten into the fact The Wonderful 101 still doesn't even have a release window yet (another game that was "launch window") along with Wii Fit U and Wii U Party.

Nintendo is just fucking up badly and each month as we get more information on poor Wii U hardware/software sales, lack of engine/developer support, delayed releases and empty software schedules people are just going to be louder about this. Nintendo really needs to shine this holiday and next year or their console will be in even more serious trouble.

 

[Grampa Simpson]

Why the bump for this?

Seemed like good timing for the thread to return. Specifically in regards to the reactions to the Nintendo direct.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

Is he gone yet?

 

[DaBoss]

Is he gone yet?

Not yet, but this made me lol

https://twitter.com/IwataCEO/status/325103220097691648

 

[Kazuma Kiryu]

I think it got bumped due to the March NDP revealing only 67k/68k Wii U sold, MH3: U only selling 60k or so on Wii U, and NFS: MW for Wii U selling way less than 10k. Hardware sales are worse than Feb (on a weekly sales basis) despite it being a 5 week month and having Lego City and Monster Hunter released. Plus now that the release schedule is somewhat announced, it's clear that Game & Wario and Pikmin 3 are the only major Wii U games coming out until September.

yeah, pretty much, everything is selling badly, big time. honestly, the situation looks pretty bad to me.
this thing needs a price cut, some kind of rebranding, and some games that will actually sell, which will probably only happen by fall. until then, they don't have a chance.

 

[TreasureHunterG]

yeah, pretty much, everything is selling badly, big time. honestly, the situation looks pretty bad to me.
this thing needs a price cut, some kind of rebranding, and some games that will actually sell, which will probably only happen by fall. until then, they don't have a chance.

Price cut is imminent and the only viable option at this point. The problem is... when this happen, it'll be the kiss of death for Iwata for sure.

 

[MegalonJJ]

But Nintendo NEEDS to expand and include studios that specialize in these types of in-demand experiences.

I'm guessing you're referring to the (military) fps style games?

Just on a tangent, do you not think that there's a potentially bigger issue for Microsoft and Sony CEOs later this year, as (broadly) speaking, both are releasing identkit consoles targeting the same demographic* (and likely with a similar line-up of software)?

*By this I mean the gamers who'll purchase on release date.

Of course it's good for gamers and having a choice, but it seems engine licensors will be laughing to the bank whilst in (at least) the first twelve months, it's likely Sony and Microsoft will struggle to differentiate the (current/potential) experiences available and it's likely neither system will have a densely populated software release schedule.

Also, just generally on topic, calling for Iwata's head is rather knee-jerk. I'd give the Wii U twelve to eighteen months first and then consider the option. Furthermore, even if he's replaced tomorrow, all current software in development for Wii U isn't going to be suddenly ready for release next week. It'll still take time and Nintendo aren't in the habit of releasing broken games and then patching. Granted the sales are low/slow/etc, but this is to be expected when software support is low. I also think Iwata (& Nintendo's) plan is not for next week, or June or August, but they'll be gearing towards a strong holiday push and I'm betting Iwata will be explaining as much to the investors this week coming.

 

[royalan]

I'm guessing you're referring to the (military) fps style games?

...no. If that's what I meant that's what I would have typed. This constant brushing aside of criticisms of Nintendo's software lineup with "Bla Bla Bla you just want Call of Duty clones!" Is really tired. As if those are the ONLY games that are successful in this west, or as if that's the only area where Nintendo's lineup is lacking.

Also, Iwata's had enough time. This is the second console launch he's fucked up. And, unlike the 3DS which was overpriced at launch and COULD have its priced slashed, the Wii U is basically sold at cost, and so a price drop (which is quickly becoming their only option) would leave Nintendo up shit creek in a BIG way.

As reactionary as it seems, I think the sooner Nintendo gives Iwata the boot, the better. I just don't think there's anything Iwata can do at this point. The damning thing is that the Wii U is not just failing, it's failing for the same reasons the 3DS failed (only without the safeguards that allowed the 3DS to quickly recover). And, not only is the Wii U repeating the 3DS' initial failure, but it's failing for ALL the reasons Iwata swore to investors it WOULDN'T prior to launch. What that says to me (and what it'll likely say to shareholders), is that Iwata is a man who no longer has a vision for the company going into the future (or a clue). He's repeating the same mistakes because he's run out of ideas. He's tapped.

Sorry, he's a nice guy. But he's done.

It's Sony and Ken Kutaragi all over again. Only Sony didn't even give Ken six MONTHS after the PS3 launched before they kicked him to the curb and began the restructuring that ultimately saved the Playstation brand.

The sooner they get rid of Iwata, the sooner Nintendo can clean house in general and right the ship.