Topic: Discussion: Why Nintendo don't need new IPs... At least desperately.

Prepare for a wall of TEXT

Recently, I've been hearing people talk about how Nintendo needs a new IP and needs to move away from Zelda, Mario, Metroid (for SOME reason), Star Fox (haha, what?), and anything Nintendo has been giving attention to recently.

There are those that say "That last NEW IP was Pikmin" while some say "Steeldiver"; the latter being true, I suppose.

But prior to SteelDiver, there were a few 'new' characters/franchises made. Chibi Robo? Yeah, it's not popular. But it's a quirky game with neat ideas. Trace Memory? Again, not popular, but was a very interesting DS title that also had a sequel on Wii. Why do people forget these?

Promotion.

If Nintendo makes a new Mario, Zelda or Metroid game, there are ads almost everywhere- on TV, in movie theaters (anyone saw Mario Galaxy 2's amazing ad in theaters? I did. Was freaking sweet- anyhow) and internet ads which has really been the focus of advertising these days.

Here's the deal: Nintendo has plenty of franchises that have not gotten the attention they deserve. Why make NEW ones and disregard MOTHER, Custom Robo, Fire Emblem, Ice Climbers, Balloon Fighter, Wario Land (I'll also bring up support characters later), and well, you get the picture.

Sure, I would not mind Nintendo making new properties. They made quite a few recently but those games have only been released in Japan. That Rainbow Man, Power Ranger-like team- yeah, I think it was obvious that those won't do well here because the audience here in the states (Europe and Aussy too) wouldn't be too accepting of those properties.

Then, we have characters that should have their own game. The recent Mario&Luigi had Bowser being essentially the main star of the game. I mean, a game that revolves solely on Bowser? That's freaking awesome! Before that, we had Super Princess Peach; though, it was poorly received by those who thought TOO much of the game, it was still a fun, enjoyable game. And even before that, we have WarioWare Inc. which compiles quirky fun microgames that represents Wario fairly well which was after he took a break from Wario Land up until Wario Land Master of Disguise.

Tingle also got his own outing in Tingle's Rupee Land (it's something wacky like that), but unfortunately, did not make it to the states for reasons that are... well, look it up. Rumors abuzz.

People keep saying "Nintendo needs to make a new IP, because I'm tired of Mario, Zelda, Metroid....." and I understand that. What I DON'T understand is people are tired of Star Fox, when the LAST new game in the franchise was Command which was loved and hated. Maybe the whole thing of "Nintendo reusing their properties" but that's ridiculous. MANY companies besides Nintendo have been doing that- some more and even worse than others.

The point is: Don't make a new IP if you can work with your old ones. I'd love to see a new Balloon Fighter, Ice Climber- even Mach Rider. F-Zero hasn't show it's face in a REALLY long time. Mother 4 probably won't see the light of day because Itoi "don't feel like it." which I hope he changed his mind. Earthbound (Mother 2) was poorly advertised and because of that, NoA refused to localize Mother 3 when it was THEIR fault. That's a story for another day though. There's a plethora of franchises that should be brought back. I want a new Custom Robo, Chibi Robo and how about a new Mario Party with online connectivity?

Nintendo already has new IPs (if you want to call them that) such as Pandora's Tower, The Last Story and Xenoblade. Though, it isn't developed by the masterminds behind Pikmin, Zelda or Mario, and those games being well recieved outside of Japan is questionable, it's still 'something'.

Those of you wanting a new IP- what do you WANT exactly. What do you want to see come from Nintendo? Because right now, I don't care if they bring a new property out in the spotlight- I want them to bring back the games that have been forgotten for far too long now.

Nintendo simply don't 'need' a new IP. They have Ice Climber, Balloon Fight, Geist, Eternal Darkness, Mach Rider, F-Zero, Custom Robo, Mother, Starfy, Trace Memory- they have many IPs that have not gotten the attention needed- to evolve them or just bring them back. That's 10 franchises. Then we have Super Smash Bros and the other spin-offs of the main games and the characters. Zelda herself being playable in a Zelda game? Or how about Ganon's perspective? Yeah, I think they're set. I'm not against new IPs, but I rather have them work with their old franchises than to ditch the old.

It's really silly. Square Enix leans on Final Fantasy and we'll always see a new FF game. Same as Dragon Quest. Megaman, Monster Hunter, Resident Evil- they're all in the same situation as Nintendo as these franchises have been around for as long as Nintendo's. It's just plain obvious that Nintendo has a lot more but they, like I said before a couple of times like a broken record- have not been paying attention to them.

I really want to see MOTHER 4 and Custom Robo. I really really do. Over any NEW property.

While you bring up some good points I think it is a bit more complicated then this. You are right about their lack of advertising but that only goes so far. Most early adopters usually follow gaming new of any sort. I am actually glad that the ip we have is not being over used. It not like they are producing them annually like some other companies would do.

I feel there are a few problems that Nintendo has.

I think Nintendo needs more development teams to work on games at with different schedules. They are not released evenly.
In 2007 they published about 12 games and in 2010 they released about 10 first party titles. meanwhile in 2009 they released about 8 first party titles with 3 of them being new play controls and the metroid prime trilogy also. In 2008 we only had 7 new games including wii music and wii fit.

Most franchises only get one outing per console and I think the games are getting so large that they need more teams to work on those missed franchises. While I would like new franchises I would also like them to get more people first.

The second problem is that we are seeing some franchised more then others because if you only have so many people you will have them work on what makes you the most money.

Finally as far as some games that never leave japan I wouldn't be surprised if there are 2 problems with them. One is the amount of people in the localization department and the second is the limited returns issue like what we have seen with the Capcom's Ace Attorney Investigations 2. The cost of translation outweighing the profit margin.

I have no problem with Nintendo's lack of new IPs or the fact that they leave some of their franchises to rot in obscurity (Eternal Darkness). Like you said, all game companies do this. However, Nintendo is one upping their fellow developers because their staple franchises like Mario and Zelda are still top notch games and rarely get outclassed by the competition. Square-Enix has milked Final Fantasy to the point of mediocrity (thankfully Dragon Quest is still good) and endlessly remake old FF games instead of making a new Chrono game or a sequel to Einhander. Capcom would rather run Resident Evil into the ground and put out multiple versions of Street Fighter instead of make a new Strider or Onimusha. Even the best developers like Valve put out sequels to their newer IPs (Left 4 Dead, Portal) and can't get Half-Life Episode 3 made.

Back to Nintendo, I do take issue with their lackluster online gaming efforts and their inability to simply use a hard drive for storage. The hard drive problem will hopefully be solved with their new console but I need to see some serious effort to Nintendo's online business model and online services for me to consider buying "Project Cafè". The IPs (new or old) will come, but as you stated, Nintendo doesn't desperately need a new IP at the moment. They need to jump on the online bandwagon something fierce.

I would like a new console Chibi-Robo to be honest.

I'm gonna feel like a scrub for asking, but what does IP stand for?

Don't forget Startropics, a new entry for that IP would rock.

Intellectual Property

Much obliged.

I would like Nintendo too keep their current IPs

AND make like 1 or 2 new ones

I'd like to see what Nintendo could do

Sigh. "Advertise more" doesn't magically turn a game into a best seller. Typically, advertising is such a small part of a marketing strategy (and the two are different terms) that people way overestimate them. Nintendo does an incredible job of marketing. It does a horrible job of advertising. I'm voting Nintendo advertises LESS.

As for IPs. There's a really darned good reason that new IPs are important - relevancy. IPs become irrelevant over time, as in-demand games change, public tastes change, and even the social and political climate changes. Look at James Bond. Once cool, he's really struggled to maintain relevancy as a character and as an IP.

Smart video game developers and publishers realise this. Nintendo realises this. It does experiment with new IPs, because it knows it needs to, while milking the old stuff. It bought Monolith Software for a new IP. It attempted to turn Monster Hunter, Dragon Warrior and Samurai Warriors into IPs popular with the western market (and thus essentially "new"), because even though it doesn't own them, it does benefit from their success on Nintendo platforms. It has experimented a tonne on both WiiWare and DSiWare with a tonne of new IPs. It created a casual market all of its own on the back of new IPs - in its bid to move with the times.

So yes, new IPs are absolutely critical to any major company. Anyone who claims Nintendo isn't investing in IPs has their eyes blinded to 99% of what Nintendo does as a business now.

Sounds good from what I read.

But I want my Custom Robo D:

I do think advertising is important because kids mostly watch TV, see a cool game, and instantly ask their parents if they can get it for them. Same thing for the general public who are not on the internet and in the know of the game.

I look at it this way:

Small or not at all- there's a BIG difference.

I think if you convince people the story won't suck as much as the GCN game people will buy them. Honestly, that's probably the worst story I've seen in a game that has even a little bit of focus on story. It was half-ed, unoriginal, boring and really stupid. It makes Final Fantasy VIII look like Mother 3-ok nothing could make FFVIII look like Mother 3 by comparison.

/rant

anyway, while I agree advertising isn't a guarantee a game will be the next big thing, it certainly helps a ton. Especially with a decent amount of commercials ('sup Layton).

That's what I been telling a lot of people. They do create IPs but none of you even cared when they came out.

Waltz makes good points btw.

I do think advertising is important because kids mostly watch TV, see a cool game, and instantly ask their parents if they can get it for them. Same thing for the general public who are not on the internet and in the know of the game.

And for that handful of kids that hadn't already been swayed, but the TV ad made them go "WOW," Nintendo needs to spend a few million to produce the ad, and get it on TV.

Small gains, big cost.

Trust me on this - I've been involved in advertising campaigns. A cost/ benefit analysis puts advertising on the very bottom of marketing tricks for a whole range of different product categories - and video games is one of those. Sometimes it's necessary to get those last few sales, but it's exactly that - it's the last thing modern marketers consider (or if they have huge amounts of money to throw away, then it's an easy add to a marketing campaign)

If it's a big name game, sometimes all it could take is a commercial.

There was a Youtube music video of DKCR that convinced me to buy it...

That's really what most games rely on. websites like this,. fan base material, Hype and word of mouth, press releases, conferences (ex. tgs, e3). Nintendo also produces a lot of games. They publish about the same amount of first party games per console as any other first on average. My only complaint is they aren't evenly spread out. As far as new IP they have made a a lot more then most in the past few years but it doesn't appeal to everyone and few IPs ever do. (Wii series, Brain age, Nintendogs, steel diver, Chibi-robo, Pikman, etc)

I think people who complain that there are no new IPs are really saying there are no new IPs catered to them.

I agree with all of this 100%

Modern marketing wisdom is that the most effective form of marketing is having a strong social presence - so things like word of mouth, media relations, social networks and so on and so forth. Getting a positive spin by the people is far more valuable than an ad that people are quite aware is advertising, and tend to be quite cynical towards.

It's a good time to be a marketer, actually - there's a lot more room for creativity and exciting ideas than old school advertising.

I agree with the story of the GCN version. Custom Robo Arena's story was significantly better but it wasn't anything to write home about. I didn't care for the story. I only cared about creating my robots and battling it out.

If you're tired of Mario then you're tired of life.

I want Chibi robo 3 and the Hotel Dusk 2 to come to US as well as the 3 Tingle games before we get "New" IP's

I'd like to see an original Chibi-robo on Wii indefinitely. As for Hotel Dusk- I feel like there is a spiritual sequel on Wii but I'm not sure.