Topic: Where Does Nintendo Go From Here?

I'm now worried about one thing......What if Nintendo decides to sell the brand to someone else like Disney, Sony or Microsoft?

@Artwark: Not a snowball's chance in hell. For all the times people have referred to Nintendo's staff as arrogant old Japanese men, there's no way Miyamoto or Takeda would take that suggestion seriously.

Besides, Microsoft already tried to buy Nintendo once. Yamauchi apparently used some very colorful language in telling Steve Balmer to go back home.

@UGXwolf: I'm talking about the next CEO......whether he can be just as arrogant as Yamauchi-San or as smart as Iwata-San. If he does one foolish move, then its ( no pun intended.) Nintendooomed!

@Artwark: Unless they pull some no-name young Japanese businessman out of the ether and give him the ability to just up and sell Nintendo all on his own (since that decision has to go through a LOT of people), that still isn't likely.

@Artwark Relax. Everything's going to be fine. Nintendo isn't doomed. Iwata already left them a lot of stuff to work on, so I'm sure they'll just continue as he had planned. Nobody's going to buy Nintendo, especially since there's no need for it (a need would be something like it's failing, which Nintendo isn't.).

that's like worrying about your hair turning purple. what makes you think they would sell to a Western conglomerate, and what makes you think Sony can afford it? they're not exactly killing it anymore...

I'm with @Artwark. For the first time in Nintendo history, the BoD is choosing someone from scratch. Yamauchi handpicked Iwata to succeed him, and trained him as such. He was a natural pick. Prior to that, I believe Nintendo was private.

It's possible the BoD chooses someone who is just a shill to stockholders, and at that point, Nintendo absolutely may sell it's brand.

@iKhan: There's no reason to sell the brand. Only reason to do that is if they're near bankrupt like Capcom was in September 2013. Nintendo's far from that. If the BoD chooses someone who is a "yes man" to the shareholders, the absolute worst case scenario is they get someone like the new Konami CEO who would rather focus on mobile completely as well as doing some non-gaming ventures.

Which could make them near bankrupt which could lead them to sell the brand.

Actually, the exact opposite would happen. They'd make a **** ton more money, particularly in mobile games. Non gaming ventures on the other hand aren't a guaranteed success, but if they did hit it off on something like pachinko machines, then they'd be stupid not to pursue that.

Truth is, console gaming is becoming a western-only thing more and more. Nintendo and Square Enix are the last major barriers from it becoming a purely western market.

Except mobile is a huge risk. Capcom and Squeenix struggle in it. Iwata was dead-on when he said that it'll be a challenge to succeed in that market, because it's flooded with games.

As for the people who said mister Iwata didn't understand the West: It seems he didn't understand Japan either. I know that sounds hard, but look at it this way: Nintendo always puts Japanese taste first, yet the Wii u ALSO doesn't sell in Japan.

The thing is, if Nintendo wants to appeal to their own Japanese audience again they will alienate the West even more. Its a bit of a taboo, but Japanese people have totally lost their gaming taste. It looks like they mostly play small things on mobile, free-to-play and micro-transaction stuff. And they are mostly girls. Exactly what we (male) gamers don't want. I guess NX will be a smart-phone.

By the way, I don't blame girls. But most "gaming" girls do so on mobile, the simple stuff. That's just how it is.

@iKhan,

I just have that bad feeling that the new CEO will be someone from DENA. And soon or late DENA will buy the entire company. Please let that NOT be true!!

@iKhan: Capcom and Square Enix struggled in mobile because they ported games to it that don't belong on mobile and are better played on handhelds or consoles. They took the wrong approach. What Iwata said is that Nintendo is better equipped to succeed in a market that is normally extremely difficult to succeed in because most mobile developers are no-names. Some get lucky and their goes viral. Many others fail. Nintendo on the other hand isn't a no-name. Their brands are extremely powerful (they've just been reluctant to use them). They're approaching mobile by analyzing the strengths of that market and making games tailored to those devices. Nintendo will succeed in that market. It's a no brainer.

@Henmii: You're just being paranoid. Also, if they fully focused on mobile, they wouldn't be alienating the western market, not the one you're referring to anyways. The western console market, which is really just the console market considering consoles are dead in Japan, wouldn't be who Nintendo's selling to, as they wouldn't be in that market anymore (meaning it's impossible to alienate them). You forget that the mobile market is huge in the west too. That's who they'd be selling to. Like it or not, core gamers are the minority.

:/

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I think that's a bit of an unfair judgement. The truth is that most of the successful games on iOS in Japan are far better games than the mobile games we get here. We'll have things like Candy Crush while their biggest hits are games like Puzzles and Dragons. It's kinda different.

And if Nintendo's focus is too Japan centric then how about we also look at the non-mobile space. The top 10 selling games for 2014 in Japan were all on Wii U and 3DS. Monster Hunter, Yokai Watch, Pokemon, Mario Kart, Smash Bros. Compare that to the US where Pokemon, Smash Bros and Kart are up there but really it's all about CoD and GTA. So of course they care more about what Japan wants. Japan is where their games are selling. Have a look at this:

You want them to focus on games for the home console market in the US? Well ok, but that's not really where they've been successful. Like it or not Nintendo is most successful in the portable space and in particular outside of the US.

Can't tell if serious or not:
If it's someone from DENA then they would no longer be working for DENA. Also DENA couldn't afford the name Nintendo, let alone all its assets. If anything Nintendo would be the company to buy DENA.

I expect nintendo to pick a ceo that aligns with the new course. Nintendo has transitioned into something very different the last years, and we're going to see that the coming few years. They won't want to mess with that again so soon, so someone who aligned with iwata's visions is usually the best choice business wise.

Now the ceremony of his funeral has passed, we could be hearing some more in the near future. I think people overestimate the suddenness of his death, iwata himself and the people close to him must have known he was dying - however unfortunate the final curtain call is. I think there must have been talks about this already and iwata must have stated his preference at some point. Even if his death was a surprise to absolutely everyone, contingency plans kick in. I doubt that is the case here, though.

Agreed. Simply porting a game that doesn't seem to fit on a phone just isn't the way to do it.........especially after seeing Mega Man X on phone.......oh god.

I feel like we will never get a CEO as memorable as Iwata. I don't know about Phil Spencer but I do know that Iwata is more passionate about gaming more than every CEO gamer out there and its likely that the next CEO would be the complete opposite.

A quick question. Who is powerful here? BoD or the CEO?

@Artwark: From what I can tell, they're supposed to be equally powerful. The CEO is supposed to have the final say in all business matters, but the board controls a lot of things that give them some serious sway on the CEO's opinions.

We won't get another Iwata, the man was unique in every way, from most CEO's. However, his death wasn't sudden, so I believe he had some influence into who would be his replacement. Personally, I would like to see Sakurai. People mention his health, but that was from pushing himself in development, which he would no longer be doing. I think he would enjoy the change, and would be one of the few to channel the spirit of Iwata, for decades to come.