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Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
There were a few concrete examples, but you can't expect them to lay out their entire hand at an investor's meeting. We'll surely see what they have planned by the time E3 is over.
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Nintendo's Q3 Investors' Meeting slides, now in English
- Thread starter Richie
- Start date
There were a few concrete examples, but you can't expect them to lay out their entire hand at an investor's meeting. We'll surely see what they have planned by the time E3 is over.
He does appear to be a talented political player. Given the performance of the company over the last 5 years and the way he has been able to consolidate power and buy off investors...impressive.
That's why I think that everybody that's currently at Nintendo needs to be replaced by competent management. Things are never going to get better there unless Iwata & Co. are completely gone.
Apophis2036
Banned
What are you going on about ?... It's been common knowledge for a while that he is working on a new IP for WiiU, most probably something that actually makes use of the second screen.
MrNyarlathotep
Banned
No, that analogy is current AAA development where millions and millions are invested into a couple of 'safe' products on the hopes and dreams that those 'safe products' sell in GTA / CoD numbers.
metalslimer
Member
Common knowledge? He has specifically said he is working on something new for Wii U? Not that this means much considering he doesn't actually develop games anymore or even direct them.
Spieler Eins
Member
It's been a pretty back and forth since years. At first Miyamoto wanted to introduce ,,new characters'' at Pikmins 10th anniversary, which obviously never happened. Afterwards you had several reports about him working with small teams on new stuff, but then he all of a sudden didn't and it just kept going like this. It's nothing but speculation that there will be a ,,Miyamoto''-branded new IP. Even his latest statement might have been misinterpreted, or mean nothing spectacular at all (since he's supervisor for almost every production nowadays anyway)
Father_Brain
Banned
Look, I recognize that Iwata was not going to get on the stage and announce that Nintendo is going to discontinue Wii U production immediately or at the end of the next fiscal year or whenever.
That said, he really, honestly seems to believe that Wii U is a great product whose greatness consumers merely have yet to discover. It's not. It's a horribly misconceived product that consumers have had over a year to judge and have, quite fairly, found wanting.
Until NCL recognizes how deep its problems go and stops pretending that they can avoid competing on either the MS/Sony or iOS/Android ends of the market, there's very little hope.
Knowing his motivation is impossible of course. But, I have to wonder if he is he entirely rational. Taking some of his comments over the years at face value (i.e. assuming he isn't lying), we have:
- overconfidence/narcissism, as not once has he consider stepping down,
- magical thinking of the 'if you believe in yourself, you can do anything' variety.
It is entirely possible that Iwata has never even entertained the possibility of wii u being a garbage product, or the possibility of him destroying the company through incompetence. There are people in the world who never doubt themselves, never accept failure as their fault, and never ever back down. Maybe he is one of those guys.
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Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
Even if this were true, you really think it would be a good idea for him to admit that it's not a compelling product and just give up on it?
He acknowledged that it needs to better and has vowed to make it better, but there's only so much that can be done with a static platform.
RobFox64tm
Member
That's my point. Not arguing that "Iwata can do no wrong" either, but the truth is there's way more we don't know than do know. Speculate on what we do have information on though, of course, but let's not forget that that is all this is: speculation.
Spieler Eins
Member
Still works for the WiiU, which has nothing but ,,safe'' sequels lacking each series' evolution, innovation or genre variety. They just desperately want another New Mario Bros./Wii Fit success (without doing any hard work for it, obviously)
Not to mention, even if they finally deliver some great gamepad concepts in an unlikely scenario, the WiiU can't get rid of it's awful stigma anymore. Sony/MS completely conquered the mainstream right at their next gen launches and more or less dedicated gaming fans won't ignore the 2 year drought it had until then, hence wait for price cuts at best, etc
They need a complete restart on the home console front, 2016 latest. Unfortunately, it also seemed he really took all the wrong conclusions from Wii Party/3D World not completely flopping like the rest of the lineup.
no doubt. That is what makes it fun and interesting, we don't have to be right and we have nothing riding on it, well those of us who haven't invested in Nintendo anyway.
Apophis2036
Banned
From last Jan -
"Legendary video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto today said hes changing his gaming style with Wii U. According to Miyamoto, developers so far havent put enough distinctiveness into their Wii U games. We know that Miyamoto is working on an unannounced Wii U project, and according to Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime, it will be fantastic.
http://mynintendonews.com/2013/01/31/miyamoto-says-hes-changing-his-gaming-style-with-wii-u/
There are several other articles if you Google 'Miyamoto's new IP for E3', it was talked about in a lot in interviews he done at last years E3.
He is definitely working on something new and WiiU has been mentioned several times. Whether its been scraped and he has been thrown onto this new QOL project is another story, if true it's a sure sign that they have all but given up on WiiU...
I think multi-billion-dollar business CEO's are rarely guys who step aside easily.
Kinect is an excellent accessory for little kids and exercise, seriously.
When my anger abates, and I get an x1, it will be because of that....so much better than motion controls.
They are obviously not ready and prepared to do that. They were not prepared for the Wii U, of all things.
What they are prepared for apparently? An entirely different platform that has little to do with traditional gaming experiences.
Osiris
I permanently banned my 6 year old daughter from using the PS4 for mistakenly sending grief reports as it's too hard to watch or talk to her
The rarely have to, but then they usually bow to board pressure or investor sentiment sooner rather than later, unlike Nintendo who seem to have a culture of rounding the wagons and protecting their CEO through thick and thin.
Seems like the ship is perfectly willing to go down with the Captain who has jumped the rails
MrNyarlathotep
Banned
Most people who have played the WiiU think off-TV play is pretty great.
Most people who haven't still refer to it as a gimmick and think the WiiU should not come with the gamepad.
I find it hard to argue against Iwatas statement that they should come up with software that literally cannot be done without the gamepad to emphasise it as a USP and not a handicap.
Nintendos software development costs are substantially less than third party AAA publishers. It's one of the reasons Mario et al are used in experimental titles - they can reuse assets.
You would never see a Nintendo game sell 3 million copies and be considered a failure or unprofitable.
EDIT:
I also refute your notion that the WiiU only has "safe" sequels with no series evolution or imagination.
Wii Fit U was made by Ganbarion, not a real effort by Nintendo.
Spieler Eins
Member
Oh boy, Reggie saying that Mr. Miyamoto works on something fantastic sure seals that deal
As already said, anything could be considered a Miyamoto game nowadays (for marketing purposes, as long as he had a couple of looks at the project. He introduced Luigi's Mansion 2, even though he only was at NLG once or twice)
Iirc in the Q&A they said he might take care of stuff which uses the gamepad, but at this point one probably shouldn't expect some astonishing new IP, I suspect what most people wish for goes against the company's/Miyamoto's agenda currently. Especially with that QOL thing now joining in...
Well, it has W101. Though, I can't say there's anything on par with other early console titles such as Mario Galaxy or Metroid Prime so far, in terms of evolving a series for a new gen.
It will be something with cards, including real cards which will use the NFC function. I already said the same thing a couple of time here. It's my feeling based on his past interviews, specifically the one in French with Gamekult (I translated the relevant part but can't find my post now).
MrNyarlathotep
Banned
Mario 3D world is literally brimming with new ideas and concepts for the 3D mario franchise, but is dismissed because it sort of looks like the 3DS game with a similar name.
Pikmin 3 is in every respect an iterative improvement to a game series that has been in mothballs for nearly a decade.
Lego City Undercover is a new IP, and a genuinely fun and funny entry into open world games.
I doubt they have much more to show honestly. i think personally i'd just want to get another smash bros and X trailer at this point.
I've highlighted them below.
I do not believe in their competence to design innovative hardware. I do not believe in their ability to make desirable hardware. Nor do I believe in their ability to develop software that makes their hardware desirable. Their admission that they've not yet developed software that makes the Wii U Game Pad desirable seems to be an admission to the latter point.
Moreover, I don't think that they can compete effectively with the existing market players. There are pre-existing conditions (haha) baked into the market that they will have to work exceptionally hard to overcome. For example, if they design an innovative product that helps someone lose weight, but it does not fit well with existing industry standards (e.g. not recognized by insurance companies or health professionals, etc.) then it could fail without almost no opportunity to recoup the spent capital. There are also no doubt contracts between health insurance companies and current manufacturers, manufacturers and professional celebrities in the health promotion industry, and perhaps even retailers that have ongoing relationships with everyone.
Nintendo has to try to insert itself into this new culture in which its name carries no value. That is, within the QOL industry (which I'm not even sure is well-defined), the Nintendo brand will have no currency as a known company. In fact, its brand as a toy and video game company may work against their attempt to appeal to people who wish to improve themselves.
Which all points to Nintendo having to make strong bilateral agreements with other big industry companies, and then having to promote the ever-loving crap out of their new branding. I'm not sure Nintendo has the history for either of these requirements.
I think their Wii U strategy is simple. They don't hope to turn it around, they just hope to make it slightly profitable. They focus on the Gamepad because it is easier to market the console like this. Plain and simple. If it is a great controller or a big mistake it's irrelevant. The second focus is in software sales, they need to push more games to their current install base to make up for the loss from the hardware, that's why they will go for this system of games being cheaper the more you buy. In the end, they have several big seller (compared to the install base) like SM3DW, NSMBU, NSMLU and Zelda WW HD, but they need to push more games. I think the indie games promotion that is now on eshop is a sign of what will come in the future with 1st party games too. They just plan to ride the console until they are ready to launch a new hardware without stretching the R&D budgets to the sky.
Annoying Old Party Man
Member
I think a lot of people are over dramatizing the situation on this board. Iwata is deeply embedded into Nintendo's culture, a figure that has operated inside Nintendo for more than 20 years. He knows the company, and he knows its people.
He is also responsible for one of the biggest success stories of all time in the electronic entertainment business. 3DS has been a relative success (well It started bad and quickly turned profitable). Now replace the Wii U with a system that isn't such a financial disaster and Nintendo would be in an average but much better place. It would be a still profitable - albeit in need of change - company.
That he doesn't want to quit - at least yet - is completely normal. It's not about the money - he has taken considerable pay cuts over the last years - but about ambition. I mean, if you had under you the teams that he has, for such a long time, wouldn't you want to keep trying?
To the people that say that he is oblivious to the issues with the Wii U, I don't think that any CEO of any company would say "well our product, the one that is out right now, sucks, that's what wrong". Any rational CEO would say "our product is good but there are issues and we need to fix them".
To the people that have mentioned the fierce competition that the Lifestyle/fitness industry poses, I completely agree with the idea that this is a huge challenge for Nintendo. But people seem to forget that this is the company responsible for Brain Training and Wii Fit, some of the most successful lifestyle/health products of I don't know, the past 10 years. Let's see them give it a go once again before we declare whatever they are thinking as a fluke.
Personally, I'm excited to see Nintendo pursuing things like unified accounts (a little too late, but they understand the need for this ecosystem), experiments with buying incentives, eg. And I want them to try to innovate in hardware. It is pretty clear to me that Nintendo can't compete with the money draining operations that Sony and MS have set up.
What I'm really worried at the moment is how they haven't rectified the Wii U situation. Between summer and Xmas I had a wonderful time with the Wii U, because every two months we had at least one major release, complemented with a couple of good digital releases and new virtual console titles. Now the schedule appears pretty barren, and I would like a 2014 Nintendo direct that shows me what exciting Nintendo (and non Nintendo) titles I should be waiting for, throughout the year. As it is, I only know about Donkey Kong, Mario Kart and Smash Bros. It is not enough, by far.
Fourth Storm
Member
Yeah, I think this year is pretty much set as far as their Wii U schedule goes. Maybe a couple smaller titles/hd remakes they haven't shown yet. And X could slip to 2015 imo. But there should be stuff for 2015 we haven't heard about. I have a feeling Retro has a small group working on Metroid with Sakamoto, and that production will start ramping up soon now that Donkey is almost out.
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Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
I think the NFC stuff has a lot of potential and has been massively underutilized until now.
Father_Brain
Banned
Yeah, that's what the defensive Vita fans said too (and some of them still say).
Hardware does not sell as badly as Wii U has, as consistently as Wii U has in every territory for over a year, unless there's something fundamentally wrong with the product and the value proposition it offers. Sorry.
I imagine 'people' expect to have a certain amount of structure put forward for the year ahead. To see more of games we have only so far seen tiny glimpses of. To be given some snippets for things that are just beyond the horizon. To have appetites whetted for E3. To have some substance added to the vague statements of intent given to the investors. To try and kindle some enthusiasm and goodwill among Wii U customers; existing or prospective.
It isn't just about sitting there with your first fingers perpetually crossed while waiting for [insert IP of choice]; it's about laying the marker down for 2014 and getting the ball rolling with their core audience.
Starchasing
Member
They have designed innovative and desirable products before. The wii balance board sold about 42 million units and was the biggest selling scale as of 2012. They sold about 150 million DS and about 100 million Wii. If you go back even further you have the game boy.
I think those numbers are quite high. They are all single use device, specially the wii balance board, and they were quite innovative at their time. I dont see a reason why nintendo could not launch something innovative again, even more when they say they are skipping mobile and wearable.
MrNyarlathotep
Banned
So attempting to make the Gamepad be perceived as an integral USP and not as an overpriced gimmick doesn't affect the value proposition?
That isn't what he said. He said that he has never once considered stepping down. That is not 'normal'.
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.
As a videogame platform, the benefits have to be clear and obvious to the consumer market and it has to be what they want pretty much from the start. The PS4 and Xbone, with their leap in tech and focus on services and more are what consumers want. Third party content has succeeded well because consumers wanted that graphical and fidelity jump in games. Consumers have likewise reacted poorly to every single offering of the WiiU GamePad because it is a poor product with a scatterbrained aim.
People with HDTV's want to use them for gaming. Theres a minority out there that dont and are content with the GamePad's display, but then thats also competing for time with the 3DS or Vita.
Nintendo can pretend they "havent really tried yet" but bother NintendoLand and Game & Wario were supposed to obviously show what the pad had to offer, W101 too. The NFC stuff? Already done that too with Pokemon, their most lucrative license.
Iwata was just bluffing his way through the WiiU segment last night so he could throw out the juicy "hey, maybe ANOTHER blue ocean on the way!" bait and kick back for the rest of the year.
I'm going to be pretty confused if Nintendo really do make a home console again next gen rather than just a hybrid handheld because theyre showing no signs of hunger for that market whatsoever.
Those are fair points, and can't be ignored.
However, they are not doing well at the moment. One of the key features of the Nintendo 3DS was its simple 3D functionality. That's pretty much a moot point now, as it has not been embraced by consumers. The same is true of the Game Pad for the Wii U. Prior to that, the GameCube design was never well-liked (my opinion, perhaps I'm wrong) and the original design for the Nintendo DS was not popular.
With a company like Apple, and increasingly Amazon, you can see the hard work that goes into making a mass-market consumer devices that blends hardware, software, and services into a single recognizable and popular product. In my opinion, that doesn't really exist in the same way inside Nintendo. (And, I would argue, they don't offer the service side which is increasingly important.)
MrNyarlathotep
Banned
Nintendoland absolutely demonstrates the inherent value of the pad for local multiplayer.
G&W is to the WiiU gamepad what Wii Play was for the Wii.
W101 barely uses it to the extent the entire game can be played off-TV without a problem.
Iwata specifically mentioned there is a lack of any single player titles that make meaningful use of the Gamepad from Nintendo.
When the best example of its benefits is ZombiU, that is hard to dispute.
There are numerous possibilities for making good use of the gamepad in singleplayer 'core' titles; it's on Nintendo to make that value proposition for the WiiU.
"Here are some great games that are only possible with the WiiU gamepad".
Thank you very much.
Starchasing
Member
I see Nintendo trying to not to compete with apple or amazon by skipping mobile an tablets ( they were late to the party ) , and skipping wearable devices (which seems everyone is struggling at it so far ). I see Nintendo trying to start a new category, something like apple did with the iPod. ¿Will be they able to do so? They have had hits and misses, so i could not really tell.
Regarding the service part Nintendo is currently way way way behind everyone else, but they said that they were investing most of their money in things that they were not competent at. Iwata refused to give details but my guess is that they are investing time and money on that. I dont know either if they will able to pull that off.
But what i found most fascinating is this slide, that defines exactly what they will try:
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.
If they are having to force themselves to do so 2-3 years after development began on the system, then the harsh truth is even their internal development teams clearly werent excited or passionate about the GamePad concept.
I also have no doubt the coming Zelda game will use the GamePad concept heavily and thats one of the things being teased for E3. I find Iwata has this knack of saying they're doing something different and changing directions when its simply what they were doing anyway (but endlessly delayed), just conveniently rhetoric'd up for investor meetings.
I think as well, Miyamoto's "put new gameplay concepts into Mario, who cares about new IP" standing point has been completely crushed. 3D World clearly didn't facilitate new gameplay concepts for the GamePad (whats there is laughably weak), whereas a new action adventure IP could have made GamePad stuff integral to the experience. This was also my feeling with the Wiimote+ and Skyward Sword. Nintendo just has a strange inability to follow through on their own hardware concepts beyond tech demo stages. Ubisoft were pretty much the only pusher of the GamePad and had some pretty cool Wiimote ideas too, and Nintendo has let them float off to other seas. Theres just no commitment to WiiU right now and I don't see how that level of ambivalence then translates to another home console.
For someone like me I feel the same way as him. I'm holding out so desperately for Nintendo to give me any reason at all to keep my Wii U and not move to PS4 or Steam Machine. Unified accounts is something we've been wanting for years, and Nintendo is in the shit so we're thinking "this has got to come right? To keep their fans excited" but nope. Nintendo are doing next to nothing, in this dire time, to appease their loyal fans. The early adopters.
If anything they keep kicking them in the nuts with stupid statements like "We've solved the software problem, so third parties will come". What bollocks. What we WANT and NEED to hear is "We're working with some big western companies to bring their 2014 properties to Wii U.
All we get are "We have ideas, can't tell you about them, just trust us.....oh and fuck third parties and gamers. Please Understand(tm)"
I think you should do it already to be frank. I have been reading your posts here and they simply radiate pain. Although no bullshit Steam Machines just man up and build a PC of your own. I think you won't regret it.
Naa I used to be a PC gamer for years and I need a console like experience. In my living room, small(ish), good controller, no shitty maintenance etc. So I'll have to wait to see the Steam Machines unless Sony do something like their PS1/PS2 games on PS4 in my country then my wife will probably go 'Get a PS4 and get me Medieval!"
But yes after this investor meeting it makes it even harder for me to hold on as it did not give me personally any hope for Wii U.
Check, check, check (use whatever you want) and true there will be more maintenance than consoles but in my opinion it's worth it
But yeah this is getting kind of off-topic. I just think Wii U and Nintendo will never head the way you want to see and holding out for that is just waste of time.Wow, what a dramatic presentation. I guess with Microsoft and Sony having released their consoles and locked in for probably 7 or 8 years, Iwata thought it safe to spill the beans as there's no one to compete with what Nintendo are planning. If you have money, buy Nintendo shares, they'll absolutely skyrocket in the next 3-10 years.
Iwata knows Nintendo have limited resources, he's chosen to use those resources to just relentlessly trailblaze new ground for long term gain rather than consolidate what they already have. That has always been their strategy in a sense, they create a market with their first party games and hope third parties fill in the gaps and pay royalties in the process. Then they do the same with the next platform. Of course third parties are incompetent and failed to take advantage with the massive market Nintendo created with the Wii. But rather than fill the gaps themselves they continue to innovate.
They could have played it safe and released a profitable Wii 2 but they've taken the risk with the Wii U. It's not paid off yet, but it is a guinea pig really. They were likely hoping to leverage the success they had with the Wii and they got a bit complacent. It is overpriced for what it offers, but the reason is that Nintendo are all about dual screen and they were hoping to use the Wii as a trojan horse to get it into peoples homes.
But everything is starting to come together now and Nintendo have an ace that they've been waiting for years to be able to play and now they are going to be able to start using it. It is going to have costs, but they've decided they are prepared to pay those costs.
The biggest asset they have is that they make premium games and they have a premium library. Even today, the likes of Super Mario Bros 3 and Super Metroid are still good games. However the games have been tied to the console. They've started backwards compatibility with the Wii, but it's limited to only one generation back. It's costly to implement because of the pace of hardware and software development. It's also not convenient to have an ever expanding library of games taking up more space and suffering wear and tear. In that sense, backwards compatibility becomes a hindrance.
But games on a technical level are maturing and backwards compatibility will become easier to implement. And crucially network technology and speeds are maturing and becoming more ubiquitous. With Nintendo stepping out of the graphics race they are now in a position to aggressively start shifting towards digital. This means future platforms will be fully backwards compatible with all previous platforms and you will be able to take your library with you. Since Nintendo make so many premium games, the value of those games will hold up. You're not gonna want to lose them. Nintendo are great at getting new customers, but they've had a hard time keeping them. With each generation of hardware it's going to become easier for them now. Even if a person skips a generation, nostalgia can act as an incentive to bring them back since the library is still there.
Of course moving towards digital will also mean retailers are going to be taken out of the equation more and more. Nintendo will become the retailer and this will pretty much be a 20% software price cut. Nintendo are also taking advantage of this and will have a more dynamic pricing structure. The current business model is a legacy of the cartridges from the 80s. But now they can move to digital pricing which is better for smaller games and thus make it easier for Nintendo to offer a wide range of games rather than the game droughts they suffer.
This is all going to apply to the DS as well which will help their profitability there too. But the maturing technology is also going to allow convergence. The original DS was totally different to console hardware. But now the development environments and game engines are going to be more similar to those on the home console which will reduce costs.
The DS is also untouchable, particularly in Japan. Sony have failed in the handheld market. Microsoft won't bother since they have no chance in Japan(and the west is still relatively weak for handheld development) and it's too difficult to compete with Pokemon/2D Mario/Animal Crossing etc. Any company releasing a dual screen handheld will also just be laughed at for being a blatant rip-off. And again, getting a competitive software library is almost impossible since any successful third party games would just be ported to the DS.
Nintendo can now finally start using this as leverage since both have two screens(or you can at least split the gamepad screen). The latest portable games playable on the home console expanding its library. Playing 2 player competitive, one on the DS, one on the gamepad gives added value to the console. They can do this with one copy of the game and game sharing if they want. Any big hits can be more easily made into a big brother or little brother version to suit the platform but retain key elements(they can already do this with the Wii U but they haven't taken advantage yet, particularly 3rd parties). Full games that play directly on both won't be done probably(unless maybe there's microtransactions or something) but you could get DS games having console exclusive features and vice versa to give incentive to those with one platform to get the other.
There are sacrifices. Customers buying a new console and being forced to buy new games because their old library being obsolete is no longer possible. But the lower risk of losing customers is what they've decided to prioritise. Cash cows like old games being ported(such as SNES games that were ported to the GBA) are no longer possible. But that concept has been made redundant in a sense with the concept of remakes that really came to prominence with Dragon Quest remakes on the Playstation and more recently with the likes of Final Fantasy on the DS and now Windwaker HD. Forward compatible peripeherals might reduce spending there(but a greater diversity of peripherals could make up for that and peripherals having more lasting value might increase the take up of gimmick controllers in future)
The closed policies were from the old days where games were sold for the same high uniform price. But Nintendo have decided that Blue Ocean and digital is where it's at and have decided to go for maximum sales to maximise profit rather than trying to squeeze out every penny they can. In essence, they are shifting to more open policies.
They are looking at maximising exposure to do this. They want as many people as possible to play as many of their games as possible. So yeah, they let you keep your old library. They offer cheaper games to allow you build a bigger library. They give discounts for buying more games. They give discounts for recommending a game to your friend and him buying it. These things directly cost them money, but overall if they lead to higher sales they lead to more revenue overall.
This open approach also goes into how they are looking to put things on smartphones and how they are going to license their characters. I'd guess TV shows are likely. Maybe they could team up with Disney or something, a Pixar made Zelda would be the obvious kind of thing for them to aim for. They could get a lot of mainstream exposure if they take this seriously.
Then there's the third pillar. Global Weight loss market is expected to reach £220billion by 2017. Then there's all the other health related markets. A QOL platform could become one of the biggest products in the world.
People talk about Silicon Valley, but Silicon Valley can't compete with Nintendo. Yeah there's startups and bright ideas. But what does it lead to? A nice app? A nifty piece of hardware? Nintendo aren't releasing a gimmick. They're releasing a platform. Crucially, they will be innovating with both software and hardware. It's easy to copy Apple since they just use a standard touchscreen. But competing with Nintendo's QOL will be like competing with the Wii. And if Nintendo release highly polished software that takes them a year or two to develop it's unlikely that startups will match them in six months. And if there's multiple good pieces of software even harder. And even if you succeed, marketing a knock off usually leads to failure. That's if you can even get past the hardware barrier.
I also saw Stumpokapows massive paragraph about all the health options and it made my head hurt to read it. Yeah you could do that and search for all the options that you don't even know are there. Or you got Donkey Kong Weightlifting, Princess Peach Jogging, Walking Your Nintendog, QOL Fit and whatever else they have all on one platform. Which one would your average consumer go for? And that's the thing, many existing products are all kind of niche in a sense. Nintendo are going for the mass market. They don't need the hardcore product. It doesn't have to be best of breed. But if it does the job and it's more fun then it can succeed. Remember, this will all be backed up by hundreds of millions in marketing. Nintendo are going big time. No one can compete with this. It just depends on if it's good. It just depends on whether they can find the killer app. Wii Fit had a $40M marketing for its US launch. This will be much bigger.
Then you get this third pillar also being digital and benefiting the two gaming platforms. All with the same account. Going into the health niche means they can then look to licensing and marketing partnerships with sports teams and the likes of Nike.
Another point, with the Wii they went wireless so all of the peripherals benefit from backwards and forwards compatibility. Further adding value to their new hardware. In fact if Nintendo have their way Silicon Valley startups and Nike will be the ones developing their products for the QOL. The possibilities in all of this are just massive.
People have criticised Nintendo for not integrating with the world of the internet. But in a sense, there was no point. This past decade has been a time of massive innovation and whatever they did would have become obsolete and their efforts mostly gone to waste. However now everything is maturing and everything is converging so now is the time to invest in their network. And now is the time to try and get a touchscreen into the home and hope it becomes the hub of home entertainment. Internet browsing or watching films using a PS4 or Xbone controller isn't that great. But a gamepad touchscreen is perfect for it. And when it integrates with your console, handheld and your QOL device no tablet can compete. And no console without a touchscreen can compete.
Nintendo have done the hard work of trailblazing once with the Wii and again with the Wii U. There's so much differentiation it's ridiculous. And the fact that third parties failed to take advantage means the potential was untapped and remains untapped. If Nintendo think that new innovative hardware doesn't offer enough they can look at tapping the existing hardware for new ideas and consolidating what they already have. And with controllers being forwards compatible they could release the Wii Next at sub $200 without a gamepad(maybe just a Wiimote) for existing owners making it affordable for the casuals and younger gamers.
They messed up by launching their most expensive ever system with a relatively unspectacular 2D Mario game, and a year later their biggest game was another Mario game supported by a bunch of B grade releases like Luigi, Pikmin and a Wind Waker remake. But now that big games are going to start coming out and likely better marketing we should see where the Wii U really stands and how easy or difficult things will be for Nintendo going forward.
Iwata knows Nintendo have limited resources, he's chosen to use those resources to just relentlessly trailblaze new ground for long term gain rather than consolidate what they already have. That has always been their strategy in a sense, they create a market with their first party games and hope third parties fill in the gaps and pay royalties in the process. Then they do the same with the next platform. Of course third parties are incompetent and failed to take advantage with the massive market Nintendo created with the Wii. But rather than fill the gaps themselves they continue to innovate.
They could have played it safe and released a profitable Wii 2 but they've taken the risk with the Wii U. It's not paid off yet, but it is a guinea pig really. They were likely hoping to leverage the success they had with the Wii and they got a bit complacent. It is overpriced for what it offers, but the reason is that Nintendo are all about dual screen and they were hoping to use the Wii as a trojan horse to get it into peoples homes.
But everything is starting to come together now and Nintendo have an ace that they've been waiting for years to be able to play and now they are going to be able to start using it. It is going to have costs, but they've decided they are prepared to pay those costs.
The biggest asset they have is that they make premium games and they have a premium library. Even today, the likes of Super Mario Bros 3 and Super Metroid are still good games. However the games have been tied to the console. They've started backwards compatibility with the Wii, but it's limited to only one generation back. It's costly to implement because of the pace of hardware and software development. It's also not convenient to have an ever expanding library of games taking up more space and suffering wear and tear. In that sense, backwards compatibility becomes a hindrance.
But games on a technical level are maturing and backwards compatibility will become easier to implement. And crucially network technology and speeds are maturing and becoming more ubiquitous. With Nintendo stepping out of the graphics race they are now in a position to aggressively start shifting towards digital. This means future platforms will be fully backwards compatible with all previous platforms and you will be able to take your library with you. Since Nintendo make so many premium games, the value of those games will hold up. You're not gonna want to lose them. Nintendo are great at getting new customers, but they've had a hard time keeping them. With each generation of hardware it's going to become easier for them now. Even if a person skips a generation, nostalgia can act as an incentive to bring them back since the library is still there.
Of course moving towards digital will also mean retailers are going to be taken out of the equation more and more. Nintendo will become the retailer and this will pretty much be a 20% software price cut. Nintendo are also taking advantage of this and will have a more dynamic pricing structure. The current business model is a legacy of the cartridges from the 80s. But now they can move to digital pricing which is better for smaller games and thus make it easier for Nintendo to offer a wide range of games rather than the game droughts they suffer.
This is all going to apply to the DS as well which will help their profitability there too. But the maturing technology is also going to allow convergence. The original DS was totally different to console hardware. But now the development environments and game engines are going to be more similar to those on the home console which will reduce costs.
The DS is also untouchable, particularly in Japan. Sony have failed in the handheld market. Microsoft won't bother since they have no chance in Japan(and the west is still relatively weak for handheld development) and it's too difficult to compete with Pokemon/2D Mario/Animal Crossing etc. Any company releasing a dual screen handheld will also just be laughed at for being a blatant rip-off. And again, getting a competitive software library is almost impossible since any successful third party games would just be ported to the DS.
Nintendo can now finally start using this as leverage since both have two screens(or you can at least split the gamepad screen). The latest portable games playable on the home console expanding its library. Playing 2 player competitive, one on the DS, one on the gamepad gives added value to the console. They can do this with one copy of the game and game sharing if they want. Any big hits can be more easily made into a big brother or little brother version to suit the platform but retain key elements(they can already do this with the Wii U but they haven't taken advantage yet, particularly 3rd parties). Full games that play directly on both won't be done probably(unless maybe there's microtransactions or something) but you could get DS games having console exclusive features and vice versa to give incentive to those with one platform to get the other.
There are sacrifices. Customers buying a new console and being forced to buy new games because their old library being obsolete is no longer possible. But the lower risk of losing customers is what they've decided to prioritise. Cash cows like old games being ported(such as SNES games that were ported to the GBA) are no longer possible. But that concept has been made redundant in a sense with the concept of remakes that really came to prominence with Dragon Quest remakes on the Playstation and more recently with the likes of Final Fantasy on the DS and now Windwaker HD. Forward compatible peripeherals might reduce spending there(but a greater diversity of peripherals could make up for that and peripherals having more lasting value might increase the take up of gimmick controllers in future)
The closed policies were from the old days where games were sold for the same high uniform price. But Nintendo have decided that Blue Ocean and digital is where it's at and have decided to go for maximum sales to maximise profit rather than trying to squeeze out every penny they can. In essence, they are shifting to more open policies.
They are looking at maximising exposure to do this. They want as many people as possible to play as many of their games as possible. So yeah, they let you keep your old library. They offer cheaper games to allow you build a bigger library. They give discounts for buying more games. They give discounts for recommending a game to your friend and him buying it. These things directly cost them money, but overall if they lead to higher sales they lead to more revenue overall.
This open approach also goes into how they are looking to put things on smartphones and how they are going to license their characters. I'd guess TV shows are likely. Maybe they could team up with Disney or something, a Pixar made Zelda would be the obvious kind of thing for them to aim for. They could get a lot of mainstream exposure if they take this seriously.
Then there's the third pillar. Global Weight loss market is expected to reach £220billion by 2017. Then there's all the other health related markets. A QOL platform could become one of the biggest products in the world.
People talk about Silicon Valley, but Silicon Valley can't compete with Nintendo. Yeah there's startups and bright ideas. But what does it lead to? A nice app? A nifty piece of hardware? Nintendo aren't releasing a gimmick. They're releasing a platform. Crucially, they will be innovating with both software and hardware. It's easy to copy Apple since they just use a standard touchscreen. But competing with Nintendo's QOL will be like competing with the Wii. And if Nintendo release highly polished software that takes them a year or two to develop it's unlikely that startups will match them in six months. And if there's multiple good pieces of software even harder. And even if you succeed, marketing a knock off usually leads to failure. That's if you can even get past the hardware barrier.
I also saw Stumpokapows massive paragraph about all the health options and it made my head hurt to read it. Yeah you could do that and search for all the options that you don't even know are there. Or you got Donkey Kong Weightlifting, Princess Peach Jogging, Walking Your Nintendog, QOL Fit and whatever else they have all on one platform. Which one would your average consumer go for? And that's the thing, many existing products are all kind of niche in a sense. Nintendo are going for the mass market. They don't need the hardcore product. It doesn't have to be best of breed. But if it does the job and it's more fun then it can succeed. Remember, this will all be backed up by hundreds of millions in marketing. Nintendo are going big time. No one can compete with this. It just depends on if it's good. It just depends on whether they can find the killer app. Wii Fit had a $40M marketing for its US launch. This will be much bigger.
Then you get this third pillar also being digital and benefiting the two gaming platforms. All with the same account. Going into the health niche means they can then look to licensing and marketing partnerships with sports teams and the likes of Nike.
Another point, with the Wii they went wireless so all of the peripherals benefit from backwards and forwards compatibility. Further adding value to their new hardware. In fact if Nintendo have their way Silicon Valley startups and Nike will be the ones developing their products for the QOL. The possibilities in all of this are just massive.
People have criticised Nintendo for not integrating with the world of the internet. But in a sense, there was no point. This past decade has been a time of massive innovation and whatever they did would have become obsolete and their efforts mostly gone to waste. However now everything is maturing and everything is converging so now is the time to invest in their network. And now is the time to try and get a touchscreen into the home and hope it becomes the hub of home entertainment. Internet browsing or watching films using a PS4 or Xbone controller isn't that great. But a gamepad touchscreen is perfect for it. And when it integrates with your console, handheld and your QOL device no tablet can compete. And no console without a touchscreen can compete.
Nintendo have done the hard work of trailblazing once with the Wii and again with the Wii U. There's so much differentiation it's ridiculous. And the fact that third parties failed to take advantage means the potential was untapped and remains untapped. If Nintendo think that new innovative hardware doesn't offer enough they can look at tapping the existing hardware for new ideas and consolidating what they already have. And with controllers being forwards compatible they could release the Wii Next at sub $200 without a gamepad(maybe just a Wiimote) for existing owners making it affordable for the casuals and younger gamers.
They messed up by launching their most expensive ever system with a relatively unspectacular 2D Mario game, and a year later their biggest game was another Mario game supported by a bunch of B grade releases like Luigi, Pikmin and a Wind Waker remake. But now that big games are going to start coming out and likely better marketing we should see where the Wii U really stands and how easy or difficult things will be for Nintendo going forward.