The Future of Nintendo

Now everybody be nice...  Because we are all videogamers and have most likely played a Nintendo game at some point, I find this an interesting conversation.  Beware, this is a long post with lots of links to other articles.  But if you are interested in videogames, feel free to post your thoughts.  Now... on to it!

Previously, I posted about The Future of Xbox in the forums.  Whether or not that comes to fruition, who knows.  But as both next-gen consoles launched to record sales numbers, there have been some interesting web articles about Nintendo and the Wii U.  Hopefully, since we're not a Nintendo clan, we can look at this as avid videogamers and not as the typical Sony vs MSFT argument.  As a businessman, I find it fascinating the predicament that Nintendo is in and look forward to see how they plan to get out of it.

Let's start here.  The current state of Nintendo - What the Hell is Wrong with Nintendo?

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“Sony Corp. and Microsoft Corp. each sold more game consoles in 24 hours than the Wii U maker did in nine months,” read the story. “[Nintendo] sold just 460,000 Wii U machines in the six months ended Sept. 30, about 5 percent of its target for the fiscal year.”

Referenced in that Wired article is an old one by the same author.  Should they just license their games? - Why Nintendo Doesn't Need to Make iPhone Games

Uhh... probably not.  Remember Sega?

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Take Sega. (Please.) The brief lifespan of the Dreamcast system, the final two years that the company spent in the hardware business, was marked by an exceptional creative fecundity. Those two years produced Crazy Taxi, Samba de Amigo, Rez, Shenmue, Jet Set Radio, Space Channel 5, Seaman … an avalanche of extraordinary, groundbreaking games spanning genres.

When the company said it would go “platform agnostic” and discontinue Dreamcast, conventional wisdom held that this was a brilliant move: The company’s amazing games, now published on every platform, would surely make it one of the strongest software publishers on the planet, a sort of Japanese Electronic Arts.

How’d that all work out? The restructuring may have turned around Sega’s slumping financials, but it killed the creativity. With Sega suddenly finding itself in cutthroat competition with the rest of the industry, it didn’t take long for the development imperative to shift from “create distinctive, unique experiences that make our hardware stand out” to “sell games.”

Every one of the game series I just mentioned is dead, and Sega finds itself way down the list of the world’s biggest game publishers.

Ok so becoming a 3rd party developer for other hardware may not be the way to go.  What else can they do?  How do you Solve a Problem like the Wii U?

Main idea:

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Nintendo needs to weather the next couple years and make as many excellent games as possible for the system. But at the same time they need to start working on the Wii U’s successor in earnest [essentially the Super Wii].

Perhaps.  But this means they have to come up with new hardware that surpasses the Ps4/XB1 in just a few years, plus have 2-3 AAA first party titles on tap for the launch.  I don't think that's feasible and Nintendo has never shown the inclination to be cutting edge in their hardware.

So... back to the hardware vs software arguement.

Point - It may be Time for Nintendo to Make Games, Not Consoles

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But we need to be clear about something. Nintendo is not SEGA. Mario is not Sonic. Not only is Mario a much more storied franchise that has kept making consistently fantastic games for decades while Sonic slowly got worse over time, it’s that Nintendo’s stable is so much more than just Mario. SEGA had Sonic, and maybe Shinobi, Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio and Panzer Dragoon if you’re feeling nostalgic. Nintendo has Mario and Zelda, Kirby, Metroid, Donkey Kong, Kirby, Yoshi, Earthbound, Pikmin, Pokemon, Mario Kart, Smash Bros, all beloved series and household names that have stood the test of time, and a huge catalog to draw from

I think that makes sense.  But I just don't know that the average Xbox/PS owner would be getting Mario and Pokemon for their system.

Counterpoint - Why Nintendo Needs to Stay in the Hardware Business

Personally, I think a Nintendo system would sell fine if it was marketed correctly.  As long as the graphics are on par with the current next-gen (read: PS4/XB1) and it's priced competitively (read: less than the PS4), then it should move units because people will buy it to play Mario and the like.  I think a lot of the casual/family market out there don't even know that there was a new system from Nintendo.  I like the idea of cross mobile/home play a la the PS and Vita with the 3DS.  It actually would serve as line extension of sorts and incentivize people to buy both the home and portable systems.