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[Eolz]

With the way the Japanese market is going, I will be extremely surprised if Nintendo's next console isn't some form of hybrid between portable and home console, perhaps something that docks into a cradle with extra storage and video ports.

Then be surprised, Iwata already told this won't happen for next gen. Maybe next, but this one is more about ease of cross-platform development

 

[Captain Smoker]

Even if Nintendo released a console that is 8 times more powerful than PS4, there'll be no 3rd party support. Wii U was a lot less powerful than PS4 but on par with PS3 and 360. Yet, there were no 3rd party support or ports from these two platforms.

Furthermore, Nintendo seems to concentrate on the Indie scene, less on the few big publishers in the West that can't output a ton of games either because they have to pay their annual AAA-bill and mobile shovelware.


I think Nintendos software future is going to look like this:
• Still producing AAA games but more efficiently due to integrated divisions
• Producing more mid-tier games due to asset-sharing
• More second party developments (pay the bill and let SPD supervise)
• Pushing the eShop further and create a profitable environment for Indie developers


Nintendo is not Sega and they have more opportunities to get "3rd Party" games nowadays, even if they are not called COD or FIFA or Madden.

 

[ec0ec0]

reading time

 

[TriangularDuck]

Then be surprised, Iwata already told this won't happen for next gen. Maybe next, but this one is more about ease of cross-platform development

I must have missed this, all I remember was a wishy washy answer from him last year during one of these meetings saying there might be more devices or there might be less depending on what the market demands. The Japanese market is clearly demanding portable systems.

 

[TC McQueen]

I like Iwata pointing out that more people are starting to understand his old GDC "Devaluing of games" speech. At the time, it seemed like a lot of people deliberately missed the point.

Too bad he didn't take the whole "practically anyone can buy any content made in the last few centuries" thing into account. With a practically infinite supply of entertainment, people aren't going to be so willing to pay $60 for any old game and they'll seek out any means of saving money, including waiting for huge sales discounts.

I must have missed this, all I remember was a wishy washy answer from him last year during one of these meetings saying there might be more devices or there might be less depending on what the market demands. The Japanese market is clearly demanding portable systems.

Yeah, but the rest of the world isn't, so a hybrid device or handheld/microconsole combo would allow them to tap into both markets in a cost effective manner.

 

[faridmon]

So they still don't have their own Mark Cerny.

Thank god!

 

[sörine]

Low bar indie initiatives (cheap dev kits, easy cert, free middleware, promo support, etc) and cooperative consolidating of Japanese devs (both console traditional studios and the new mobile kings) are the way forward for Nintendo 3rd party support. If their boxes move enough then EA, Activision and Ubisoft will be there anyway but Nintendo will need to build up their base first for the old world western pubs.

 

[maxcriden]

With the optimistic option ? On par with Wii U but for 480p/540p screen. And when I say on par, I mean it, in term of horsepower, not in term of how the games look. Vita was comparable to PS3 and 3DS to Wii in term of what was displaying, but not in term of hardware capabilities.

Now, that's the optimistic view... from my view ?
The same way 3DS was to Wii or Vita to PS3. Basically, it looks like a Wii U game, but it's not.
But I'm pretty much a pessimistic/realistic guy, especially after these Wii U speculation threads

Thanks for the info. I actually misspoke, though. What I meant to ask was--what do you expect the new console would be like in comparison to this?

 

[Eolz]

Low bar indie initiatives (cheap dev kits, easy cert, free middleware, promo support, etc) and cooperative consolidating of Japanese devs (both console traditional studios and the new mobile kings) are the way forward for Nintendo 3rd party support. If their boxes move enough then EA, Activision and Ubisoft will be there anyway but Nintendo will need to build up their base first for the old world western pubs.

This basically. The crossplatform ease of development (handheld -> console and vice-versa) is a big point to attract Japanese devs/pubs in the future.
And yeah, as said before, power just isn't enough to attract western AAA content on Nintendo platforms, sadly.

 

[Drkirby]

Hmm, so Amiibos are much more popular in NA? I take it then the card version is more aimed at Japan, they always seem more receptive to trading cards in general, and it will fit into their heavy use of portables more.

 

[IsntChrisL]

Just finished reading the whole thing. It did not leave me optimistic about the future of Nintendo.

On one hand you get the sense that Nintendo sees a change in the way the wind blows. They understand that social media and smartphones are playing an increasing role in the way people become aware of a product.

On the other hand, they're using that to justify a lack of marketing. Iwata said that they want to create products that have instant appeal at a glance but if nobody is glancing and you're not marketing, the product is going to be dead in the water. Wii U retail space is a joke compared to what the Wii received. Nintendo can't depend on them to turn shit around. Moreso, they can't expect consumers who know nothing about their product to actively seek out information on it. That's the whole point of marketing. Social media should be there to strengthen the marketing and brand, not replace it.

I like Iwata, I really do. But I do not like how stubborn he's been over the last 5 years or so. He's not an idiot. It's very clear that he understands things don't operate the same as they used to. Yet, year after year, he digs his heels in. When I read this Q&A I got the impression that Nintendo is a company that understands the world is changing but is fighting tooth and nail to try to make it change according to their own vision. The sad thing is that Iwata is still holding onto the idea of landing a savior IP on the Wii U. If you don't greenlight new IP, that won't happen. I'm looking forward to Spaltoon, but it's not going to save the system. And that goes double for Project Giant Robot and Project Guard. Nintendo has let the 3DS get almost all of their new IP's and the Wii U first party library has been primarily sequels.

And even if Nintendo were to catch lightning in a bottle, that's no way to run a business. They can't just hope to get lucky year after year. They need to try harder than that. Leave luck to heaven, Nintendo. Focus on what your core consumers want and cast a wide net within that user base.

 

[JoeM86]

I like Iwata, I really do. But I do not like how stubborn he's been over the last 5 years or so. He's not an idiot. It's very clear that he understands things don't operate the same as they used to. Yet, year after year, he digs his heels in. When I read this Q&A I got the impression that Nintendo is a company that understands the world is changing but is fighting tooth and nail to try to make it change according to their own vision. The sad thing is that Iwata is still holding onto the idea of landing a savior IP on the Wii U. If you don't greenlight new IP, that won't happen. I'm looking forward to Spaltoon, but it's not going to save the system. And that goes double for Project Giant Robot and Project Guard. Nintendo has let the 3DS get almost all of their new IP's and the Wii U first party library has been primarily sequels.

Come now. You say they need to greenlight new IPs, then you rattle off a list of a few of the upcoming new IPs and say they won't save the system. You can't have it both ways.

Nothing will save the Wii U. Everybody knows that, Nintendo knows that, Iwata knows that. The key now is to keep it profitable without pissing off the audience base that's there and new IPs like this do that.

 

[test_account]

In the UK lots of products show their energy efficiency:

If the government said that consoles must do the same that big A on Nintendo's system may be a big plus, especially with rising energy bills

At the moment though it's a weird aspect to Nintendo's hardware design because they don't even advertise it. You'd only really know the Wii U is energy efficient if you follow the company closely. They never once mention it in their advertising or packaging. For something that is apparently so important they are awfully quiet about it.

Unless that the electric prices increase like 10x, the electric bill wouldnt increase that much.

Thank god!

Why do you think its bad to have a guy that is dedicated to making a console?

 

[IsntChrisL]

Come now. You say they need to greenlight new IPs, then you rattle off a list of a few of the upcoming new IPs and say they won't save the system. You can't have it both ways.

Nothing will save the Wii U. Everybody knows that, Nintendo knows that, Iwata knows that. The key now is to keep it profitable without pissing off the audience base that's there and new IPs like this do that.

It's 2015. Only one of those titles I listed has even been properly shown off. All three will have taken roughly 3 years or more into the Wii U's lifespan to arrive (assuming the other two aren't absorbed into other games). Compare that output with what's been given to the 3DS and it's not even a contest.

 

[Relaxed Muscle]

I like Iwata pointing out that more people are starting to understand his old GDC "Devaluing of games" speech. At the time, it seemed like a lot of people deliberately missed the point.

We got it, it was as bullshit back then as is now.

Is even more bullshit now that Nintendo core business hasn't been as weak as today, which makes his speech hilarious in retrospect.

 

[Plinko]

I find it mindboggling that Nintendo thinks most gamers care about electricity consumption. What an asinine mode of thought.

 

[FryHole]

I find it mindboggling that Nintendo thinks most gamers care about electricity consumption. What an asinine mode of thought.

I don't see anything in the Q&A that specifically says that, myself.

 

[DXB-KNIGHT]

Nothing new so I think Iwata still keeping his cards closer to his chest

 

[Eolz]

Why do you think its bad to have a guy that is dedicated to making a console?

They exist. The Cerny reference was probably more about some choices he made for the PS4 and Vita that are discutable

Spoiler

and how much he's revered here

We got it, it was as bullshit back then as is now.

Is even more bullshit now that Nintendo core business hasn't been as weak as today, which makes his speech hilarious in retrospect.

Yep, you still don't get it. Did you watch the speech or just some select quotes trying to find something to attack them with? Since then, it has completely applied to the mobile industry, with Apple now trying to get off this problem, and companies are starting to see it with franchise stagnation and mismanagement.

I find it mindboggling that Nintendo thinks most gamers care about electricity consumption. What an asinine mode of thought.

Not gamers, consumers. Different thing.

 

[Plinko]

Not gamers, consumers. Different thing.

But core gamers are the ones who drive the industry. They're the ones making PS4 so popular. They couldn't care less about electricity.

Nintendo is putting focus on things that don't matter in the least, and it is hurting them.

 

[deleted]

Hopefully the speculation regarding being able to play the handheld games on the console turns out to be true. That's where most of the important japanese third party games are these days. I don't think it solves all of their issues, but it'll definitely help.

I'm looking forward to that too - I like games on a handheld, but I don't like gaming on a handheld. To have more games from the 3DS successor on the Wii U successor would be a huge plus in my book!

Personally, I can't wait to see where Nintendo goes next. I'm not always happy with their output (and as time goes on I'm more aware of their flaws), but they are still the place for me to go for my games - besides the PC.

 

[Mr Swine]

But core gamers are the ones who drive the industry. They're the ones making PS4 so popular. They couldn't care less about electricity.

Nintendo is putting focus on things that don't matter in the least, and it is hurting them.

If it doesn't matter, then why is Intel, AMD and Nvidia focusing so much on lowering how much watt their CPU's and GPU's are using? we all know that products using less electricity are running cooler so that is probably a reason why

 

[phanphare]

Just finished reading the whole thing. It did not leave me optimistic about the future of Nintendo.

On one hand you get the sense that Nintendo sees a change in the way the wind blows. They understand that social media and smartphones are playing an increasing role in the way people become aware of a product.

On the other hand, they're using that to justify a lack of marketing. Iwata said that they want to create products that have instant appeal at a glance but if nobody is glancing and you're not marketing, the product is going to be dead in the water. Wii U retail space is a joke compared to what the Wii received. Nintendo can't depend on them to turn shit around. Moreso, they can't expect consumers who know nothing about their product to actively seek out information on it. That's the whole point of marketing. Social media should be there to strengthen the marketing and brand, not replace it.

I like Iwata, I really do. But I do not like how stubborn he's been over the last 5 years or so. He's not an idiot. It's very clear that he understands things don't operate the same as they used to. Yet, year after year, he digs his heels in. When I read this Q&A I got the impression that Nintendo is a company that understands the world is changing but is fighting tooth and nail to try to make it change according to their own vision. The sad thing is that Iwata is still holding onto the idea of landing a savior IP on the Wii U. If you don't greenlight new IP, that won't happen. I'm looking forward to Spaltoon, but it's not going to save the system. And that goes double for Project Giant Robot and Project Guard. Nintendo has let the 3DS get almost all of their new IP's and the Wii U first party library has been primarily sequels.

And even if Nintendo were to catch lightning in a bottle, that's no way to run a business. They can't just hope to get lucky year after year. They need to try harder than that. Leave luck to heaven, Nintendo. Focus on what your core consumers want and cast a wide net within that user base.

honestly judging from your third paragraph I'd say Iwata has a clearer view of reality than you do. also you are coming to some misguided conclusions in regards to Iwata holding out hope for that one IP to save the Wii U.

 

[Juken]

Yep, you still don't get it. Did you watch the speech or just some select quotes trying to find something to attack them with? Since then, it has completely applied to the mobile industry, with Apple now trying to get off this problem, and companies are starting to see it with franchise stagnation and mismanagement.

What is there to get? It just comes across as Iwata whining about a massive change in consumer behavior that has negatively impacted his business. It would be different if Iwata has made some progress against this "problem" over the years, but this so called devaluation only seems to be accelerating.

And every time the statistics come up, more people seem to be gaming than ever before with more total revenue going around. I'm not seeing the effects of this devaluation.

 

[Relaxed Muscle]

Yep, you still don't get it. Did you watch the speech or just some select quotes trying to find something to attack them with? Since then, it has completely applied to the mobile industry, with Apple now trying to get off this problem, and companies are starting to see it with franchise stagnation and mismanagement.

We live in a world were each year mobile gaming increases their revenue and Steam already has 125 millions users.

Iwata was clueless back then, is even more clueless today with the data in our hands.

 

[IsntChrisL]

honestly judging from your third paragraph I'd say Iwata has a clearer view of reality than you do. also you are coming to some misguided conclusions in regards to Iwata holding out hope for that one IP to save the Wii U.

Iwata understands Nintendo better than I ever will. I'm only responding to his words in this Q&A. And he continues to tout this line that one game can turn everything around. I'm sure Nintendo has written the Wii U off and is just doing their best to not handle the situation like Sega would have. My post is all just armchair quarterbacking but I still stand by it. They've done shit all practically for the Wii U regarding new IP. The time to really push new IP has passed and they know it. I'm just hoping that Splatoon and Devil's Third don't suffer too much because Nintendo didn't see the need to look more seriously into HD development earlier.

 

[Deleted member 126221]

But core gamers are the ones who drive the industry.

Just like how cinephiles drive Hollywood?

 

[Tom_Cody]

I read the first page while eating breakfast. I love reading these things.

An interesting bit:

Finally, regarding your question about amiibo’s profitability, we have been selling amiibo at the same MSRP so that consumers will easily understand its price point. However, I think you can easily tell just by looking at several amiibo figures that production costs vary for each one of them; some amiibo have a more complex structure and a greater number of colors, which means they cost more to produce than others. Nevertheless, since setting different price points could be misinterpreted as the company valuing certain characters more than others, we came to the decision to set an MSRP that would return a profit from the amiibo platform as a whole.

This is a topic that has interested me since these were first shown off at last year's E3. The figures clearly differ in size/weight, construction complexity (number of pieces), and paint complexity and thus clearly have different production costs. This is extremely obvious if you handle a few of the figures at once. With other action figures, this is sometimes balanced out with accessories, but Amiibos are stand-alone statues.

I had previously guessed that the production cost were sufficiently low relative to their wholesale price (not to mention other variable cost factors such as packaging and shipping), but it is interesting to see Iwata mention this in the Q&A in this specific way. The phrase "as a whole" implies that not every Amiibo model is profitable individually, which is kind of shocking. This could definitely have something to do with the varying production quantities for the different figures and their corresponding shortages.

 

[phanphare]

I read the first page while eating breakfast. I love reading these things.

An interesting bit:

This is a topic that has interested me since these were first shown off at last year's E3. The figures clearly differ in size/weight, construction complexity (number of pieces), and paint complexity and thus clearly have different production costs. This is extremely obvious if you handle a few of the figures at once. With other action figures, this is sometimes balanced out with accessories, but Amiibos are stand-alone statues.

I had previously guessed that the production cost were sufficiently low relative to their wholesale price (not to mention other variable cost factors such as packaging and shipping), but it is interesting to see Iwata mention this in thje Q&A in this specific way. The phrase "as a whole" implies that not every Amiibo model is profitable individually, which is kind of shocking. This could definitely have something to do with the varying production quantities for the different figures and their corresponding shortages.

that's interesting. so they're probably taking a loss on characters like Captain Falcon but making enough back from characters like Kirby and Pikachu.

 

[chaosblade]

If it doesn't matter, then why is Intel, AMD and Nvidia focusing so much on lowering how much watt their CPU's and GPU's are using? we all know that products using less electricity are running cooler so that is probably a reason why

That's entirely different, the future of computing is low power/mobile. Of course the companies making processors want to continue to be competitive in the future and not stuck in niche markets demanding high performance products.

I also think it's a stretch to say AMD and Nvidia are "focused" on lower power consumption for gaming GPUs, when they are as power hungry as ever.

 

[wsippel]

So they still don't have their own Mark Cerny. They didn't even have someone there! Which makes me fear how short-sighted may be their future platform and OS design if this is still the same people that were in charge of the Wii/3DS/Wii U SDK. Except this time, multiple hardware and multiple generation could be impacted at once. Quick, someone, send your resumes!

The head of SDS is not the lead architect. "Nintendo's Mark Cerny" is a guy named Sudha Sudharsanan, former director of engineering at Nvidia and principal architect at Sun Microsystems and Digital Equipment.

 

[Calamari41]

lol, it's Cerny that is the "Iwata" of Sony not the other way around.

It's too late to bring The Legend Of Cerny down to earth. No, he sat there at his work bench, alone and unaided, and put together the PS4 hardware in a long night. All Hail!

Even if Nintendo released a console that is 8 times more powerful than PS4, there'll be no 3rd party support. Wii U was a lot less powerful than PS4 but on par with PS3 and 360. Yet, there were no 3rd party support or ports from these two platforms.

The main point to have similar architecture with their handheld is to share 100% of its library. There goes your software drought.

This is the absolute truth. Nintendo needs to do what they need to do in order to sell systems. They must realize by now that nothing they do will get them robust Western third party support. If they can maintain a system themselves, with attractive first party (and Japanese third party) software, then maybe Western third parties will come along for the ride too. But the key is to be able to maintain drought-less software output on their own. Because if the Wii taught them anything, it's that they truly are on their own.

The Wii sold gangbusters, and whenever there's an argument in one of these threads about third party support, people point to Boom Blox in defense of Western third parties providing AAA support.

 

[Eolz]

But core gamers are the ones who drive the industry. They're the ones making PS4 so popular. They couldn't care less about electricity.

Nintendo is putting focus on things that don't matter in the least, and it is hurting them.

Core gamers aren't driving the whole industry, and the Wii/DS showed that. However, there has been a shift for the console market, I agree with that.
What I was saying is that you don't talk about core gamers to investors. And Iwata didn't exactly say "we're aiming for the lowest power consumption possible next time", but that you should try to use better designed systems on this particular aspect, which is like the PS4 compared to the PS360 gen for example. It's still too vague to say it will be like the WiiU or like the PS4 in terms of power drawing.

What is there to get? It just comes across as Iwata whining about a massive change in consumer behavior that has negatively impacted his business. It would be different if Iwata has made some progress against this "problem" over the years, but this so called devaluation only seems to be accelerating.

And every time the statistics come up, more people seem to be gaming than ever before with more total revenue going around. I'm not seeing the effects of this devaluation.

And yes, the devaluation has accelerated. That was the point of Iwata years ago, that Nintendo couldn't stop it alone (evergreen titles is the main thing they used to avoid that) and that publishers couldn't come back on it once it happened.
The devaluation is a problem in the AAA space, because part of your consumers will wait for a big sale before buying the game, which will be a problem to get some of your money back. It's not that much of a problem for other titles, but we certainly wouldn't get as much F2P, DLC and microtransactions if there had been less devaluations effects happening in the past.

That's entirely different, the future of computing is low power/mobile. Of course the companies making processors want to continue to be competitive in the future and not stuck in niche markets demanding high performance products.

I also think it's a stretch to say AMD and Nvidia are "focused" on lower power consumption for gaming GPUs, when they are as power hungry as ever.

They're more focused than before but not entirely focused obviously. It's just that we're now switching to more efficient architectures instead of more powerful (only) ones.
Hardcore gaming GPUs aren't used on consoles anyway, and that was also Iwata's point. Anyone could make a mini-PC using 400+W if they wanted. That just wouldn't be something nice to put in your living room anymore.

The head of SDS is not the lead architect. "Nintendo's Mark Cerny" is a guy named Sudha Sudharsanan, former director of engineering at Nvidia and principal architect at Sun Microsystems and Digital Equipment.

Interesting. But pfft, that's still not Mark Cerny.

Spoiler

/s

 

[Tom_Cody]

that's interesting. so they're probably taking a loss on characters like Captain Falcon but making enough back from characters like Kirby and Pikachu.

Yeah, that's what he seems to be saying.

It would be interesting to see someone break down the various Amiibos by estimated production cost.

Edit: and this seems possibly relevant to this topic:

http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/02/24/nintendo-discounts-three-super-smash-bros-amiibo-figures

 

[Mael]

The Wii sold gangbusters, and whenever there's an argument in one of these threads about third party support, people point to Boom Blox in defense of Western third parties providing AAA support.

That made me laugh, a game that EA put together with a fraction of the attention and manpower than they would put a Legacy edition of Fifa.
Might as well point to Just Dance for evidence of Ubisoft support of hardcore gamers.

 

[blu]

Years ago, there were two different hardware divisions - one for handheld devices and one for home consoles, with few personnel interactions. In fact, we had to use completely different technologies for handheld and home console development at that time. Technologies that were suitable for handheld devices or home consoles had nearly nothing in common, so it was reasonable to divide hardware development into two divisions. However, with recent technological advances, technologies for both systems are becoming more similar. Also, just because they are home consoles does not mean today that they can consume as much electricity as they possibly can. In fact, we have already been proactively working to reduce the consumption of electricity since the Wii era. Furthermore, the Wii U GamePad has a large screen, a battery pack, control inputs and wireless modules inside, so in technological terms, it required very similar know-how to that required for developing a handheld device. Based on such experiences, we had been working toward consolidating the two divisions for a while and started the process two years ago.

Good.

 

[QaaQer]

This is basically what I have been saying for a moment
People expecting 2tflops GPUs in their next console are set for a massive disappointement and should pray for at least 1tflops

As far as I'm concerned, I expect their home console to be 4 to 8 times their handheld horsepower with recent comments, which means 2/4 times more cores and 2 times the clock.

With an optimistic for 2016 expectation, the handheld should be a 128gflops hardware and the home console a 512 to 1024gflops.

what are you basing the handheld number on?

 

[Uncle Rupee]

I find it disturbing the way he talks about the issue of marketing and how the marketing team is still reliant on tv ads, and how they are looking at new trends like social networks.

And yet nowhere in that response did he mention YouTube or Twitch, or how Nintendo's content creator program is throttling fans from making videos showcasing Nintendo games.

Such a shame.

 

[QaaQer]

I'm not suprised so few bother to read the manuals nowdays the digital ones are pretty rubbish to use, not only do you have to pull yourself out of the game to read it but thanks to the way it's displayed on he 3DS screen it's messy to read as you can only fit so much info per screen. The only advantage it has over a paper manual is it can't be lost as it's in the software, there have been times in the past where i have needed the manual open and looking at the screen the same time, now you can't do that you have to keep suspending the game going to the home screen and then booting up the manual it's a total chore.

If people aren't reading paper manuals, they probably aren't reading emanuals. Games have to be simpler and have more prompts on screen. Also, Fi.

 

[QaaQer]

I read the first page while eating breakfast. I love reading these things.

An interesting bit:

This is a topic that has interested me since these were first shown off at last year's E3. The figures clearly differ in size/weight, construction complexity (number of pieces), and paint complexity and thus clearly have different production costs. This is extremely obvious if you handle a few of the figures at once. With other action figures, this is sometimes balanced out with accessories, but Amiibos are stand-alone statues.

I had previously guessed that the production cost were sufficiently low relative to their wholesale price (not to mention other variable cost factors such as packaging and shipping), but it is interesting to see Iwata mention this in the Q&A in this specific way. The phrase "as a whole" implies that not every Amiibo model is profitable individually, which is kind of shocking. This could definitely have something to do with the varying production quantities for the different figures and their corresponding shortages.

Nice catch.

 

[Plinko]

If it doesn't matter, then why is Intel, AMD and Nvidia focusing so much on lowering how much watt their CPU's and GPU's are using? we all know that products using less electricity are running cooler so that is probably a reason why

Because people with PCs would usually need to also spend money on a new PSU to power those higher power CPUs/GPUs, meaning less people would eventually upgrade.

Just like how cinephiles drive Hollywood?

This doesn't pertain at all to the situation, as the markets are completely different.

Core gamers aren't driving the whole industry, and the Wii/DS showed that. However, there has been a shift for the console market, I agree with that.
What I was saying is that you don't talk about core gamers to investors. And Iwata didn't exactly say "we're aiming for the lowest power consumption possible next time", but that you should try to use better designed systems on this particular aspect, which is like the PS4 compared to the PS360 gen for example. It's still too vague to say it will be like the WiiU or like the PS4 in terms of power drawing.

I agree with you here. Well said.

 

[Deleted member 126221]

This doesn't pertain at all to the situation, as the markets are completely different.

Maybe we have a different definition of hardcore gamers, but as far as I know Candy Crush, CoD and Madden makes a LOT more money than, say, Dark Souls and Bayonetta.

If anything, I'd argue that the WiiU's biggest problem is that they ONLY attracted the hardcore.

 

[Plinko]

Maybe we have a different definition of hardcore gamers, but as far as I know Candy Crush, CoD and Madden makes a LOT more money than, say, Dark Souls and Bayonetta.

If anything, I'd argue that the WiiU's biggest problem is that they ONLY attracted the hardcore.

I'm talking console industry, not iOS/smartphone. Candy Crush isn't making PS4 sell so well.

 

[FlashbladeGAF]

I find it disturbing the way he talks about the issue of marketing and how the marketing team is still reliant on tv ads, and how they are looking at new trends like social networks.

And yet nowhere in that response did he mention YouTube or Twitch, or how Nintendo's content creator program is throttling fans from making videos showcasing Nintendo games.

Such a shame.

He mentioned Nintendo Directs as an example. He doesn't need to list them all.

Nintendo gave us an in-depth inside look at their games at E3 through streaming services. They also did it at afterward before the fall season.

They are making changes.

 

[Beren the Empty-Handed]

This doesn't pertain at all to the situation, as the markets are completely different.

The primary target is males ages 14-49 in both (for video games it's probably closer to 39, but the industry is still young). It shouldn't be, but most execs are going to want to appeal to that demographic as much as possible. Nintendo tries to appeal to all demographics, but the majority of the video game industry guns for that one demographic, and it makes it pretty obvious.

 

[Shikamaru Ninja]

Also very important that Iwata reiterated that the development of QoL is a separate entity not affecting their software development. The QoL Business Development Department was created to establish the products Nintendo would be releasing under this venture. It seems like it is a mix of marketing, hardware developers, and senior development staff that was drafted into this section.

Basically no game programmers, game producers, game artists were affected.

 

[test_account]

They exist. The Cerny reference was probably more about some choices he made for the PS4 and Vita that are discutable

Spoiler

and how much he's revered here

Probably, but i think that the guy who mention Mark Cerny just mentioned him to show that they didnt have a dedicated lead person for it (if Iwata also has that role. In comparison, Mark Cerny only had the design job).

 

[GhostTrick]

what are you basing the handheld number on?

Pretty simple: If they aim for a common architecture, it's likely they're going with AMD. So... a GPU with 2 CU (128alu) at 500mhz... that would be 128gflops.

 

[Hermii]

I like Iwata pointing out that more people are starting to understand his old GDC "Devaluing of games" speech. At the time, it seemed like a lot of people deliberately missed the point.

Iwata reads GAF confirmed.

 

[Fourth Storm]

I don't know why they can't just make a good 80w - 100w box. Why do they need to aim for a low power home console?

I mean, I get that they are always going to try and be unique, but this just solidifies for me that they have no interest in regaining AAA 3rd party support. I just don't get that. Wouldn't they at least want to leave the door open just in case the hardware is a big success? What happens if they have a huge hit like Wii (unlikely, but hey, you never know) and they run into a situation where again, the hardware is too weak to enable easy ports from the other consoles?

Major bummer.

And if they are thinking of a microconsole, well, they also have their work cut out for them. They'll be putting themselves in a red ocean w/ Apple, Amazon, and Google. Who would they rather compete with?