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How can Nintendo win back marketshare with their next home console?

NewGame

Banned
Double down on the absurd gimmicks. I want heat and psi sensitive controllers with subdermal implants with 27 screens, some touch and others maybe not.

Force third parties to fight it out on Sony and Microsofts consoles.

Understanding directly.
 
In before 5 pages of "do exactly what Sony and Microsoft do, with nothing interesting at all to differentiate you!" a strategy that would sink Nintendo faster than the Titanic.

Fake edit: Oops, too late.
 

Zornack

Member
In before 5 pages of "do exactly what Sony and Microsoft do, with nothing interesting at all to differentiate you!" a strategy that would sink Nintendo faster than the Titanic.

Fake edit: Oops, too late.

Nintendo has the strongest set of IPs and the best 1st party developers. I don't see why a cheap Nintendo machine that's powerful enough to compete couldn't dominate.
 

Bulbasaur

Banned
A console and handheld that pretty much share the same releases.

Killer app at launch.

Keep pumping out that EAD goodness.
 

mario_O

Member
They need a good gimmick and a powerful console -this time for real.

But Next gen could be Nintendo's last console. Handhelds are dying and the wiiu sales have been abysmal.
 
In before 5 pages of "do exactly what Sony and Microsoft do, with nothing interesting at all to differentiate you!" a strategy that would sink Nintendo faster than the Titanic.

Fake edit: Oops, too late.

But what they do works... Nintendo doesn't have the luxury of having a new gimmick that no one else has thought of.

I'm not saying it will work for Nintendo (I don't think it would) but they have lost tens of millions of customers every generation and like one poster said earlier it started with PlayStation.

*edit- the market share drop from NES to SNES was large but they still had third parties at this point.

I think they are screwed personally. It's not just a matter of copying what Sony does, they have burned so many bridges with everyone from third parties, to tech companies, to their own customers that I personally doubt any home console they do won't sell more than 10 million.

They know it because they are actively trying to break into new markets for revenue. I don't know what is in their future but it is surely interesting to see this all happen. I don't even think they would go third party if they had too.

They are just too prideful and think it's still the late 80s early 90s.
 
Nintendo has the strongest set of IPs and the best 1st party developers. I don't see why a cheap Nintendo machine that's powerful enough to compete couldn't dominate.

The fact that they continually sell as poorly as they do tells me their first party IPs are not as strong as people like to think they are. I know it comes across as blasphemous to say this but at some point we need to maybe come to grips with the fact that for an increasingly large part of the console consumer base the Xbox and Playstation brands, and everything that goes along with them (1st party software, hardware, 3rd party relationships, online infrastructure and ecosystem) carry much more weight and appeal than Nintendo.
 

Big One

Banned
NintendOS to compete with other portable OS. It can be used on phones, tablets, PCs, etc. Uses a very clean interface with support for innovative hardware not commonly seen on the market.

Nintendophone released in combination with another company using said OS. Has a gamepad built into it but is normally hidden ala PSP Go with everything else being touchscreen.

Nintendo HD console for the hardcore gaming market. Has better specs than PS4/XboxOne and is easy to develop for. Backwards compatible with GC, Wii, and Wii U but main controller is the Pro Controller. Also uses NintendOS.

Virtual Console becomes a Steam-like platform for Nintendo and can be played on PCs, phones, tablets, etc. However the Nintendophone gets exclusives that can only be played on it like certain Wii and Wii U games. PCs get HD versions of 3D games as if they were emulated.

Perfect balance of Quality of Life and Gaming I'd say.
 

MMaRsu

Banned
I don't think of the Wii U as a failure. In fact, it's my favourite of the current gen systems. However, there's no denying that it's not nearly as successful as Nintendo's previous consoles.

I think doing these things might help their next system:

-ditch gimmicks, focus on traditional controls
-make similar hardware to the competition for more 3rd party support akin to the GameCube
-more online features, the stuff on Wii U was a great start

I think Nintendo trapped themselves in a niche where only the hardcore gamers will buy their home consoles. It might be profitable, but I don't see why Nintendo shouldn't be a little more aggressive in the console market.

To be honest, I dont think they can.
 
Not sure if it's been said ITT, but Nintendo hasn't yet lost this gen. It's not over yet. With a proper marketing push and a Wii Sports Resort 2 (now in HD!) they could probably once again trounce everyone. The good games on Wii are not what sold the Wii.

I'm having a hard time deciding if this is a master troll, or if anyone really IS this delusional
 

Fantastical

Death Prophet
The fact that they continually sell as poorly as they do tells me their first party IPs are not as strong as people like to think they are. I know it comes across as blasphemous to say this but at some point we need to maybe come to grips with the fact that for an increasingly large part of the console consumer base the Xbox and Playstation brands, and everything that goes along with them (1st party software, hardware, 3rd party relationships, online infrastructure and ecosystem) carry much more weight and appeal than Nintendo.

1st party software doesn't seem to matter that much on the other consoles either though. PS4 is winning by having the most powerful place to play 3rd party games. They certainly aren't selling it off compelling first party software. But yes, Nintendo's first party struggles outside of a few exceptions. Even Mario is struggling, but Mario Kart seems to be trucking along. SSB didn't seem to sell many consoles, though, despite good software numbers.

I'm surprised by how much the industry has moved to (seemingly?) almost exclusively M-rated games, something Nintendo doesn't do. So Nintendo is straddling this weird line between trying to appeal to their diminishing children market (who are moving on to iPads) and a more hardcore audience (who is typically served better elsewhere).

Not sure if it's been said ITT, but Nintendo hasn't yet lost this gen. It's not over yet. With a proper marketing push and a Wii Sports Resort 2 (now in HD!) they could probably once again trounce everyone. The good games on Wii are not what sold the Wii.

Please be real.
 

orioto

Good Art™
Usual answer: One only system, 2 skus with same OS/games. Just one dedicated to portability and one dedicated to home (comfort).
 
1st party software doesn't seem to matter that much on the other consoles either though. PS4 is winning by having the most powerful place to play 3rd party games. They certainly aren't selling it off compelling first party software. But yes, Nintendo's first party struggles outside of a few exceptions. Even Mario is struggling, but Mario Kart seems to be trucking along. SSB didn't seem to sell many consoles, though, despite good software numbers.

I'm surprised by how much the industry has moved to (seemingly?) almost exclusively M-rated games, something Nintendo doesn't do. So Nintendo is straddling this weird line between trying to appeal to their diminishing children market (who are moving on to iPads) and a more hardcore audience (who is typically served better elsewhere).

They are only struggling because of the platform, not the IP. If Mario Kart releases on PS4 say in 4 years after its almost EOL at say120 million they would probably sell just as many as the Wii MK did imo.
 
1st party software doesn't seem to matter that much on the other consoles either though. PS4 is winning by having the most powerful place to play 3rd party games. They certainly aren't selling it off compelling first party software. But yes, Nintendo's first party struggles outside of a few exceptions. Even Mario is struggling, but Mario Kart seems to be trucking along. SSB didn't seem to sell many consoles, though, despite good software numbers.

I'm surprised by how much the industry has moved to (seemingly?) almost exclusively M-rated games, something Nintendo doesn't do. So Nintendo is straddling this weird line between trying to appeal to their diminishing children market (who are moving on to iPads) and a more hardcore audience (who is typically served better elsewhere).

Sonys first and second party software has been moving quite a few units for a long time now, and they have quite a stable of critical and commercial hits to use.

I could throw out sales for Gran Turismo, Uncharted, or TLOU all day, but it's not really necessary. Look at the hype threads for Bloodborne or The Order. First party software is most certainly a strength for Sony right now.
 
Nintendo has the strongest set of IPs and the best 1st party developers. I don't see why a cheap Nintendo machine that's powerful enough to compete couldn't dominate.
How are you and so many others so sure of this?

Nintendo has the strongest set of IPs and the best 1st party developers on the Wii U right now, and its sales are still a travesty. The idea that Nintendo can get 3rd party support by more-or-less cloning Sony's and Microsoft's consoles is a pipe dream. 3rd parties do not care about Nintendo. Worse: they actively avoid Nintendo.

AAA publishers are convinced (with some justification) that 3rd party games sell poorly on Nintendo's consoles. They know that Nintendo has always been difficult to work with and treats 3rd parties poorly. They haven't worked with Nintendo for two generations. They know that the fans of the sort of AAA games they make are all used to buying Playstations and Xboxes anyway. They know that Nintendo is inevitably behind the technological curve when it comes to things like OS features, online support and the like, even when they try to keep up.

Why on earth would they come back?

You clearly didn't read the thread.

Are you sure you read the thread? At least a third of the posts are exactly what I wrote, with minor variations.

I think they are screwed personally.

I tend to lean in this direction. I don't see a way for Nintendo to regain market share, short of a totally unexpected stroke of genius, or a fundamental shift in the industry. I'm sort of excited to see if they go all in with a unified software platform, but as for beating Sony, I don't see any way for them to do it.
 

sörine

Banned
The fact that they continually sell as poorly as they do tells me their first party IPs are not as strong as people like to think they are. I know it comes across as blasphemous to say this but at some point we need to maybe come to grips with the fact that for an increasingly large part of the console consumer base the Xbox and Playstation brands, and everything that goes along with them (1st party software, hardware, 3rd party relationships, online infrastructure and ecosystem) carry much more weight and appeal than Nintendo.
So far this gen Nintendo's sold ~60m hardware units to PlayStation's ~30m and Xbox's ~10m. Nintendo brands still have mass appeal, even if their home console's a flop they still might end up selling more hardware this gen than any other console maker. And they're doing this on the back of mainly just their own portfolio.
 
Sonys first and second party software has been moving quite a few units for a long time now, and they have quite a stable of critical and commercial hits to use.

I could throw out sales for Gran Turismo, Uncharted, or TLOU all day, but it's not really necessary. Look at the hype threads for Bloodborne or The Order. First party software is most certainly a strength for Sony right now.

I think what Sony has that's different in regards to first party compared to either Nintendo or MS is that they have a really broad selection of either average or really good games.

They had Puppeteer, grand tourismo, TLOU, MAG, killzone, and all sorts of other odds and ends even if they didn't sell well they still put in the effort. MS certainly didn't do it with the 360 and Nintendo seems to keep polishing tried and true.
 

Fantastical

Death Prophet
Sonys first and second party software has been moving quite a few units for a long time now, and they have quite a stable of critical and commercial hits to use.

I could throw out sales for Gran Turismo, Uncharted, or TLOU all day, but it's not really necessary. Look at the hype threads for Bloodborne or The Order. First party software is most certainly a strength for Sony right now.

TLOU is the only game out on PS4 now though. I'm not saying Sony doesn't have great first party games or properties. I'm saying not many of them are on PS4 right now, and especially weren't there at launch.

Are you sure you read the thread? At least a third of the posts are exactly what I wrote, with minor variations.

Yeah I read the entire thread. People are contributing a lot more than just "better graphics." Of course those posts exists, many truly people believe that's what they should do. But you are mischaracterizing the thread and ignoring the other discussions.
 
That will not make a difference. At this point, consumers will end up picking Sony and Microsoft for their third party fix.

Honestly, all I want are unique games from them and a unified account.

Most 3rd party games are PS4/PC or XBone/PC. Guess what I'm getting...
avatar_8814d626a99f_128.png


Right now, PCs feel like the console experience of old. I click buy, I click install, the install is now fairly fast and painless, then I'm on my way to play. I don't want to scroll through channels. I don't want to diddle with the dash board.
 

StevieP

Banned
They are only struggling because of the platform, not the IP. If Mario Kart releases on PS4 say in 4 years after its almost EOL at say120 million they would probably sell just as many as the Wii MK did imo.

Pipe dreams in so many regards. The ecosystem on the ps4 (or consoles in general) isn't conducive to that kind of software, as evidenced by sales and current software support.


Sonys first and second party software has been moving quite a few units for a long time now, and they have quite a stable of critical and commercial hits to use.

I could throw out sales for Gran Turismo, Uncharted, or TLOU all day, but it's not really necessary. Look at the hype threads for Bloodborne or The Order. First party software is most certainly a strength for Sony right now.

Commercial success and critical success are 2 different things. Ask Nintendo.

First party software is not why the PS4 is selling. All the blood borne hype threads aren't going to make the game sell significantly more software than dark souls, no matter it's hype
 

Fantastical

Death Prophet
They are only struggling because of the platform, not the IP. If Mario Kart releases on PS4 say in 4 years after its almost EOL at say120 million they would probably sell just as many as the Wii MK did imo.

I said Mario Kart did well (especially relative to the platform and it sold hardware). Would Mario 3D World have done great on PS4/Xbox One? I kinda doubt it. Of course it's speculation, maybe the PS4 crowd would have loved it... but again... I doubt it.
 

Brofist

Member
Most 3rd party games are PS4/PC or XBone/PC. Guess what I'm getting...

Right now, PCs feel like the console experience of old. I click buy, I click install, the install is now fairly fast and painless, then I'm on my way to play. I don't want to scroll through channels. I don't want to diddle with the dash board.

It really is unbelievably easy.

I love reading the circa 2001 lists people still make in topics about why they don't play games on PC and all the difficulties associated. Feels like I'm hearing my grandpa talk about growing up.
 
Make the new console and handheld have an integrated Nintendo variant of Steam OS. Solves 3rd party support and Nintendo published titles would only be playable on Nintendo Systems, unless NCL choose to release it otherwise.

Bring back the concept of the N64's Dream Team with co-developed exclusives.
 

Wozman23

Member
Many of these have been brought up:

Drop the gimmicks.
Make the primary controller a more traditional controller.
Elevate tech/specs to compete with Sony and MS.
Stop living in the past and adapt to some of today's trends.
Overhaul their UI. (Granted, no one currently has a good UI.)
Overhaul their marketplace and account structure.
Get up to par with online gaming.
Introduce some new IP.
Develop more in 3D. (which is insane for me to say since I love 2D)
Embrace the indie scene. (which they're finally starting to do)
Release a more balanced catalog of both mature and family friendly games.
Get someone creative in there to name their games instead of slapping "New" and "for WiiU" on them.
Enroll in a class of Supply and Demand 101.
Get as far away from the Wii name as possible.

If they can't hit on the majority of those points, I'd rather they become a software company. Because I'd still love to play their software, but their narrow-mindedness and antiquated, quirky hardware really hampers my enjoyment.
 
Pipe dreams in so many regards. The ecosystem on the ps4 (or consoles in general) isn't conducive to that kind of software, as evidenced by sales and current software support.




Commercial success and critical success are 2 different things. Ask Nintendo.

First party software is not why the PS4 is selling. All the blood borne hype threads aren't going to make the game sell significantly more software than dark souls, no matter it's hype

Sony has commercial AND critical success under its belt. Demons souls was a runaway hit on the ps3, which is why we got Dark Souls to begin with.

Bloodborne will sell as well as Dark Souls, and easily better than DS2, assuming the quality of the game is high and we don't run into any crazy issues like Driveclub did.

The Order and Uncharted 4 are both going to put up numbers Dark Souls couldnt dream of.

The ps4 has been selling for lots of reasons, but pretending that no one is anticipating follow ups to their commercially successful games of last gen (TLOU, Uncharted, God of War, gran turismo, heavy rain, demons souls, LBP, Journey, etc) is laughable.
 
They killed the wii too early and I think that has hurt their sales for wii U. Even with MS xbox one and Sony's PS4 currently in stores. When I visit any game stores here in the UK I can clearly see there still spaces for ps3 and x360 games, consoles and accessories.

Killed it way too late, more like. Game stores in the UK (specifically GAME) have entire aisles of Wii games and accessories - generally more than Wii U stuff - so I don't know which stores you're visiting. Plus the console was drowning in third-party shovelware anyway. Turns out people's purchase confidence really was knocked when it turns out that a massive portion of the available library were essentially £35 Flash games. Who would have guessed?

I think ditching the cynical elitism and making a console that truly CAN be the lone console in the house would be a good idea. Parents won't buy their kids a £300 console when they know that their kid will want another £300 console in six months to play Minecraft or Call of Duty on (even tho they ain't 18.)

Exclusives are all well and good, but there's no reason why they couldn't do that and also provide a functional platform for third parties to work on. And ditch the add-ons, gimmicks, GamePads, Pro Controllers, Gamecube adapters, Wiimotes, Nunchuks, Amiibos, and other such stuff. It's all good for the hardcore Nintendo fan, but it confuses the living hell out of anyone who is either on the fringes or way outside the hardcore base. Try explaining to a non-owner how you can play Bayonetta 2 with a Pro Controller:-

"Yes, you can use a Pro Controller, but you must also have the GamePad connected and turned on as it can't be turned off without switching off the Wii U as well. If the GamePad runs out of charge, the game will stop, so you need to keep it charged even though you're not using it and are using the Pro Controller."

Compare it to any other system:-

"Yes, you can use the controller. Turn it on. It works."

Their online service still needs to improve, too. When a big announcement is "Now you can use your NAME instead of a bunch of numbers!" in 2011, you know that in four years time, that company will still be behind the curve. Which they are.

No voice chat in Splatoon pretty much sums up their approach to online gaming. It's easier to just not have the feature than provide ways of combating abuse. So let's do that. Although I really wouldn't be surprised to see a £20 "Splatoon Voice Chat Adapter" peripheral that enables it, given the company's level of cynicism over the years.

Plus, they need to at least try to curate what goes onto their online stores. Some of the crap that's on there now is barely playable.

One more - how about re-releasing their rich, varied, high-quality retro titles for less than a bajillion dollars apiece? That could genuinely shift a few consoles - especially if it was advertised right there on the console box.
 

StevieP

Banned
Sony has commercial AND critical success under its belt. Demons souls was a runaway hit on the ps3, which is why we got Dark Souls to begin with.

Bloodborne will sell as well as Dark Souls, and easily better than DS2, assuming the quality of the game is high and we don't run into any crazy issues like Driveclub did.

The Order and Uncharted 4 are both going to put up numbers Dark Souls couldnt dream of.

The ps4 has been selling for lots of reasons, but pretending that no one is anticipating follow ups to their commercially successful games of last gen (TLOU, Uncharted, God of War, gran turismo, heavy rain, demons souls, LBP, Journey, etc) is laughable.

How many million copies did demons souls sell? How many million is the order going to sell? How many copies did gta and call of duty sell? How many copies did mario kart 8 sell on the miniscule player base of the wii u?
 

saunderez

Member
sörine;150679742 said:
So far this gen Nintendo's sold ~60m hardware units to PlayStation's ~30m and Xbox's ~10m. Nintendo brands still have mass appeal, even if their home console's a flop they still might end up selling more hardware this gen than any other console maker. And they're doing this on the back of mainly just their own portfolio.

You can inflate the numbers all you want by combining platforms, but at the end of the day Nintendo still won't sell more consoles than Sony or Microsoft. It's not even going to be close. This thread is about their next console so I don't know why you'd even bring the handhelds into it.
 
sörine;150679742 said:
So far this gen Nintendo's sold ~60m hardware units to PlayStation's ~30m and Xbox's ~10m. Nintendo brands still have mass appeal, even if their home console's a flop they still might end up selling more hardware this gen than any other console maker. And they're doing this on the back of mainly just their own portfolio.

Notice I didn't say hardware. Im talking about home consoles. 3DS is not a home console. It's been clear for a long time that Nintendo's success in the handheld market doesn't translate over to home consoles because it's an entirely different audience. And their handheld business is in a pretty clear decline as well. They need to be worried that the 3DS successor isn't the handheld version of the GameCube or Wii U.
 

AmyS

Member
and like one poster said earlier it started with PlayStation.

It all started in Chicago at the Summer Consumer Electronics Show when Nintendo committed betrayalton on Sony with one of Sony's competitors, Philips, about developing SNES CD-ROM expansion. Sony already had a deal dating back to 1988 to co-develop CD-ROM for the still-in-development Super Famicom.
That's how the PlayStation we would know came into existence. And for one purpose: Revenge.
 
How many million copies did demons souls sell? How many million is the order going to sell? How many copies did gta and call of duty sell? How many copies did mario kart 8 sell on the miniscule player base of the wii u?

Are you implying that exclusive software doesn't sell systems unless it's moving the same amount of copies as GTA or Call of Duty?

I guess Halo never sold any Xboxes then.

Uncharted 1 sold somewhere around 5 million copies on ps3, when that system was still struggling and no one cared who naughty dog was. I would be VERY surprised if The Order doesn't end up close to that- assuming reviews are good. UC4 will pass that easily.
 
Pipe dreams in so many regards. The ecosystem on the ps4 (or consoles in general) isn't conducive to that kind of software, as evidenced by sales and current software support.




Commercial success and critical success are 2 different things. Ask Nintendo.

First party software is not why the PS4 is selling. All the blood borne hype threads aren't going to make the game sell significantly more software than dark souls, no matter it's hype

How is it a pipe dream? We are assuming that Nintendo has no home console in this scenario right? I don't know of a single person that has just a Nintendo console and I haven't for a very long time. It's anecdotal sure but without a Nintendo console doesn't mean that those IPs are garbage. The market has always been there, they just don't see the value in spending almost 400 dollars on more hardware to play 3 games.
 

NickFire

Member
Yeah, I don't like their chances here. The timing issue is huge, and I can't picture them blowing the competitions specs away for a reasonable price to justify starting next generation early.
 

NathanS

Member
Pipe dreams in so many regards. The ecosystem on the ps4 (or consoles in general) isn't conducive to that kind of software, as evidenced by sales and current software support.

And I think we all know how going third party worked out for Atari and Sega...
 

firelogic

Member
They already have the marketshare they've always had in the home console space.

Take a look at their trajectory.

Started at the top with NES
Went higher with SNES
Dropped large with the N64
Dropped even more with the GCN
Crazy high with the Wii - outlier
Dropped even more with the WiiU compared to the GCN

Nintendo has been on a steady decline since the SNES. The Wii was a massive abnormality. The N64 is when they started to do weird things and it's never paid off except with the Wii but that wasn't sustainable. They'd better get back to basics with the next console or they'll continue their downward trend.
 

Kusagari

Member
Didn't the Gamecube make Nintendo a profit from the very beginning?

Is a 20 million+ selling system with powerful hardware and somewhat decent third party support really a bad thing?

The Wii was lightning in the bottle that they're likely never going to catch again.
 
I would love to see a more powerful next gen home console from Nintendo, especially if its more powerful than Sony's and Microsoft's next gen offerings. Can a more powerful Nintendo console sell at $400 or $450 and if its released a year early? Say in 2017? I doubt it, but it sure would be nice.
 

Dr. Kaos

Banned
The answer is crystal clear. Both Sony and MS are betting on VR/AR headsets, and for good reason. The technology is on the cusp of exponential growth rivaling smartphones
(shocking, I know, but only geeks had smartphones 10 years ago, and they sucked, yet look where we are now).

VR requires a powerful high poly, high lighting GPU, optimized for stereo 3D rendering and an 11ms movement to screen pipeline (to achieve 90fps) will have to be standard.

The console could also run traditional TV games.

The cost of the headset+console will likely run to $600+, so that's a really tricky problem. If VR is hot enough, they may get away with it, especially since the competition will be offering VR experiences somewhere around $500 (assuming the PS4 drops in price to $300 and sell morpheus for $200) that are significantly inferior to whatever Nintendo's peddling.

If the console is within the power ballpark of the PS5/X4, which would likely release a year later, they can offer publishers and devs parity with Sony's terms, and reap the benefits of the similar architecture when developers port to HyperNintendo or whatever it'll be called as automatically as they do today between ps4/x1.

With all these things, and polished, magical Nintendo VR worlds, Nintendo could sell a ton of consoles. Unfortunately, Miyamoto thinks VR is creepy/sad so I doubt Nintendo will go that direction.
 
They already have the marketshare they've always had in the home console space.

Take a look at their trajectory.

Started at the top with NES
Went higher with SNES
Dropped large with the N64
Dropped even more with the GCN
Crazy high with the Wii - outlier
Dropped even more with the WiiU compared to the GCN

Nintendo has been on a steady decline since the SNES. The Wii was a massive abnormality. The N64 is when they started to do weird things and it's never paid off except with the Wii but that wasn't sustainable. They'd better get back to basics with the next console or they'll continue their downward trend.

I think this is something the hardcore still doesn't understand - _Nintendo_ was never as popular as they think it was. Mario was. But, it was basically the Angry Birds of it's day - something most people played a few times at a friend's house, then forgot about, except as a warm childhood memory.

I mean, look at the actual sales numbers that Nintendo has released for that era. There's Mario Brothers and Duck Hunt, then a big gap where nothing else. I'd even make the argument that as a simple percentage, far more of a percentage of kids in 2014 know what Uncharted is than ever knew what Zelda or Metroid was in 1988.

The Wii was a massive aberration.

Oh, and as a joke answer, "release games people will buy instead of Bayonetta 2."
 
Notice I didn't say hardware. Im talking about home consoles. 3DS is not a home console. It's been clear for a long time that Nintendo's success in the handheld market doesn't translate over to home consoles because it's an entirely different audience. And their handheld business is in a pretty clear decline as well. They need to be worried that the 3DS successor isn't the handheld version of the GameCube or Wii U.

it's inevitable that the next true successor to the 3DS will decline drastically. smartphones and tablets are really conditioning a lot of people to expect their mobile devices to be all in one, Nintendo's handhelds can't ever be all in ones. Nintendo is limited by an affordable price point, where as smartphones and tablets can range from cheap to expensive. i just dont see the same numbers or anything close to the 3DS sales numbers happening for Nintendo's next handheld. with mobile gaming you see games on smartphones and tablets really catch on fast in the mainstream between kids and adults, games that are usually available on a number of different OS's. Nintendo can't keep up with that sort of overnight success with it's software when its software is on a proprietary device that only appeals to a limited number of people interesed in a handheld gaming device (everyone uses a phone or tablet already). so regardless of the great software Nintendo puts out, it's only appealing to a limited number of people who are willing to pay money to use a handheld gaing device. it's much easier for people to use a multpurpose moblie device that also happens to have games, regardless of quality, than buy a Nintendo handheld for just the games. the same thing that's been happening with Nintendo's home console sales is going to happen to its handheld sales; Nintendo will release s handheld that only appeals to the Nintendo diehards and children
 

120v

Member
The Wii was lightning in the bottle that they're likely never going to catch again.

i wouldn't say it was... wii was actually pretty well calculated as per the market.

nintendo knew a gamecube 2 would just see diminished returns so they went with a different strategy that was pretty well thought out

true they may never see that level of success again but i don't think it was some spontaneous stroke of luck thing. and i think they're capable of of doing something similar again
 

Kodiak

Not an asshole.
1. They need to start fresh. They need a "brand reboot". Ditch the Wii and DS brands and release a new console / handheld pair that brings back Nintendo and Gameboy as the core brands.

2. They need a new killer app at the core. Something new. A big HD Pokemon game, or a new IP - something that has mass appeal. It needs to be there at launch. They need something that hits the mass market in the same way as Pokemon, Minecraft or Call of Duty. A big HD Pokemon might do the trick.

3. Reboot all their core brands and start fresh. Release just simply "Super Mario" - sort of a sequel to Super Mario 64 - a big new HD adventure in the Mushroom Kingdom.

4. It doesn't have to be a god-tier system. It should be affordable at launch ($299!). It just needs to run smoothly on every level. Clean, fast UI and the ability to get third party releases from PS4 / XB1 / PC. Wii U games already look great, and Nintendo's art style doesn't need much more power than the Wii U.

Basically ditch all the baggage of the past, start fresh and completely reboot everything.

It needs to be clear exactly what it is - a new, exciting Nintendo console that lots of kids and Nintendo fans will want. Let them buy it cheaply at launch with along with a really compelling new Nintendo game.

Basically a modern NES / SNES.
 
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