Is Nintendo the little fish in the big pond?

When I think of Nintendo, I think of their past history, but more importantly, I think of their video games and their consoles and their handhelds. When I think of Sony, I think, wow, those guys do everything with electronics and entertainment and make a lot of money doing it. When I think of Microsoft, I think, damn, they have a lot of money with their PC software and OS systems.

Remember Sega, what else did they do other than make video games and consoles? What does Sega the corporation stand for now? I often think Nintendo was a lot like Sega, but unlike Sega, Nintendo made wise choices and continued to develop hardware to play their popular first party games. Without Nintendo's characters, Nintendo would be an unheard of company today.

I'm sure Sony and Microsoft don't just throw money from their other ventures into gaming consoles and the like, but maybe they do. I don' know. But isn't Nintendo the last of its kind? If Nintendo lost its console and handheld businesses, they couldn't fall back on other aspects of their business except for the software side. If that were to happen, Nintendo would be a shell of its former self much like Sega is now.

Isn't Nintendo still the underdog? How they compete and stay competitive with Microsoft and Sony is by cutting costs and making a profit as soon as possible on hardware. They don't have the backing of Sony and Microsoft and they probably never will. Nintendo is to me the small fish in the big pond. I like rooting for the underdog. You go Nintendo, I'm buying. I'm not going to buy your handhelds though, not my cup of tea.

You do realise that Nintendo has made a shit load of money from the Wii, right? The types of visit video game forums may not care for it, but its the most popular system for more casual players. Nintendo has created a new game market and have milked it for all its worth. I fail to see how they're the 'underdogs'.

That's an interesting way to look at it. But I think Nintendo has this covered by tapping into a different set of people with the Wii. The new audience they've adopted will probably stick with them for at least one more hardware platform like those of us with an NES graduated to SNES out of faith. But after that, I dunno. It sure was hard to swallow the N64 when there as the Playstation.

@MysteriousBob said:

You do realise that Nintendo has made a shit load of money from the Wii, right? The types of visit video game forums may not care for it, but its the most popular system for more casual players. Nintendo has created a new game market and have milked it for all its worth. I fail to see how they're the 'underdogs'.

Yeah I agree. They are on top of the world IMO.

I think they are a whale shark.  They aren't really threatening but they are huge and can make an impact.

@MysteriousBob said:

You do realise that Nintendo has made a shit load of money from the Wii, right? The types of visit video game forums may not care for it, but its the most popular system for more casual players. Nintendo has created a new game market and have milked it for all its worth. I fail to see how they're the 'underdogs'.

This is how Nintendo makes their money. When Microsoft launched the Xbox, they took major losses, but it would not have broke them. The PS3 has taken major losses on each console sold, but Sony probably didn't see a scratch. If the Wii would have failed, where would Nintendo be? What if the Wii U fails? Nintendo lives and dies with the big boys when it comes to hardware. They could be one console away from becoming a Software Company and a Handheld Company.

I fail to see how they're the 'underdogs'.

@Video_Game_King said:

@MysteriousBob said:

I fail to see how they're the 'underdogs'.

Speaking of that, who the hell is the underdog in this generation? Everybody's done pretty damn well this generation, so it's hard to tell.

In terms of console, no one, but Midway was really fucked over.

Never really thought of it that way before. Though I imagine they made an illegal amount of money off of the Wii.

@Claude: Who knows what backup plans Nintendo has up their sleeves. Nobody expected Apple to take over the handheld universe like they have.

@MrKlorox said:

@Claude: Who knows what backup plans Nintendo has up their sleeves. Nobody expected Apple to take over the handheld universe like they have.

Apple really has come on strong the last ten years. I wonder if their venture capitol is more than Nintendo's.

I've considered this and I agree with you.  I have felt this way since the early 2000s when Sony and later Microsoft entered the race.  I think because of the alternate forms of income that MS and Sony have, Nintendo is a smaller fish in the greater pool of the global economy.   But, I checked to see what the stock prices of each were today (June 15) and they're very similar.  

1. Sony ~ 24.88
2. Nintendo ~ 24.67
3. Microsoft ~ 23.74

I have owned every console except the wii, the motion sensor just isn't my thing. However I really respect the company based on the way they were able to change what seemed to be a pretty set in stone controller based input method. They were able to really try something new and actually succeed. Nintendo as a whole has always relied heavily on their first party games and then ran them on low cost hardware. They have survived by being different than Microsoft and Sony this generation. They took a risk and was successful. Weather they will continue to be a dominant force in the gaming community time will tell. But I hope all 4 platforms continue as competition breeds a better product.

@thesavage said:

But I hope all 4 platforms continue as competition breeds a better product.

I agree with this. And I do like a good product, especially when it comes to video games. Something for everyone.

 Sure, Nintendo doesn't have other divisions to fall back on, but any company with 1.8 trillion yen in assets is not in any danger. I'd argue that falling back to the Sega way and becoming a software creator would keep them running a lot more successfully than with Sega, because Nintendo actually puts out some innovative new games under the coat of paint of the same old characters.

The biggest reason Microsoft has succeeded this generation is because of the money they threw at developers for exclusivity rights. I can't speak for everyone, but with the way that Microsoft has handled procuring new games, specifically the way they haven't been creating new 1st party titles, I'm wondering what console I'll end up with in this coming generation. I'm more worried about Microsoft as a company, as they struggle to grow anymore with increased competition from Google and Apple on the OS front, which has been their bread and butter for the company's existence.  The way average people compute is changing towards the mobile market, and MS is way behind on that front... practically a joke even though they have a decent mobile OS already out there. If their OS division takes a hit or, very unlikely, fails entirely, Microsoft won't have the kind of cash to cover up their mistakes and continue to maintain the foothold that they have here in the US.

Nintendo is the only company that is strictly in the video game market and nothing else.

@Claude said:

@MysteriousBob said:

You do realise that Nintendo has made a shit load of money from the Wii, right? The types of visit video game forums may not care for it, but its the most popular system for more casual players. Nintendo has created a new game market and have milked it for all its worth. I fail to see how they're the 'underdogs'.

This is how Nintendo makes their money. When Microsoft launched the Xbox, they took major losses, but it would not have broke them. The PS3 has taken major losses on each console sold, but Sony probably didn't see a scratch. If the Wii would have failed, where would Nintendo be? What if the Wii U fails? Nintendo lives and dies with the big boys when it comes to hardware. They could be one console away from becoming a Software Company and a Handheld Company.

The XBOX division has cost MS so much money (it STILL hasn't turned a profit) that they are being scrutinised by major investment firms (this has been going on for over a year now) to the point where MS was recommended to sell off the XBOX division from the Entertainment arm to prevent their stock dropping like a stone. Sony has been an a similar place, only more drastic - they were called to congress after all. Will either of them suffer in the longer term? Hard to be sure, but probably not (at least not visibly). Has this affected them in the shorter term? Yes. The projected next gen consoles were slated to be announced around now and only Nintendo has done so. Nintendo can probably afford another Gamecube debacle or two before they go the route of SEGA. I wouldn't worry.

I would also like to point out that as profitability goes Sony and Microsoft both struggled to make money on their console this past generation, shown by the 2 companies trying to stretch out the 360 and ps3 as much as possible rather than pushing a new console out. Where as the wii has made Nintendo much more money, especially in the early days of this generation and they feel more free to develop a new console. I get the feeling that Microsoft and Sony are reluctant to push out a new console because they have just recently begun to to really make money with the dwindling costs of manufacturing the 360 and ps3 and they know that a new console will cost a lot of money, especially in the early days of the new generation. Simply put I see Microsoft and Sony stretching out this generation as much as possible before they have to invest in the next generation and it's many expenses.

Considering the crap load of money they made on the Wii, I would say they got tired of being a standard sized fish in a big pond and chose to become a big fish in a little pond.

Now Microsoft and Sony want in on it, and I'm not sure there's any room left in the pond.

@thesavage: Do you think Sony and Microsoft will wait until 2014 to release new consoles? I thought Microsoft would at least put a new one out in 2013 and announce it next year.

I think that they want to wait but ultimately, with Nintendo releasing a new console they will respond in kind sooner than 2014, probably announcing a console in the next 6 months to a year then releasing some time in 2013. With Nintendo releasing their new console, in the spirit of remaining relevant Microsoft and Sony haven't much of a choice but to come out with some sooner than 2014. But no one knows what they will do for sure, maybe they will stick to the 2014 release schedule still.

@Video_Game_King said:

@MysteriousBob said:

I fail to see how they're the 'underdogs'.

Speaking of that, who the hell is the underdog in this generation? Everybody's done pretty damn well this generation, so it's hard to tell.

Moving forward I would say Sony is the underdog, but not by a lot. Sony does not have as strong a infrastructure as Microsoft, and they cannot capture the same market Nintendo has with the Wii and DS.

You realise Nintendo is worth more than Sony right?

@coolwhip83 said:

You realise Nintendo is worth more than Sony right?

Really, how? Sony makes all kinds of tech and then there's the entertainment side. Sony is freaking huge.

I highly doubt that Nintendo is worth more than Sony. i wouldn't be surprised if the Nintendo brand is worth more than the PlayStation brand. However Sony is a huge company that owns Movie companies, Music, all kinds of tech, and who knows what else. Nintendo isn't nearly as diverse.

You realise Nintendo is worth more than Sony right?

Yeah, Nintendo are playing a higher-risk game in that they don't really have much to fall back on if both their products fail, unlike Sony and Microsoft.

Here's hoping they ain't never caught slipping ;)

If the Wii U failing means Nintendo will switch to being a multiplatform software developer like Sega, then I sure hope the Wii U fails.

According to Wikipedia (for what it is worth admittedly) these are the revenue and total assets of each corporation.  I added Apple because they're becoming a major player.

Gallery

They are responsible for the size of the pond.

@PenguinDust said:

According to Wikipedia (for what it is worth admittedly) these are the revenue and total assets of each corporation. I added Apple because they're becoming a major player.

Gallery

Looking at the chart, I feel like Nintendo should learn two things from Apple. The first is that handhelds should have shorter life-cycles, or iPhones will bury them. The alternative, of course, is to make a Nintendo Phone and take the competition head-on, like Sony is doing with the Xperia Play. The second thing is that indie, freemium and downloadable games make Apple (and developers) a relatively large amount of money, and failing to support those kinds of games, or outright banning them, seems foolish.

Nintendo is the market leader. But to core gamers they're ancillary - overall.  
 
I think there's three sharks swimming about in the same lagoon. Two are competing for the same schools of fish. The other ventures into their territory on very rare occasions, but mostly just hunts in more plentiful waters.