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[MrNyarlathotep]

Pachter talking sense as usual, fanboys can't see anything but red though.

Which games company has given out all of their old titles for free on Mobile?

Atari? Nope.
Namco? Nope.
Midway? Nope.
Sega? Nope.
Capcom? Nope.
SquareEnix? Nope.
Konami? Nope.
EA? Nope.
Ubisoft? Nope.
Activision? Nope.

So what part of Nintendo doing it is the part that makes sense?

 

[Graphics Horse]

If they are going to put something on the phones it should be some Game & Watch, not GBA.

Maybe Game Boy, but just maybe. Even then i doubt because they can use that on the Virtual Console instead.

yep, game & watch would be the best place to start, and uniquely suited to support >HD resolutions without much development effort.


Gba games for free? Nah. No point running an 'ambassador' program for people who don't want a 3DS.

 

[BocoDragon]

Even if there's a push, how many people do you honestly think are going to hook up a controller to an iPhone? It pretty much defeats the main reason people game on phones (convenience).

About as many people as those who buy controllers for their PCs. A large enough niche.

 

[Gucci Messiah]

Pokemon Yellow on iOS/Android would do insanely well.

I'd buy it

 

[Devilgunman]

Pachter: "I don't even know what I do for a living"

Bad first post.

I agreed with Pach on this one, though. What could go wrong if Nintendo put their old games on phone/tablet? It's not gonna hurt sale of 3DS and WiiU and it's a good way to introduce kids these day to Nintendo games and he or she might want to own a real Nintendo console later.

 

[jimi_dini]

How defensive. You think Iwata is doing a great job?

Well, at least Iwata is not crazy enough to give away GameBoy Advance games for free. Which means he is already doing a better job than Pachter.

 

[Pancakes R Us]

Pachter: "I don't even know what I do for a living"

Thank you and goodnight. As much as I dislike Nintendo's current decisions, Pachter doesn't know what he's talking about.

 

[Psycho_Mantis]

This is great idea. SMB on iOS and Android will sell yet Nintendo do nothing.

 

[antitrop]

Nintendo places a lot of value on their games so this wont happen.

When the new Mario game that people are calling one of the best ever sells like it does, I think it's time to shake some shit up.

The nintendo_chalkboard.jpg image is real, they need to start getting a new way of thinking in at Nintendo, the old guard isn't cutting it, anymore.

 

[meltingparappa]

Angry Birds is free on a lot of platforms, and it makes money hand over fist.

Clearly Angry Birds is typical of all mobile games, easy to do, and a good thing to expect and gamble your whole company on.

Why is it a terrible idea?

Devaluing their entire brand. He's even given keynote GDC speeches on the topic.

 

[ZealousMonkey]

Nintendo places a lot of value on their games so this wont happen.

Nintendo's value is an area of massive concern at this point.

 

[Moff]

I agree with him, I would even be happy with snes games for 5$ for the 3DS virtual console.
but even bowser tower defense for mobile games, I think it would be huge and would attract customers for 3DS and wiiU games.

 

[RiZ III]

I think the long term effect of not making classic titles and ips available on smartphones and tablets is loss of brand recognition which should really scare Nintendo. A lot of younger kids these days are playing games on tablets and phones, not handheld gaming machines, so if these Nintendo ips are not visible to them, Nintendo risks losing household recognition of their characters. I think Sonic is a great example. Even though Sonic games are no where as good as Mario games, Sonic is available on machines that kids are playing. Some anecdotal evidence here, my little nephews(3&6) have known about Sonic for years now. They are addicted to that Sonic runner game on ios. The little one has no idea who Mario is (the older one does only because I gave him a wii when he was 4).

 

[Silver_DNA]

Why do people keep suggesting ideas to Nintendo that will inevitably make them lose money?

Because it will make money in the short term. I don't know as much about this stuff as Pachter and I don't have as much information

Spoiler

so my opinions on this are worthless while his have actual value

but he seems very interested in short term gain. It might not be a stretch to say that if he had his way Nintendo would be run like Activision.

 

[Valnen]

Pokemon Yellow on iOS/Android would do insanely well.

Nah, Gen 1 is horribly outdated/broken. You might get nostalgia buyers but I don't think many current Pokemon fans would buy it unless it was updated.

 

[WalkMan]

Yup, just fire a single guy when something goes wrong, it'll fix everything obviously.

When he's personally in charge and influences that many employees, yes it will.

 

[Shig]

But "Could they be doing better?", is the real question.

Why is the top seller the one having its feet held to the flames with that question, though? If Nintendo's handhelds are clearly doooomed while they're moving more units than the other consoles, wouldn't that imply that consoles are even more doomed? But Pachter never touches that narrative at all.

 

[Beer Monkey]

If you bought Nintendo stock five years ago and sold it today, you'd still have a third of your initial investment.

The other 2/3 is gone.

Fuck yes Iwata should be fired but don't try to explain that to gamers, they don't know shit about business.

 

[Bots are better than you]

In this thread, the great GAF-analysts are embarrassing themselves.

Pachter is not right. The “go IOS“ or go down is the same brainfart-chorus, that all analysts say.

Putting games for free on whatever platform does not help getting more players. Getting GBA and DS on VC needs to happen, though.

Iwata fucked up with the Wii U, but I think he should have the chance to make it better with the next console/handheld.

No one is crying for Yoshida to be fired for the PS Vita duck-up, after all.

 

[demosthenes]

Devalues their intellectual property.

Releasing NES/GB/GBA games, games which most likely will only see marginal sales if released on each Nintendo home console by people already owning said system will devalue the IP? Okay.

 

[Wiktor]

There's no real money in mobile gaming, unless you milk people with F2P mode and then hit lottery and become one of the few games of this type that is popular enough.

The idea that you can make a killing by selling games on mobile devices is pure hilarity.

 

[MisterHero]

All that I know is if these are the N fans that they have left, willing to defend pretty much everything they do til the grave, well N isn't going to last much longer in this era making consoles.

You don't just let mobile slide by because of pride issues. No one is stepping up in the tens of millions to buy Mario anymore. They have already devalued the brand. Who cares. Get with it and start releasing stuff on mobile. Charge hideous amounts of royalties. Do something because N is fast becoming a joke at this point.

Nintendo charges for games what they feel they're worth on own devices. They're greedy.

Nintendo charges for games what they feel they're worth on other devices. They're greedy.

 

[Astery]

I dunno why is pachter still employed.

Nintendo is right to not port games to mobile/ tablets which they have no part of business there, except degrading their IPs. Unlike Sony (who is also in the mobile competition space) for example, Nintendo has been depending on long running but limited IPs (Mario, Zelda, Metroid) as their killer apps, degrading anyone of them is going to hurt the IP way more. In the short term yes it might help Nintendo, but it's going to hurt them back in the long term.

Seriously stop telling Nintendo to go mobile/ tablet or bust. They have problems but going mobile isn't going to help them much.

 

[quickwhips]

And devalue their actual profitable software...

Noope

I don't think they should do it because I worry that the quality of the games will suffer but I do believe MS and Sony fans would buy Nintendo games on MS/Sony Consoles.

 

[Razgriz-Specter]

Unless I'm missing something I'd fail to see how that would make Nintendo any money, considering they have already shown they can sell NES games for $5 and people will happily buy them.

Not that I agree or disagree, but his point is trying to introduce new people to the Nintendo brand.
considering that is what they get by on he figures if you put some classics on phones people would enjoy them and then be more inclined to buy a 3ds or Wii U to play the newer versions of those series.

 

[BocoDragon]

All that I know is if these are the N fans that they have left, willing to defend pretty much everything they do til the grave, well N isn't going to last much longer in this era making consoles.

You don't just let mobile slide by because of pride issues. No one is stepping up in the tens of millions to buy Mario anymore. They have already devalued the brand. Who cares. Get with it and start releasing stuff on mobile. Charge hideous amounts of royalties. Do something because N is fast becoming a joke at this point.

Slow down a bit. It really has only been a short couple of years since 2D Mario and Mario Kart were literally selling tens of millions. They were some of the best selling games of the last generation.

 

[TheOMan]

Via GI.Biz

If Pachter actually said that, wow. Kinda unprofessional, but I understand where he's coming from.

 

[spyroflame0487]

I wouldn't mind having GBA or GB games on the 3DS. I mean, we know its possible with the ambassador program...why are there not any (or if there are, there can't be that many) out there.

I think having them for like $2.99 would be a decent price point. Hell, it'd be rad to have them on the Wii U too.

As for mobile, i don't think that's a wise idea. To be honest though, I think mobile platforms would be a great way for them to show off demos. You could play a sort of pseudo-demo on the phones or tablets and then after you beat it, it'd display the platform and stuff, information and that kind of junk.

No sales are being made, and the game still resides on Nintendo's platform. Stick them in a Nintendo app for phones that also has Miiverse support and you've got a winner.

 

[BennyBlanco]

Clearly Angry Birds is typical of all mobile games, easy to do, and a good thing to expect and gamble your whole company on.

Yes, porting SMB and the like to iOS which would probably take an afternoon of some programmer's time would be gambling their whole company. Huh?

 

[Dorygrant]

Nintendo doesn't have a reason to go to smartphones yet with handhelds being one of their strongest arms. As someone mentioned, people are willing to pay $5 for just NES games, so there is no way they would put gba games first, let alone free.

Nintendo knows if they start going "third party" they will lose a ton of system sales. They got to play hard ball with the resources they have (and if 3ds is any incliniation to go by, they will bring fire to the Wii U).

 

[Kabuki Quantum Lover]

I dunno why is pachter still employed.

Nintendo is right to not port games to mobile/ tablets which they have no part of business there, except degrading their IPs. Unlike Sony (who is also in the mobile competition space) for example, Nintendo has been depending on long running but limited IPs (Mario, Zelda, Metroid) as their killer apps, degrading anyone of them is going to hurt the IP way more. In the short term yes it might help Nintendo, but it's going to hurt them back in the long term.

Seriously stop telling Nintendo to go mobile/ tablet or bust. They have problems but going mobile isn't going to help them much.

True. They should just continue to stay the course and hope the 3DS continues to save their ass from a failing Wii U.

 

[greg400]

Releasing NES/GB/GBA games, games which most likely will only see marginal sales if released on each Nintendo home console by people already owning said system will devalue the IP? Okay.

So let me get this straight... you think Nintendo would rather release their games for free on iOS as opposed to actually making a profit off of them?

It's a horrible business model that isn't sustainable. Once consumers know they can get something for free they will never want to pay for it.

 

[kfdavila]

Oh, Pachter saying things. Always fun. I'll eat a hat if Nintendo ever waters down their brand by porting old games to other peoples phones.

The educational tablet rumors I kinda see. I could even see a Nintendo phone. Hell, if Ninty made a 3DS VOIP telephony device with emergency\limited calling capabilities, parents might see it as a cell phone replacement for k-9.

I don't think the Wii-U will suffer a fate far worse than the Gamecube. I'm one more price drop away from getting one myself. They had me at kitty Mario. Just release Pokemon Z already and see how many units move.

 

[Air]

Why do they make new cartoons when everyone can watch old Looney Tunes one?

A more apt analogy is why don't they give looney tunes to Disney to play on the Disney channel.

Just so you know, warner would never do that.

 

[akidnamededdy]

Try playing any Mario platformer on an emulator on your phone and then tell me us this is a good idea.

Yeah, phones and tablets offer controller support now. But the kinds of people who link up controllers to their phones and tablets to play games aren't the kinds of people Nintendo needs to win back.

Also making them available for free? Get the fuck outta here.

Literally just about to post this. Word for word! LOL

Great minds...haha.

 

[Bog]

I'm as anti-Nintendo on iOS as anyone, but whoever mentioned the Touch series being put on there while cross-selling the 3DS and Wii U is a genius. I wonder how many thousands of App Store searches every day have "Nintendo" in them.

 

[Anth0ny]

WarioWare Inc. MegaMicrotransaction$

Cost = Free

Wario games = Free
Jimmy games = 99 cents
Dribble and Spitz games = 99 cents
Mona games = 99 cents
9-Volt games = 99 cents
Orbulon games = 99 cents
Dr. Crygor games = 99 cents
Kat and Ana games = 99 cents

etc.

I don't think they should just dump their old ROMs onto iPhones (especially not GBA games, Jesus), but there is room for some franchises that fit into the whole microtransactions system, like WarioWare. I can't see people spending $40 for a WarioWare game in this day and age.

Alternatively, they can throw small minigames on the app store. Remember the minigames from Mario 64 DS?

how about the Pikachu surfing game from Pokemon Yellow?

Little shit like that would be fine, I think. Just to get the characters/franchises out there.

As for FULL old games, if ANYTHING, it should be stuff like Donkey Kong (arcade) or Mario Bros. (arcade). I don't think it's wise to just throw NES games and other games from Virtual Console onto the app store... you wanna tease the consumer with these small games. If they want the real shit, pick up a 3DS/Wii U.

 

[Gucci Messiah]

You clearly haven't been on the internet the past couple years. It's been pure doom and gloom for all 3 console manufacturers in the media, with talks that they should all go mobile. It's ridiculous. And this is just Pachter echoing that bullshit as far as I'm concerned.

I clearly haven't been on the internet the past couple of years? What are you, 12?

Stop taking it so personally whenever somebody makes a case for pushing mobile games, that market is obviously successful. There hasn't been "doom and gloom" for all 3 console manufacturers in the media without reason. Sony has gotten largely positive press. Microsoft caught shit for their anti-consumer DRM. Nintendo has caught shit for lagging sales due to questionable marketing/design decisions with the Wii U.

You just sound like somebody who's paranoid that mobile games will displace console gaming and dedicated handhelds which is ridiculous. There will always be a market for those things, it's possible to co-exist. Stop being dramatic.

 

[RumblingRosco]

Old NES/GBA games on mobile? Not a bad idea.

Put them on for FREE? Terrible idea.

Yeah... in what way would releasing their old games for free make any sense whatsoever? I could see it being done on the Wii U or 3DS (hell, that's what the ambassador program did) to increase sales of their hardware or as a gift to their customers, but it makes no sense to waste resources giving away free shit on what is essentially a competitor's piece of hardware.

 

[geomon]

"The next generation of consoles is probably the last," Pachter said. "We expect frequent model updates instead of new consoles."

He had me until this.

 

[Yado]

I actually think it would be great if Nintendo had an account system where you could purchase and play your VC games on 3DS, Wii U and other mobile/tablet devices. To do that for free however, is a horrible idea.

 

[onipex]

Better idea would be for Nintendo to put their GB, GBA, and DS library on the 3DS and Wii U.

 

[PdotMichael]

Why is this "Nintendo on mobile" still a thing? It sounds like a horrible idea especially for long term profits. But I guess I'm not an analyst

Not sure if declining console and handheld sales are better for long term profits. But I guess I'm not a true Nintendo fan.

 

[JordanN]

A more apt analogy is why don't they give looney tunes to Disney to play on the Disney channel.

Just so you know, warner would never do that.

If consumers were only influenced to buy old products, I'm not sure how could the current market exist which is all about pushing new stuff.

 

[oxidax]

http://buy.thegameklip.com/

SAY WHAAAA?
Im gonna have to google how to pair a PS3 controller with my N7 now. Didn't know it was possible.

 

[antitrop]

He had me until this.

Yeah, I certainly don't agree with that, either.

 

[Graphics Horse]

I agree with him, I would even be happy with snes games for 5$ for the 3DS virtual console.
but even bowser tower defense for mobile games, I think it would be huge and would attract customers for 3DS and wiiU games.

Many winters ago, Nintendo (uk or eu I think) released a browser based platform game to promote their stuff. It wasn't brilliant but it went down very well and I don't see why they shouldn't try something similar again.

 

[darkistheway]

Try playing any Mario platformer on an emulator on your phone and then tell me us this is a good idea.

Yeah, phones and tablets offer controller support now. But the kinds of people who link up controllers to their phones and tablets to play games aren't the kinds of people Nintendo needs to win back.

Also making them available for free? Get the fuck outta here.

Literally just about to post this. Word for word! LOL

 

[MDX]

I think its clear by now this guy has an agenda

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

Alternatively, they can throw small minigames on the app store. Remember the minigames from Mario 64 DS?

Real talk: I'd spend $10 for this on Android.