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Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

Posts 16,001 to 16,020 of 69,964

Grumblevolcano

The existence of patching is a very good thing but it has been abused this gen a lot.

Grumblevolcano

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Luna_110

I don't know if patching is that good, considering that it's become an excuse for many publishers to release half assed games.

It's interesting to see, though, that some third parties are only reacting now to the Switch's sales, like Capcom. It seems they though it would be a disaster like the Wii U and now are rushing to get something out, and not have to explain to shareholders why they don't have anything available on the new shiny system.

I have a chronic lack of time, for everything.

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OorWullie

5000 people in 3 different locations queuing up for a chance to buy a console that has already been on the market for 5 months, with only a 10% chance at best of success. That's crazy!

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FragRed

@OorWullie Only 5000? Nintendo are doomed! Not enough people want the Switch, it's going to fail! They should be selling a gazillion a day! 😉😛

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Triforce_power

Unfortunately, this thread that I posted got locked before anyone could respond to it. It's a shame, as I think that a leaked game that we previously didn't know about was a "big deal".
But I'm curious. What do all of you think of this Zelda spin-off from what we currently know about it?
Personally, I think it's quite cool. From what my friend told me, it seems to be the Zelda sports spin-off that we've been wanting for years. As exciting as it can be, it's hard to think of an idea for a multiplayer sports game that's not out of tone with the Zelda series. But I think it was a great idea to expand on those boss battles in Zelda games (which were already quite badminton-like actually) and turning it into some kind of sport and involving more characters. I think it will be fun. Hope it turns out well.

Triforce_power

gcunit

@Triforce_power What do we know about it?

Edited on by gcunit

You guys had me at blood and semen.

What better way to celebrate than firing something out of the pipe?

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OorWullie

@Triforce_power I don't mean to doubt you but the only sources are yourself and the mate who supposedly told you. A Zelda Badminton game is about as unbelievable a concept as someone could possibly come up with. But then again that's just like Nintendo to come up with something crazy. Still I don't believe it, sorry.

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FragRed

@Triforce_power Yeah I don't believe this for a moment. Nintendo already has a Mario tennis franchise which would scratch that itch should they wish to include Zelda characters into future instalments. I'm not saying your friend hasn't been involved in some concept for a studio that has put forward the idea of said game to Nintendo, but as for an actual video game actively in development to be published by Nintendo... No.

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Shellcore

I liked the crossbow practise game, but this sounds a little bit too far out.

Edited on by Shellcore

StuTwo

Octane wrote:

@Grumblevolcano Afraid the Switch is getting games like RE7 and Steep a year late? Yeah... I doubt it. I believe it when I see it. Exclusivity deals like that are very expensive. If Sony was moneyhatting every company, they would be bankrupt in no time. Likely explanation? Third parties were cautious to jump on board from the start, after what happened with the Wii U. And Nintendo clearly doesn't care about third party support, they know they need it, but they are not the company that would go out of its way to pay companies to bring over games.

@BLP_Software That's just competition...

Whilst I wouldn't necessarily go as far as @BLP_Software or @Grumlevolcano they are not completely wrong.

Whilst it may be 'just competition' there are limits and laws that regulate that competition (in the UK at least). Practices like price dumping to keep potential competitors out of the market unfairly can, for instance, be illegal in some instances. Sony is nowhere near that of course but some of their strategies, whilst great for their management and sales team, are not particularly good for the industry or even Sony investors.

What you see with Sony from the retail side is that they are very aggressive at sales promotions and their pricing is determined based on protecting a near monopoly status rather than maximising their revenues in the here and now. So they announce fantastic (time limited) deals on hardware and software when their competitors have big launches planned - purely as spoiling actions. Anyone interested in buying a PS4 Pro is well advised to wait until the week before the XBox One X launches - the PS4 Pro will get a ÂŖ100+ discount that week (possibly in the form of a very time limited bundle).

From a marketing side of things Sony, in their completely dominant position, doesn't need to be paying for exclusivity or even "marketing exclusivity" (as they do with Destiny for instance). It helps to keep 3rd parties on the hook though and makes it harder for 3rd parties to successfully release on other formats.

I suspect that the cozy party between 3rd parties and the Sony management will end at some point though when their shareholders ask "why are we paying them so much when Microsoft and Nintendo aren't paying anything at all?". Some of the deals that made sense when it was a real competition just don't today.

StuTwo

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Haruki_NLI

@StuTwo Sony has estimated they had 70% EU market share at least and that was two years ago.

The "Fortress PlayStation" lines from Jim Ryan cement how they dont want anyone even approaching a dent in that share.

And yes in the UK there are very strict monopoly regulations. Sony has come under fire for lesser here as well.

But youre right. Why do they need to keep paying at this point? At one point it was to move them into the lead but was is the point now at nearly double the sales numbers of the competition? Its to keep it that way, and thats where we get into murky water.

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StuTwo

@BLP_Software My thoughts would be that they keep paying for some deals that are clearly superflous because they have some strong personal relationships between the top management of Sony and the top management of e.g. Activision.

Plus "I managed a department to 90%+ market share" sounds much stronger on a CV than "I managed a department to 70% market share but I probably maximised our profits".

StuTwo

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Haruki_NLI

@StuTwo It does however come at a price and this is entertainment and gamers.

Sony fans are mosy ubaware of it but the rest of us on Xbox or Switch end up shafted, and even some games end up restricted by Sony and dont reach their full potential. No Mans Sky and Street Fighter V come to mind.

Its a mess and I wonder at what point ANY EU nation takes notice because we are at the point where it really really feels less like competition and now kicking the dog when they are down so they dont get up

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Octane

@StuTwo I dunno. I don't it's that bad. Like I said, it's just competition, it happens with every luxury item, cars, tech, whatever. Prices drop when the competition releases something new.

I'm not too worried about it, because it means that Nintendo and Microsoft will also make their products more attractive as a counter move, and because Sony is a business in the end, they need to make a profit. They can't sell everything at a loss and pay every company for exclusive deals.

Octane

Haruki_NLI

@Octane They are posting nearly record profits.

They quite clearly can afford to pay companies and sell at a loss. Hell they just bought Funimation!

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GrailUK

@BLP_Software So maybe there is some 'loss leader' strategy going on. Pay off Street Fighter V (lose money) but collect on the online subs (ker-ching)? (Only a guess. I am usually wrong lol.)

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KAI_MIDORIKAWA

@Octane Well, during the N64 era NOA made deals with third parties for exclusives to accomodate for the lack of general third party interest. However, during the GCN era the new administration at NCL took away NOA's power to make such deals. There were lots of deals made during the Wii U era, but mostly between NCL and Japanese companies, while Western companies were largely kept out of the loop. It's my understanding though that the current administration restored NOA's power to make such deals.

Octane

@Hitokage1 It was about time I guess. I always wondered why Nintendo hasn't opened more big studios like Retro in the west. I think they had one in the US, but they never produced anything noteworthy. Let's hope they can secure some neat deals in that case.

Octane

StuTwo

@Octane Competition? In some ways yes but in others it is a monopoly. Whilst consumers and individual companies can do well from a rising monopoly they are ultimately devastating to the industry once established.

One clear example of where it could easily go wrong is in Sony and Microsoft paying big 3rd parties like Activision for "marketing support" so that their format is featured prominently in advertising. It's become an integral part of the business plan for some of the big 3rd parties - they would have a big black hole in their accounts without it.

Now in the past when Sony and Microsoft were genuinely engaged in competition that was great but, today, Microsoft has effectively stopped competing. Sony seemingly continues to pay for some marketing support deals but they don't need to - they have in many countries an effective monopoly and they have to be portrayed as the lead platform. From a rational financial perspective they should stop it - they're not really getting any added value from it at this point - but when they do it'll hurt the industry.

Note I wouldn't necessarily go as far as @BLP_Software - I don't think that Sony are as yet a monopoly (there are too many viable alternatives like mobile gaming) but I wouldn't be surprised if there are some countries where Playstation represents upwards of 90% of the "traditional" gaming spend. That's well beyond the realm where healthy competition can exist.

StuTwo

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