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Ubi: NX will "recapture lapsed Wii players," Nintendo "addressing the family market"

*looks at thread*

Not sure what you mean by that. You think NX actually *is* largely targeted at the existing PS4/XB1 audience, or just that Nintendo isn't necessarily focused on catching lightning in a bottle again with some input/display gimmick? I would agree with the latter, at least.
 

GamerJM

Banned
I think they can do it. I think the reason the Wii U wasn't successful isn't because that market doesn't exist, it's because it was a poorly designed console and it didn't appeal to that demographic. Nintendo misunderstood the appeal of Tablets.

I think it would be a hell of a lot more difficult for Nintendo to design a PlayStation/Xbox like console considering how Sony and Microsoft already have that demographic locked up and how expensive it is to make third-party support gain traction on their platform.

I'm also totally fine with this as a core gamer. The Wii had more "core," games than the Wii U does anyways (though I'd attribute that partially to rising development costs). I like "gimmicks," provided they're used well.
 

Oregano

Member
Not sure what you mean by that. You think NX actually *is* largely targeted at the existing PS4/XB1 audience, or just that Nintendo isn't necessarily focused on catching lightning in a bottle again with some input/display gimmick? I would agree with the latter, at least.

I think he was just taking a crack at the fact this very thread is people constructing their own scenarios based on a single sentence.
 

Seik

Banned
Well, people can say whatever they want, but they had families with the Wii and made tons of money.

Wii U lost families, was one of their biggest failures in years. I can understand why they're going with that strategy.

Also, Wii was a stellar console, even with all that Wiimote jazz, I learned to deal with it and appreciate it, hopefully it'll be the same with the NX.
 
Well, people can say whatever they want, but they had families with the Wii and made tons of money.

Wii U lost families, was one of their biggest failures in years. I can understand why they're going with that strategy.

Also, Wii was a stellar console, even with all that Wiimote jazz, I learned to deal with it and appreciate it, hopefully it'll be the same with the NX.

The Wii U isn't what drove people away...
 

Shaanyboi

Banned
Ugh, doesn't inspire confidence that this the big graphical upgrade that I want.

Dammit Nintendo why can't you just match MS and Sony?

How many Wii U-sized flops is it going to take?

Nintendo just matching Microsoft and Sony isn't going to bring back third parties in a meaningful way. There's a distinct hurdle in perception Nintendo has to overcome beyond specs before people put Nintendo in the same arena as the Xbox or Playstation in terms of which box they're going to buy.
 

Schnozberry

Member
That's quite a sweeping conclusion to draw from a single anecdote.

It's pretty common among kids in her class at school as well. As soon as they learned how to read and could understand the stories that more complex games were telling them, they wanted more than what casual games could give them.

My daughter had a head start because she has access to a 2DS that I bought her, but her friends in her after school program followed suit after they all discovered the Wii in the play center there and the iPad is now mostly used by the younger kids for the educational software. The center never upgraded to the Wii U because the concept wasn't well suited to that environment.

My point is that to write off the the future because the Wii U failed is to misread the problem. Wii U failed because the concept just wasn't very good. With the right mix of features and content, Nintendo could recapture that market. It would be insanity not to try.
 
Not sure what you mean by that. You think NX actually *is* largely targeted at the existing PS4/XB1 audience, or just that Nintendo isn't necessarily focused on catching lightning in a bottle again with some input/display gimmick? I would agree with the latter, at least.

I was making fun of the thread.
 
It's pretty common among kids in her class at school as well. As soon as they learned how to read and could understand the stories that more complex games were telling them, they wanted more than what casual games could give them.

My daughter had a head start because she has access to a 2DS that I bought her, but her friends in her after school program followed suit after they all discovered the Wii in the play center there and the iPad is now mostly used by the younger kids for the educational software. The center never upgraded to the Wii U because the concept wasn't well suited to that environment.

My point is that to write off the the future because the Wii U failed is to misread the problem. Wii U failed because the concept just wasn't very good. With the right mix of features and content, Nintendo could recapture that market. It would be insanity not to try.

With kids in particular, the pertinent question is less whether they enjoy dedicated game platforms when provided them, than whether their parents will even consider shelling out $200-300 on hardware and $40-60 per game, given the availability of hand-me-down smartphones and tablets.
 

Cuburt

Member
Weird comment considering Nintendo has made it clear this is not a Wii/Wii U follow up and they have also made it clear that the shift of the Wii U away from chasing the casual audience was because most didn't transition to core games and because they were losing the audience who would move on to the next thing, like mobile gaming. Not only that, but the family audience is something they have always targeted, a fact that has also hurt them in other ways.

What I think it might mean is that UbiSoft feels confident about the hook of the NX, even if Just Dance is hardly a risk on a Nintendo console, since it is both successful and cheap to make. Seems like motion control will continue in some form but I doubt the hook is related to that, but possibly as exciting as that and that is what the Wii comment means; it will be a gimmick that is immediately recognizable, exciting, and affordable. So basically not VR, but it also doesn't mean it's necessarily input related. A hybrid sort of concept executed well and affordably can be easily understood, easily marketed, and appeal to a wide range of people.
 

LoveCake

Member
The family market has moved on to mobile and FB games.

Isn't "Just Dance" to be released on the X1 and PS4 as well, sounds like just going to test the water from Ubi.
 

blu

Wants the largest console games publisher to avoid Nintendo's platforms.
That's quite a sweeping conclusion to draw from a single anecdote.
I can back it up with a similar one: the ipad was more of a passing curiosity with my kids - they used to play on the available ipads for a few months, then the interest was somehow gone. Their DS' though, are played regularly, and the wiiU at home is a favorite weekend pastime. I guess the picture is different with teenagers (where the 'coolness' factor is in full swing), but there's no coolness factor at the privacy of home, so kids at home can enjoy whatever they like.
 
Not gonna draw any conclusions about the NX from this other than 1) Nintendo makes a lot of amazing family games and will continue to do so with NX, and 2) the NX concept is possibly on par with the Wii in terms of mass market appeal, which would be immaculate on Nintendo's part to pull off.
 
I can back it up with a similar one: the ipad was more of a passing curiosity with my kids - they used to play on the available ipads for a few months, then the interest was somehow gone. Their DS' though, are played regularly, and the wiiU at home is a favorite weekend pastime. I guess the picture is different with teenagers (where the 'coolness' factor is in full swing), but there's no coolness factor at the privacy of home, so kids at home can enjoy whatever they like.

And I'm sure that that anecdote is true, but the continued decline of 3DS sales and the continued growth of mobile gaming suggests it's not enormously representative of the broader market.
 

catbrush

Member
I think the Wii market was a flash in the pan, those people have moved to mobile games

I don't think there is a Wii crowd to comeback to. Are they saying there is a gimmick for this console?

Nintendo's mistake with 3DS and Wii U was in thinking that because people bought the first platform, they would move on to the next by default. Neither had a unique concepts like their predecessors: 3DS was a more powerful DS with glasses-free 3D, and Wii U was a half-finished disaster. A more powerful Wii with streaming tech powering a more or less traditional controller. Core gamers weren't interested because of its low specs and baffling limitation of 1 gamepad per console, and casual gamers didn't even know that it existed. However, I don't see a reason to assume Nintendo can't make a new platform with the impact of DS or Wii using Wii U's streaming tech and low latency gyroscope.

"Families" are a massive & largely untapped market. It is an inclusive group that basically encompasses most of the planet. They've moved on to mobile because everyone has a phone and it's convenient. Nintendo would be crazy to neglect this group. They'll never "come back" to traditional gaming, but with the right tech Nintendo can move forward with them to create a platform for today's world that allows for new innovative experiences.

There hasn't been any real concrete information about NX, so I don't know what that would be, but the potential of a unified architecture is massive, especially in conjunction with Nintendo's other patents.
 

4Tran

Member
"Families" are a massive & largely untapped market. It is an inclusive group that basically encompasses most of the planet. They've moved on to mobile because everyone has a phone and it's convenient. Nintendo would be crazy to neglect this group. They'll never "come back" to traditional gaming, but with the right tech Nintendo can move forward with them to create a platform for today's world that allows for new innovative experiences.
Families were untapped once upon a time, and they were one of the main reasons why the Wii took off so quickly. However, that's before the smartphone and tablet became ubiquitous, and these devices fulfill a lot of the need families have for gaming. It's going to be a very narrow market for Nintendo to target.
 

Schnozberry

Member
With kids in particular, the pertinent question is less whether they enjoy dedicated game platforms when provided them, than whether their parents will even consider shelling out $200-300 on hardware and $40-60 per game, given the availability of hand-me-down smartphones and tablets.

Well, they are cheaper than iPads, and you don't have fight over access to them with the kids (unless your'e a gamer Mom or Dad). It's up to Nintendo to make the value proposition for the NX make sense for a contemporary family. It seems like it is one of their priorities given previous comments.
 
Well, they are cheaper than iPads, and you don't have fight over access to them with the kids (unless your'e a gamer Mom or Dad). It's up to Nintendo to make the value proposition for the NX make sense for a contemporary family. It seems like it is one of their priorities given previous comments.

I said hand-me-down.

If the upfront price of new hardware was really a relevant point of comparison, there's no reason why the dedicated handheld market would have contracted to the extent it has over the past half-decade. And clearly, dedicated gaming software aimed at kids has been particularly hard-hit - the Western licensed games that were incredibly prolific on GBA, DS, and Wii are almost nonexistent today.
 

KingSnake

The Birthday Skeleton
For me it seems pretty obvious that this can be the only strategy that Nintendo can use at this point. They have no guarantee of success by competing with Microsoft and Sony in the power race (and the existence of Neo and Scorpio proves that even more, if it wasn't already clear, they would have been wrong footed by these). There's no guarantee of 3rd party support. There's no guarantee that they can attract the AAA audience.

This is the zone where Nintendo still has a chance. With a cheap and good console/handheld combo and proper games (both 1st and 3rd party).
 

ryanofcall

Member
I just caaaaaaaan't wait to see it.
Nintendo hardware releases are always the most exciting to me, because they're usually different to the others.
It's only 9 months left until release...?
 

Schnozberry

Member
I said hand-me-down.

If the upfront price of new hardware was really a relevant point of comparison, there's no reason why the dedicated handheld market would have contracted to the extent it has over the past half-decade. And clearly, dedicated gaming software aimed at kids has been particularly hard-hit - the Western licensed games that were incredibly prolific on GBA, DS, and Wii are almost nonexistent today.

Well, I think the kids games market is more of a lesson in economics. Those games couldn't stand up to the onslaught of freemium and ad supported games. I think indies can be counted on to make inexpensive and fun games, and they have already found some success stories on Wii U.

In terms of hand-me-down scenario's, I don't think that market was ever buying dedicated games hardware anyways. They were just forcing their kids to play shitty flash games on hand-me-down PCs.
 
I am very insecure on what to think if this news is untrue. Nintendo is inside a rock and a hard place. They can't re capture the "lapsed Wii players" because they have discontinued the Wii in Japan, and the "core console market" are already happy with their PS4, Xbones, and Ouyas. The mobile market is very risky a gamble, and Universal has stolen the theme park market from them. I think the only solution they have is to go third party, that way Sony can buy them out and combine their innovation with the PlayStation brand. That way Nintendo can cater to all markets and win.
 
If Nintendo can't get 3rd party devs on board with the NX they will never catch up to Sony and Microsoft.

Zelda and Mario can only push you so far before people start wanting more.
 
Well, I think the kids games market is more of a lesson in economics. Those games couldn't stand up to the onslaught of freemium and ad supported games. I think indies can be counted on to make inexpensive and fun games, and they have already found some success stories on Wii U.

In terms of hand-me-down scenario's, I don't think that market was ever buying dedicated games hardware anyways. They were just forcing their kids to play shitty flash games on hand-me-down PCs.

...how do indie games on Wii U have anything to do with the collapse of the licensed game market? Moreover, they're clearly not doing anything to drive hardware sales, nor can they possibly be generating more than a tiny fraction of the third-party licensing revenue Nintendo raked in from GBA, DS, and Wii.

Also, "forcing their kids to play shitty Flash games on hand-me-down PCs?" That's a new one.
 

Betty

Banned
No it won't Ubi.

Everyone and their Grandma wanted to play Wii because motion control was new, exciting, healthy and fun.

Short of another world capturing gimmick, NX has no chance to reach Wii saturation.
 

FStubbs

Member
Families were untapped once upon a time, and they were one of the main reasons why the Wii took off so quickly. However, that's before the smartphone and tablet became ubiquitous, and these devices fulfill a lot of the need families have for gaming. It's going to be a very narrow market for Nintendo to target.

I'm not so sure. Families got together to play stuff like Wii Sports, Carnival Games, and NSMB. They aren't getting together to play Flappy Bird.

Will Nintendo have to compete against mobile? Sure, just like Sony/MS are doing. But there's more than one way besides "throw more power at it." And if anything, Neo/Scorpio prove that Nintendo absolutely can not keep up with "throw more power at it".
 
I think it's exactly like the Wii. Even the dual platform Zelda release is exactly like the Wii.

But PS3 was 499/599 and it opened a weak spot for NIntendo to attack. IMO PS4/PS4k soft upgrade cycle is smarter strategy from Sony.

Also, iOS/Android has killed off low-end consoles, like everybody said.

What I am saying is the more I hear about the NX news, I more I think Nintendo hasn't evolved enough to face the new globalized gaming market.
 
"So we will see when they release it, but we are confident.”

Assuming this guy truly does speak for Ubisoft as a whole, this line actually does inspire me with confidence. For Ubisoft to say they are confident about a gimmicky Nintendo device in a post-Wii U world is telling.
 

4Tran

Member
I'm not so sure. Families got together to play stuff like Wii Sports, Carnival Games, and NSMB. They aren't getting together to play Flappy Bird.
That's the point of the mobile revolution - families don't have to play together any more. Instead, every member can play whatever interests himself the most.

Will Nintendo have to compete against mobile? Sure, just like Sony/MS are doing. But there's more than one way besides "throw more power at it." And if anything, Neo/Scorpio prove that Nintendo absolutely can not keep up with "throw more power at it".
Sony and Microsoft have the advantage that they're targeting audiences that aren't satisfied with just mobile content. Nintendo does though and so they're far more vulnerable. So if they're not willing to compete directly, it's quite possible that they can't compete in the long run at all.
 

mulac

Member
So is it worth picking up a Wii U now while we wait for NX?

I've never owned a Nintendo console and curious what the "Difference" is.
 
Nintendo best controllers is back. The Starfish!

prototype-wii-manette.jpg
 

Josh5890

Member
I thought my thirst for NX info would subside a little bit this week with Zelda and other companies but Ubisoft is putting me on my toes again.
 

catbrush

Member
That's the point of the mobile revolution - families don't have to play together any more. Instead, every member can play whatever interests himself the most.

Many families like doing things together. Sharing a fun experience with loved ones is beautiful.
 
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