Topic: Keys to the NX's Success

I don't want to seem like a downer, but I believe the NX will be a failure no matter what Nintendo does. Lets look at the facts, they are releasing a new console on the market mid-gen meaning that they will have to compete with two consoles that have already some good momentum with them and won't seem to stop for another few years. For consumers looking into buying a new console they will see the PS4 and the XBOX One as a better option since probably a few friends of theirs already own the console and know that they already have a hefty library that is still getting bigger. For people who already own a PS4 or XBOX One well the sale will be a harder one, the only factor into them buying the console will be the first party games since they are already getting all of the third party games that they want, and knowing the story of the Wii U even if you have awesome first party games sometimes your system will fail.

No evidence to suggest it is a console, it could be a handheld. It could even be part of a new operating system if you look at the Wii U's browser specs:

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Nintendo WiiU) AppleWebKit/536.28
(KHTML, like Gecko) NX/*** NintendoBrowser/***.US

source: http://www.nintendo.com/wiiu/built-in-software/browser-specs/

I do not know.... I feel and fear that nintendo will go on with some "wonderful" gimmicky trying to impress and it will fail again.

The only thing I see that could sell (apart a proper home console stronger than ps4 and Xbox) is an handeld that can connect to the tv. At least It will sell to the 3ds userbase.

Assuming the NX is a home console, I think this is going to be incredibly tough for Nintendo, as by the time it gets released most of the "buying audience" will already have a new-gen machine, be it from Sony or Microsoft. Therefore launch price becomes crucial because you have to sell something to people who recently spent $400 on something similar.
I also think that the cost of life has gotten more expensive compared with 10 years ago, so Nintendo has to take into account that they might not be competing with mobile phones and tablets directly for gaming, but they are competing with them when it comes to luxury items. To put it simply, the average first world high tech buyer (who incidentally is also part of the market Nintendo needs to tackle) not only has a console but also an expensive phone, an expensive tablet and an expensive personal computer, and Nintendo needs to open a breach in these. So yeah, launch price.

Second, I think Nintendo needs to find a way to PRETEND they are giving you a lot more than your money's worth. For example Sony has Playstation+, and mobile phone games come directly free but have microtransactions. As money-making systems those two are legitimately brilliant: with PS+ they have you pay for a constant rent even if you are not playing, and with microtransactions they end up making more money that if they launched the game for full price.
I'm not saying Nintendo has to adopt these strategies, but they have to come up with something that gives the same impression of "OMG Nintendo is giving away stuff!!!". Unfortunately the videogame business is hardly sustainable nowdays if you don't act like a business man.

Third - get the press on board. Nintendo has to do anything they can to have the press on their side. The general audience is sheepish and lets the press shape their taste and guide their purchases. You can launch the bloody spaceship but if the press says people shouldn't buy your console, then people won't buy your console.

@spizzamarozzi: great post amico!

Especially on your second one, brilliant. They, for example,should open up a cheap subscription fee for the whole virtual console (like sony want to do with PS Now)...... and no more power adapter sold separately like 3ds XL, please.... (facepalm)

@spizzamarozzi: awesome post

@shaneoh: 1.) Nintendo has confirmed it to be hardware
2.) That is just a funny coincidence. Nintendo didn't make that, Mozilla did.

@Paulthevgnerd:
no they haven't. Source please

@shaneoh: here it is

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-03-17-nintendo-nx-is-n...

@arnoldlayne83:
There is nothing in Iwata's quotes there to suggest the NX is a home console, "dedicated game platform," "new hardware," "the new hardware system with a brand-new concept," could all just as easily be applied to a handheld as well as a stay at home device. However it seems there has been several communication errors, I didn't say it wasn't hardware, I said it wasn't confirmed to be a home console and could just as easily be a handheld. @Paulthevgnerd misread my statement and I in turn misread his response.

Edit: I think that's my cue to go to bed.

I think it's pretty much confirmed to be hardware, not software. Whether it is an handheld or home system, one can only guess at the moment.
For the record, I think it is an home console successor to the Wii U and all my conjectures here take that assumption as true.

@shaneoh: "The NX is new hardware, and will start from 0." ripped straight from Iwata's quote at the 75th annual shareholders meeting.

Okay here we go (In no particular order):

1. The system must be easy to port games to from the PS4 and XB1. One of the biggest flaws with the Wii U is that, while it's not the most complex piece of hardware of all time, it is significantly more complex than either of it's competitors. To make matters worse, the system is far less powerful than the competition as well. The NX needs to be powerful, easy to program, and have a controller to which 3rd party games can easily be ported (The Wii Remote was short on buttons)

2. It should come out in Holiday 2017 AND be significantly more powerful than the PS4. So Nintendo needs to be extremely careful about launching a system mid-generation. The reason consoles are generally launched in groups is because that tends to be the point where the market is most interested in new hardware. If Nintendo launches "mid-generation", then the market won't have much interest, having purchased a PS4 or XB1 in the past few years. I only see one solution to this problem. They need to launch a little later (Holiday 2017), and release a platform that will push Sony and Microsoft to use a 5-6 year lifecycle rather than a 7-9 year one using powerful hardware. They CANNOT use a hardware innovation for this, because Sony and Microsoft don't understand the idea that peripherals are useless junk if they aren't included with the system. They will just put out a PS4/XB1 peripheral, and continue on with a 7-8 year lifecycle.

3. It should have a CHEAP unique hardware feature. This one is going to be controversial, but I honestly can't see Nintendo standing out in any other way. The mature mass market doesn't care about Nintendo, and I don't think that will change simply by Nintendo releasing their own PS4 or PS5. Nintendo needs to shock the market the way they did with the Wii, introducing something that everyone is intrigued by. But unlike the Wii U, that unique feature cannot cost significantly more than a regular controller. That forces costs up, and prevents powerful hardware.

4. ADVERTISING. 1 Nintendo needs to advertise 3rd party games on the system. I'm not saying Nintendo should pay for CoD ads, but rather that when they advertise the NX, they need to make it known that CoD is available on the system. 2 Their advertising needs to grow up. They need to stop telling the world that their system is only fun for kids and families, and go back to the Wii approach with a far more widespread audience.

@Paulthevgnerd:
I'm not saying it isn't. All I'm saying is that it isn't confirmed whether it's a handheld or a home console.

I'm not a traditional gamer. My main attraction to the Wii U was that it was a sort of "Super Wii" or at least that was one of the promises when it came out (there weren't that many first party games when it came out). I love the motion control features of the Wii U and feel this is an under appreciated feature, especially as the other main consoles are abandoning it. Wii U Sports club and the Wii fit are still some of Ninendo's most popular games, along with dedicated fans. I hope the developers of the New console don't abandon those of us fans who still like getting off the couch to play their games.

@dobberp: To be fair, PlayStation's DualShock 4 controller has built-in motion control, it even has a small touchpad.

They're also reintroducing the PS move for Playstation VR, so they're not abandoning it at all.

True, but I wonder how much that controller will be used. Since it doesn't come with the system and you need to buy the PlayStation VR, the PlatStation Move and a PlayStation Camera all separately. Granted you already own the system, and of course there are the costs of the games themselves. It will be a very expensive setup for games that will likely not be more than novel ideas. I don't think it will become very mainstream.

@Octane:
All the VR solutions are horrible expensive outside of Samsung Gear.
All of them require motion controls to get the best experience, most require them as the only controller.

As for NX:

1) it needs to be $200 max for the console with no pack in game. $250 max with a pack in game. Nintendo's systems have always been price sensitive, in part how people view the brand as family friendly, kiddy, and "casual" since NES. NO ONE outside of a few fans will pony up more than $250. They will be dead if they go beyond $250 with one pack in game. The console also needs a must have distinct exclusive feature or features you cannot get anywhere else. No one want a ME THREE console. The console also needs the ability to rapidly drop in price. Wii went from $250 to $200 in it's first year, then quickly to $150 the second year followed by $100 price market the 3rd year. GC went from $200, to $150 in it's first year, followed by $100 in it's second year, then wound up crashing sub $100 the 3rd year. SNES, NES and N64 also followed similar pricing.

Handheld has to be $150 max and rapidly able to price drop. DS gained a lot of sales because it quickly reduced in price to $100 then to down to $70 near the end of it's second year. GBA launched at $100, by the launch of SP in March it was already down to $80. By it's second Christmas in the U.S. you could get a GBA or GBA SP for $60 with a game bundled in from retailers (not an official bundle). GBA early in it's 3rd year hit $60 officially and was rapidly dropped to $50 then to $30 by the end of it's 4th year. GBC and GB had a similar plan.

2) They need an easy to convey brand name that consumers easily accept and marketing that goes with it.

3) They somehow need to convince retailers not to pack in NX like they do 3DS and DS, Wii and Wii U. Hell I see retailers regularly pack in PS4 into PS3 and PSVita into one mixed up section. Strangely Xbox doesn't have this issue.

4) If they want Western 3rd parties back, they better be willing to engage in a massive bidding war with Sony and Microsoft. Microsoft has already committed $1 BILLION USD to ensure Xbox One gets major 3rd party releases (except for those with online cross play)! It is said that a few dollars of your Xbox Live subscription price goes to Activision and EA to keep them on board.
Sony has spent close to $500 Million USD to ensure PS4 get the 3rd party support it does.

This money includes pay the complete development bill, marketing campaigns, ensuring certain games are profitable (they let 3rd parties keep the revenue from sales).
Sony and Microsoft also send their developers to 3rd parties to work on the 3rd party games to make it as easy as possible for 3rd parties to develop their games. 3rd parties do not pay them for the employees.
They also localize 3rd party games for them.
They also eat the rating costs, while working with retailers over 3rd party games while not having publishing rights to 3rd party games.
Lastly Sony and Microsoft plan their development and release schedules to ensure that 3rd parties aren't hurt by them.

Oh I should mention that Microsoft has ~90,000 employees, Sony as ~100k employees and Nintendo has ~5,300 employees (Valve only has ~300 employees).

The reason why most 3rd parties don't want to work with Nintendo are the following:

1) They cannot compete against Nintendo's first party releases.
2) Nintendo isn't willing to ensure their games are profitable on Nintendo systems.
3) Nintendo won't let them have control of the systems.
4) Nintendo owners don't buy their games (these games have been broken, lacking features and parity, and/or have been released months later on Nintendo systems after the competition)
5) Nintendo doesn't focus on 15-35 male audience (These are known as the "hardcore" gamers), who primarily buy M-rated games, shooters, and realistic sports games.
6) It is believed that Nintendo has been focusing on "Casuals", kids, families since NES instead of the "hardcore" gamer, which in turn puts of said "hardcore" gamer and 3rd parties from supporting the system.
7) Nintendo's image since NES has been putting off "hardcore" gamers and 3rd parties
8) Those kids in the 80s and early 90s that grew up hating Nintendo for being kiddy and "casual" became today's developer and still hold those beliefs.

5) A set of distinct exclusives to showcase the new system's capabilities. Wii U had the biggest more varied in launch in the history of gaming consoles, it lacked was a set of distinct exclusives that made people take notice. It also didn't help that 3rd parties delayed at lot of their games at the last minute because the launch was "too crowded". The subsequent lack of games from Nintendo was apparent, because Nintendo had shifted all their developers a year earlier to save the 3DS.

6) Get those 3rd parties who are willing to work with you and deepen the relationship, while helping indies. The major Western studios are most likely a lost cause.

• Affordable/Value
• Storage
• Better use of Nintendo Network, to make digital sales more practical.
• Lack of gimmicks.
• Parity with PS4/Xbox One power.
• GAMES.