@Jimtaro: "The problem is that Nintendo no longer have the power to alter the environment to their liking. In the 80's or 90's perhaps so but Nintendo now is a much weaker beast than Nintendo then. They need to "conform" (though I don't quite agree with the term) in order to regain some standing BEFORE making radical changes."
@arnoldlayne83: Sure but your personal example is only a vocal minority. Nintendo games always crushed western third parties in sales on every Nintendo systems. No exception.
And you need to realize most Sony first party games are made to appeal to the western third parties audience. Nintendo games don't
But Nintendo DID alter the market to suit them with the Wii, they brought something new, accessible and innovative to the table. Everyone and their dog had a Wii and it sent ripples outwards, causing Microsoft and Sony to try their hands at motion technology with less success.
@bitleman: Yes, the "peculiarity" of the Nintendo fanbase is another interesting point of discussion for me. But then, this is another reason to try to expand your userbase, since it seems that the one Nintendo currently have is not big enough and is not prone to "open-up" to 3rd parties. Even 2nd parties (W101, Bayonetta) sold poorly considering also the lack of software on the console.
And this link back to what I was saying. It is up to Nintendo now to choose to keep going as an "elitist gaming system" or try to get the other, huge portion of hardcore gamers....
@shaneoh: yes, but as they say in my country "it is not always Sunday. Sometimes Monday comes...."
And also Wii, sold a lot of unit, but on software sales very few titles sold.... it was just the fair of shovelware. And also many game were better playable with the traditional controller.....
All consoles had their share of shovelware. Also of the 50 odd games I've played on the Wii (unfortunately I came to the console late) only two were better off with the controller, so I disagree with you on that point too.
@shaneoh: I found many time the motion controller unprecise and frustrating. Even Boxing on Wiisport was bed. They solved partially the problem with the Plus. Pity that he was introduced late and not so well supported anymore.
Best experience with motion controls for me on Wii was Red Steel 2. A gem in a sea of half backed trials....
Here is a new one. Nintendo should have learned that by keeping their games artificially high in price, they damage the ability for third party software to sell.
@shaneoh:
I can see what you're saying and agree to a point, I just also think that the Wii boat has sailed (and sunk) and it's the sinking that remains in the minds of the consumers. It's why Nintendo needs to work on bringing those consumers back around and if it means conforming to the masses initially, in order to get support for another innovation, then that's what they're going to have to do.
I believe those consumers don't exist anymore. Like Hippies belonged to the 60s and that's all....
On one hand I don't want Nintendo to think these consumers exist, as it would hopefully mean they work harder in appealing to a new audience, rather than depending on the same old fans. On the other hand, I'm one of those old fans. I gave up on Nintendo right after the N64, moved to Sony and Microsoft instead, then a few weeks ago I suddenly fancied a 'Nintendo' game and have been enjoying the Wii U since. So yes, those old fans/consumers are still lurking around but Nintendo needs to realise that kids these days are no longer reading Nintendo Power, no longer eating Mario cereal and no longer talking about Zelda in the playground. And that, along with a newer, wider customer base period, is what Nintendo needs to target.
@Jimtaro: Exactly. There are a lot of people that enjoyed the Galaxy series and other franchises on Wii that never converted to the WiiU. And here I am not talking about casual family gamers. I talk about "hardcore" gamers who were gaming before, and after, the Wii. I suspect many of them grew tired of the Nintendo offer when it came to WiiU. Or nothing there was intriguing enough to justify the WiiU purchase.
This is a portion of customers Nintendo has to win back. The other one is all the people who would like to enjoy BOTH Nintendo games and other Games (like me), but they grew skeptical about the Nintendo ability to keep third parties close, and have no money/time to invest on more than one console at each generation. This is the tougher part to win back, imho, because at the moment Ps4 (talk about it cos I own it together with WiiU) offers a wide range of games, many of them (especially a lot of very high quality indies) that would also appeal to the "Nintendo-like" audience.
On top of that, I feel that Nintendo, with WiiU, played very safe on the software library. There are mainly updated edition of old, famous brands, the same sort of platformers there were also before, another smash bro, another kart, another 2d mario and so on. All top quality titles, but nothing really screaming "novelty". And I suspect that after 30 years, many people are a bit bored of the same stuff on and on.
So I believe, to win back gamers, they'll need more Splatoon and less New Super Mario bros NX....
Take some modern game type (fps, rpg, rts, mmo, open worlds) and make them "Nintendo" flavored..... stop only playing it easy with what was enjoyable 20 years ago....
Here is a new one. Nintendo should have learned that by keeping their games artificially high in price, they damage the ability for third party software to sell.
I'll bite. Why? You'd think that that would make the cheaper or equally priced third party games more attractive, lowering their prices would result in even more first party software sales.
@arnoldlayne83:
I wholly agree with a lot of your points. If the 83 in your username is your year of birth then you and I are from the same generation (I'm from 77) of Nintendo. We've seen it at its best, and at its weakest, and are understandably getting a little tired of the same old franchises, made into the same old games that follow the same old formulas. Not that they're always bad mind you, I've enjoyed the HD remaster of Wind Waker, I've enjoyed Tropical Freeze and I've enjoyed Pikmin 3. But on the flip side you've got New Super Mario Wii U that doesn't really try anything new, Mario Kart that heavily reuses old courses and Kirby's Rainbow Curse being a remake of Canvas Curse. Nintendo need to go a little further in adding new content, they don't need to be revolutionary, but they need to offer something different rather than depending on more of the same.
Like you alluded to; on the PlayStation I've got colourful platformers like Little Big Planet and DuckTales, epic role playing games like Skyrim and Fallout, action like Mirrors Edge and Mass Effect and sports like Burnout and FIFA. We just don't get that many options with Nintendo and that's something they need to change in order to capture the attention of an evolving customer base. They especially need to drop the 1 RPG, 1 racer, 1 shooter etc. per generation logic. Nintendo users don't have many options, if any at all, for an alternative if they don't like what's being offered and that doesn't make good business sense in the slightest.
My first gaming machines have been a 2600 clone, a NES, a IBM 286 and the (glorious, for me) Atari Lynx.... so yes, we speak the same language here
And again, you stole the words from my mouth. Lack of diversity (and quantity too) is the seminal problem of the last Nintendo home console. Factors for that are many: Lazy or "safe" Nintendo games, lack of an "open minded" fanbase, absence of 3rd parties.....
And I am also enjoying the Ps4 so far. I would like to have days of 72 hours to be able to work and play all the games there that tempts me, and non of them is a "brown-gray shooter" as I read many time on this site....Many would rival with Nintendo ones for quality (like it or not).....
@Octane: Perception for one. There was a time that Nintendo would place titles into a Nintendo Player's Chocie or Nintendo Selects branding and reissue them at a lower price. The statement was that these games sold a lot and are worth playing, and we sold enough that we can offer them in reduced packaging so more people can access them. The price was lower, but it was considered a bargain or value.
These days, you go into the store and you will find the Nintendo products all priced all over the place but still locked at their release day price. Subconsciously everyone automatically judges the lower priced titles as inferior, because there is no explanation for the price drop. Is it the store attempting to shed bad inventory, did it sell well and is now a bargain, or is it just a short and small game. By Nintendo artifically keeping prices high in an attempt to emulate Apple's stupid high pricing, it hurts third parties on perception. The perception is that those other games are inferior somehow because their value drops.
@BinaryFragger: Even if they will call me troll or flamer for this, I am going to put it even harder.... This generation Nintendo played even safer than Sony and Microsoft. Taking From Software, asking them to develop a truly difficult game Souls inspired as it is Bloodborne, and market it as a flag exclusive for the console, transforming a niche game into a worldwide success (and qualitatively the game is sublime).
Plus pushing on the console "nintendolike" games like Galak-Z, Sound Shapes (best platforming game/editor ever), Little Big Planet, The Tomorrow Children, even Moba and MMORPG (ESOnline is a success on console platform too, considering it was before a type of gae only played on PC), No man Sky, Rocket League....
They are rivaling in scope with PC, instead of just pushing more traditional console games like fighting ones and sport......
Forums
Topic: The Biggest Software Lesson Nintendo Should Have Learned
Posts 41 to 60 of 75
This topic has been archived, no further posts can be added.