Nintendo Considering "New Business Structure"

Sold. On board. Sign me up. Lets do this!

RENAME THE CONSOLE SO PEOPLE STOP THINKING THE WII U IS A PERIPHERAL.

How fucking stupid or stubborn is this company?

A little harsh, but yeah I agree with you. Nintendo has fits of brilliance and fits of idiocy. I want to give them the benefit of the doubt that they could turn it around on the next console, but they've been so completely out of touch for the past 4-5 years, it's hard to still have faith in them. I hope they turn the corner. I mean certainly no one predicted the Wii would be so successful after the Gamecube underperformed, so I'll never count out Nintendo until they truly crash and burn.

I predict Super Mario MOBA.

Good

Nintendo Phones, calling it.

It's sad because the Wii U is really an incredible machine. Every time I've used one, I've thoroughly enjoyed it. The problem really comes down to the fact that developers don't want to take risks and make unique things. Instead, they want to churn out as many FPS games and franchise entries as possible. I don't blame them, really. The consumers are the ones enabling that mentality every single week, month, and year.

Nintendo wants to do NEW things, push boundaries in terms of innovation rather than just graphics and horsepower. Meanwhile, everyone just wants to drone on with the same boring shit.

Luckily, I have a PC and play new and interesting games damn near every other day.

Nintendo are, at least currently and have been for a good few years now, a moronic company that make dumb as hell decisions.

Making a console that's a generation behind in technology, making it harder for third parties to develop for them, yet costing as much as an ACTUAL next-gen system: Check

Making a region locked HANDHELD system that's also region locked for most multiplayer games, making the concept of a handheld worthless: Check

I hope Nintendo crash and burn soon to be honest and go the way of Sega, the fact they've managed to survive this long after the Gamecube is almost purely due to the Wii doing far better than anyone could have guessed. I love my 3DS purely due to the games, but not being able to play anything 3DS-related with my friends due to the fact my 3DS is from a different region riles me up to no end. Especially when the original DS handled things so well.

So yeah, down with Nintendo, I love their games, I swear I do, I'd be incredibly happy to play their games, on Sony's and Microsoft's machines that is. They've gotten far too big-headed for their own good, I'm sick of their constantly segregating gamers in general with their piss-poor decisions. Developers are not going to want to develop solely for the Wii U, when they can make more than double their money making a single game that can be played on both XB1 and PS4. And if they have no games, who's going to want their console? The only reason the Wii did so well is because of how dirt cheap it was and the novelty factor, the Wii U doesn't have that, we see touch screens every day and the price they're charging was and still is horrendous.

Rant over, I really do hate modern Nintendo.

Stop catering to "family friendly" and you'll do well. This means LEARN HOW ONLINE WORKS.

Tablets drank that casual market milkshake while Nintendo wasn't looking.

The problem of course is there not giving gamers enough for $300. The Wii U needs to come down in price. I actually want one just for the Nintendo games, I'm a huge Nintendo fan but I don't see spending $300 just to play what they have out there. I'll probably get a Wii U eventually but it would have to be under $200... Maybe they should bring out a version with out that gamepad with the screen on it, that should bring down the price a bit I would think!!!

They'll find a way to make money and stay in the game.

At least I hope. I'd like to see some more Metroid stuff and of course Bayonetta 2.

Didn't Microsoft recently form a new business structure? Did anything really change? I expect more of the same here.

Geez. I hope no one in the trenches at Big N lose jobs or anything.

You are in charge of your desires and expectations; your lack of interest is (and can only ever be) your responsibility. Have you considered expanding the scope of things which you enjoy?

Learning to enjoy/appreciate a wide variety of things is part of what makes life great.

Yes, I understand that you speak from a place of ignorance; it's perfectly clear. If you think being an entitled white person makes you able to speak for everyone: you're way off the mark.

Your post is highly ethnocentric; you don't seem to realize that in other parts of the world -- the parts of the world where the majority of the population of the planet live (Asia) -- that Nintendo has been the king of the video game mountain for around 3 decades. The majority of the global population doesn't even celebrate Christmas. You said Nintendo made a bad move with Wii, but companies like Sony and Microsoft would love to have the kind of success (and have the kind of liquidity) that Nintendo has continued to see. Go and have a trip to Asia and you'll be hard-pressed to find an Xbox, but you'll almost definitely see something manufactured by Nintendo in the hands of many people ... kids, adults ... and, yes, they all like video games.

You say "superior systems" like a gaming console is all technical specifications, but that's just not the case; "superior" is a relative term, so if you're going to throw it around: we need to define the terms. I would argue that a device is "superior" to another if it serves its user in a more satisfactory way, and that's all. For some things: a stick is better than a shovel, regardless of how technologically advanced a shovel might be when compared to the stick.

Sure, the Wii is collecting dust on shelves now, but so is pretty much every other console from every previous generation, so that argument just doesn't hold water; your Xbox360 will be collecting dust all the same in a few years.

Finally, if you think making a bunch of uninformed claims and swearing makes you sound like an informed adult: you're wrong; it just makes you sound like an ignorant child who has a chip on their shoulder.

I really wish Nintendo made something I actually wanted to buy.

If you really think they fucked up on the wii, then you're the one delusional here.

They need to cut their losses and concentrate on the handheld. I have a 3ds xl and its amazing. They lost the console war a long time ago.

I still want a Wii U, but I'm waiting till there's more games. When Super Smash Bros. comes out I'll probably get it. If not I'll wait for a new Metroid game.

They simply need more games on it!

Nintendo is gonna save the Vita.

If history is any sort of indicator, never bet against Nintendo. That is one dog that has a hell of a lot of fight. They have the technology, they can rebuild it.

In total honesty, I think they need to come to terms with the online aspect of their consoles and make it an easy transition/integration (like Sony) between the 3DS and WiiU stuff. They release great games but they need to figure out the system side of things and maybe perhaps possibly release a new IP or something. I'd love a new Nintendo RPG or something like that.

The problem with Nintendo is that they just can't go out and develop games for smartphones. Nintendo would loose to much of it's identity.

What Nintendo should do is ride out this console generation, put most of their "AAA" developers on the 3DS and start R&D on a new console with a release date in 4-5 years time. The 3DS may not sell bonkers, but it does stuff smartphones just don't do these days (2 screens, 3D, etc.).

If Nintendo could get online sorted out, give people the ability to merge DS/ 3DS/ Wii/ WiiU accounts, and perhapse go the Playstation Plus route with the Instant Games Library initiative, that might salvage Nintendo.

Imagine this: a subscription like PSN or XBLA, but you get all the virtual console games and, from time to time, a full retail product just the way you would on PSN. Couple that with cross-platform compatibility and Nintendo could ad me as their next costumer.

Just my two-cents.

Make a pokemon game on the Wii U. Make a full 3D world, put the bag/party on your handheld screen, throw in the friend code shit from Animal Crossing. People would devour it. I would buy a Wii U for that. I would buy several, in case the first one caught on fire. It seems so obvious. Nintendo is sitting on this sack of potential that they never seem to do anything with. It drives me mental.

I should make a videogame.

Reading this makes me sick to my stomach. I haven't been paying much attention to Nintendo ever since the Wii was released, but seeing the company whose games I grew up playing in such financial trouble is really fucking depressing.

Too bad to hear this though I always thought that there were many games that Nintendo put out only on the handhold 3ds which would have worked great on the WiiU to help give the WiiU more reason to be played. The WiiU is pretty much a giant 3ds screen anyway so why not do that plus copy what Playstation+ has been doing online to give more to it's userbase. This should help some but expecting if nothing else they will just drop out of doing consoles & stick to the handheld market.

@kaiyouske: i agree that the best step they could take is to really improve developer relations, get cool new experiences on their systems and change the idea that you only buy their console for a mario or zelda

I'm going to miss Nintendo hardware if it goes away :-(

Despite being intrigued about what the new Smash Bros is about, I don't want to purchase a console with no other attractive selling points for that short lived experience & it'd seem many others feel the same.

It's a shame that there could potentially only be two console manufacturers left, but to put things into perspective, just over 14 years ago there was at least six plus with the likes of Neo Geo, Atari, Sega, Commodore etc. It's a natural evolution of the medium that companies come and go.

I think its time for Nintendo games to go multiplatform Nintendo. You know it, we know it. Time to swallow your pride and accept this course of action.

Ouch. But yeah, I think Nintendo need to concentrate on what they're good at - handhelds and high quality first party titles.

Phones is not the way to go, however.

They must obviously know that no one would want to play a classical Nintendo game with only touchscreen input. Though I would love to see with what new ideas they could come up with to suit those devices.

I wonder if there is even the slither of chance that Nintendo would create their own smart phone? They do like making hardware.

It doesn't matter if you wouldn't, just look at the sales of the 2/3DS this year after Pokemon was released. They make far more money from selling hardware than they could by branching out with software and for crying out loud, the last thing I want to see is Nintendo trying to monetize Pokemon with microtransactions. Nintendo going out of business, or even just turning to multiplatform sales, would be the worst thing I can see happening to this industry.

However, we did recently see Nintendo trademark "Pokemon Touch". It wouldn't surprise me to see them release more apps on Android/iOS, like they did with that Pokedex a while back, and give that some kind of connectivity to the Pokemon you can now store on the cloud service.

i hope that isnt the end of nintendo

Hello There,

As someone that skipped out on the Wii generation, I was pretty skeptical when the WiiU first came out. However, I then saw the release of the XBONE and the PS4, and that drastically changed my view of the WiiU. I've come to realize that I didn't want the game industry plagued with FPS games and 3rd person action games with little to no innovation, or hardware that's just all power and no substance. If hardware really mattered THAT much, the Vita should have destroyed the 3DS by now. However, we all know that this isn't the case.

Nintendo's problem isn't that there aren't any games, but that developers are focused on making graphical improvements than to improve upon the player experience. We're up to how many Call of Dutys now and the best they can come with is that you have a dog? Ubisoft was probably one of the better 3rd party developers willing to use and successfully made their games(Red Steel, ZombieU) fun with Nintendo's special hardware, whereas the rest simply made ports just hoping to cash in on the Wii's installed base. The 3DS isn't surviving because of ports but because of titles exclusive to that system!

I'm not really sure what Nintendo can do at this point, but I believe that Bayonetta 2 is a step towards the right direction. They need 3rd party WiiU exclusives that are ONLY playable on their system and what better way to do that than to act as a 'kickstarter' for developers that can't afford to make the game that they want? I personally think that Nintendo should buy Platinum games because a lot of their game design philosophies align. You can see it in their games!

Another issue that they have is that a lot of the people that grew up with Nintendo games have grown up, but Nintendo games stayed the same as when we used to play them. I would love to see Nintendo whip up some games that are tailored more towards the adolescent or adult crowds. This would help 'grow up' their image as well and probably help them in the long run.

No matter how bad Nintendo is doing, I would never want them to go down as a hardware manufacturer. Do you want a world with only Halos and Killzones, and consoles with a terabyte of DDR20 RAM so you can play Call of Duty 15 with realistic cat hair? I really hope that doesn't come to pass.

I don't think the WiiU is out of the game just yet, but Nintendo is running out of time. Hopefully an improved gameplay will materialize by E3 and show people what the WiiU can really do. The amount of RAM doesn't matter, it's how you use it. ;)

-k

iOS would be a grave mistake, convincing people to pay 40€ for a new game on that platform is practically impossible. And a free to play Pokemon would be a horrible thing.

Their prediction for console sales seems to be based off of the unexpected market the Wii ended up appealing to, why do companies assume every product will sell as well as the last?

What Zelda on steam?

1440p, 60fps......sounds good to me.

I was thinking about getting a Wii U to, think I'll reconsider till the dust settles and we see what Nintendo do next.

But ouch! Nintendo!

Sega stopped making competitive product.

Perhaps the development costs of a Nintendo title wouldn't be justified sharing profits with a hardware provider, but I have hopes that THE strongest IP holder in Gaming could make it work.

I guarantee that the first AAA title NIntendo released on all platforms (assuming they put their usual effort into it) would be their fastest seller of all time (Wii sports doesn't count; a freak fluke. And arguably the worst thing that ever happened to Nintendo as far as Gamers are concerned).

I thought Nintendo just made a butt load of money in China due to the consule ban lift? Anyway... If Nintendo would just join the 21st century and make a consule that has decent hardware this wouldn't be a problem!

This has been my dream for years. Most gamers I know love NIntendo games, but never get to play them because they're on a system that just isn't worth it. I, for one, am not going to pay a few hundred dollars to play Mario or Zelda or both.

Bring Nintendo to everyone! Please!

@chrissedoff: Whether or not you thought the games were good, Sega were putting out the most interesting games in the industry with the Dreamcast and when they pulled out of hardware that pretty much stopped dead and they fell back onto tried and trusted franchises and ports so I don't see how it can be seen as anything but a shame.

i'd actually agree with this. may be hard to get a handheld powerful enough to deliver 1080p or even 720p, but i bet it's doable, and then you get the best of both worlds. problem being to get anything remotely comparable to a home console it'd have to be $300+ or taking a severe loss. and it would have to depend on nintendo modernizing to a degree.

but on the other hand i don't want them to be forced to become something they're lot. we would lose a lot i think if they became an also-ran console manufacturer focused on graphics, endless sequels, and reiterating the same dull grey modern FPSs ad nauseum. it's a rock and a hard place. i would admit i want nintendo to be nintendo, but to also not be nintendo. there has to be a solution somewhere.

i do enjoy my wii u a lot, and i still think it has potential, but i will concede things look rough. maybe there's something they can do to turn it around. maybe aggressive marketing in a different direction. maybe they can start wooing the indies quite like sony did (i wish they came to that conclusion first though). maybe they will do something radical or a risky gambit that will help them in the long run while hopefully not losing what makes them unique. maybe things will stay the same, but this indicates that they are quite aware of the situation and are willing to take the steps to evolve. i just hope it isn't at the cost of the core of nintendo which i know and love. i'm not sure if the two are mutually exclusive.

i still fucking love nintendo, and still have strong faith in them and hope they pull through.

Now is the time to capitalize on nostalgia. You know all those NES, SNES, N64, Gamecube, Gameboy, GBA and DS titles everyone grew up playing and loves? Start putting serious effort into getting those out on the Wii U and 3DS. Make a commitment that all legacy first party Nintendo games will be released on modern hardware in the next 3 years. Sort out the licensing agreements and get 3rd parties involved. Retro games and games that imitate them are huge right now and no one has a better back log than Nintendo. It's time to make Virtual Console matter and leverage a catalog that Sony or Microsoft would pay through the nose to have access to.

Sega squandered their talent and played it way too safe to be anything but an IP grindhouse. Nintendo failed to make a compelling console or a compelling reason to own their console. There's still hope, but I think Nintendo is going to have to make some big changes in order to remain relevant this console cycle.

The account system is getting better, but it was a complete mess when it was released. That touchscreen business is such a weak concept and it put the cost focus on a peripheral and not the actual system. If they had done what sony is doing with the vita, they could have off-loaded that functionality onto the 3DS and put more money into the core system and software suite.

Anyway, I just wish they had taken more care and thought into what it takes in this day and age to make decent console experience.

Maybe they'll just go full circle and start selling Nintendo franchise themed playing cards. EXCLUSIVELY. Having said that, in my heart, I want Nintendo to launch a crazy ass sneak attack with an awesome VR headset based console. Virtual Boy 2.0. Virtual Man. Virtualman.

@driftspace said:

Yeah it was the best selling console, so what? It's now gathering dust in every 5 year olds bedroom and grandparents house, sure people are going to bust it out once every christmas and go "hey wii sports? huh? huuuuuuh?" the Wii was a one gold coin in the bottom of a barrel of pirate shit, but the problem was there was only one. Where are the Wii U sales? Oh yeah everyone is fucking over motion controls.

I hate the Wii because the Gamecube and N64 were pretty fucking awesome and I was expecting something great. I'm not saying Nintendo didn't have a great past, I'm saying they need to put GBA games on the fucking eShop. The Wii was a misstep in the eyes of people who like video games, even if it spoke highly to casuals and any mom who didn't want to drop more money on superior systems for Christmas. Get what I'm saying now?