Nintendo was founded in Kyoto, Japan in 1889 as a manufacturer of hanafuda playing cards. The company went through several small niche businesses before becoming a video game company.
Yes, they could, but so could Sony or Microsoft. I don't think they will, nor do I think they need to. They're not in as bad a position as some would like to believe and try to convince others.
They are in terms of the console market. Wii U sales are on Dreamcast level, the new Mario game is not only the worst selling 3D Mario but also the one with the lowest Attach rate of any Mario game. I do not think it is wise for Nintendo to bring out another console. They either should concentrate fully of the handheld business as long this is still possible or go 3rd party. And this is not a hate speech but more an analysis of the current console Market situation.
Nintendo isn't in the same state as Sega was when they made the decision to abandon hardware and focus on being a third-party developer. Nintendo doesn't need to make that transition any time soon, even if the Wii U sells at a Dreamcast level.
Super Mario 3D World has been out less than a month, and the NPD numbers only reflect the first 8 days that it was on sale. It's pretty premature and naive to judge the game based on that.
They should consider to leave the home console market. They are just no hardware manufacturer anymore and would do so much better by going third party to be honest. Will they do it? Most likely not. They were already saying that they would rather die than go third party.
As for Mario. They usually are being released at the end of the month so its nothing new here. Exception was maybe Galaxy 1 which was released on the 12th if I remember correctly.. These sales figures are reflecting the current Situation the Wii U is in.
If they'd actually make a fucking Metroid game. Despite Super Metroid and Metroid Prime being two of the best goddamned games ever made, Nintendo doesn't seem to want to make anymore. Hey, let's rehash Mario instead! Again! That'll never stop printing money, right? Right?
At this point I want Nintendo to go third party on the console stuff and concentrate all of their hardware stuff on the 3DS. I just want to play their games with a normal controller.
If I'm not mistaken, the 3D Metroid games never sold well for Nintendo. So that might be some of the reason why they seem down on the franchise now.
They have enough slavish devotion from there fan base, I think they'd they might sully there image by going third party. They are a weird company and I enjoy that they exist in the form they do.
That would be an extreme, last resort scenario that wont happen anytime soon. The wii U isnt doing well for them, but the 3ds is. They could, possibly, exit the home console market, but I dont see that happening unless their (theoretical) next system flops really bad.
I mean, the Wii U is flopping, and their selling it at a loss. Could it be Nintendo's last home console?
Only people who have no clue about anything say that. Nintendo has made money (lots of it) for thirty years and more in this console business. They lost money for the first time during these last two. The other platform holders are losing money ALL the time. You're confusing mindshare with money. Nintendo has so much fucking money in the bank. Look at the 3DS - the thing is tearing shit up! It's been the best selling system for months before the new consoles launched in November. It's eating everybody's lunch in Japan. Even with WiiU doing as bad as it does, their last fiscal report stated that they've gone to making profit (it was incredibly tiny but it was there).
Nintendo will not go third party. Probably ever. At the very least not during your (probably) most active gamer years. People love to pull the SEGA card but they came off of multiple failed machines with no back-up plan (a handheld that crushes its competition).
Yes, they could, but so could Sony or Microsoft. I don't think they will, nor do I think they need to. They're not in as bad a position as some would like to believe and try to convince others.
They are in terms of the console market. Wii U sales are on Dreamcast level, the new Mario game is not only the worst selling 3D Mario but also the one with the lowest Attach rate of any Mario game. I do not think it is wise for Nintendo to bring out another console. They either should concentrate fully of the handheld business as long this is still possible or go 3rd party. And this is not a hate speech but more an analysis of the current console Market situation.
Nintendo isn't in the same state as Sega was when they made the decision to abandon hardware and focus on being a third-party developer. Nintendo doesn't need to make that transition any time soon, even if the Wii U sells at a Dreamcast level.
Super Mario 3D World has been out less than a month, and the NPD numbers only reflect the first 8 days that it was on sale. It's pretty premature and naive to judge the game based on that.
They should consider to leave the home console market. They are just no hardware manufacturer anymore and would do so much better by going third party to be honest. Will they do it? Most likely not. They were already saying that they would rather die than go third party.
As for Mario. They usually are being released at the end of the month so its nothing new here. Exception was maybe Galaxy 1 which was released on the 12th if I remember correctly.. These sales figures are reflecting the current Situation the Wii U is in.
Why do you assume they would do better if they were third party? Going third party means safe bets only. People like to joke "all they do is Mario and Zelda games" (which is complete bullshit, btw) but going third party would mean that this would actually become true. Fire Emblem? Too risky. Xenoblade? Way too risky, why even make that? They'd have to play by other's rules, throw their entire company philosophy out the window too keep up with this idiotic self-destructive downward spiral the industry is in.
Going third party is the dumbest idea people could be having right now for Nintendo. The only people who want Nintendo to go third party are those that don't want to buy a Wii U or previously a Wii for some arbitrary reason mostly related to "it's not the cool thing to have because it's not sexy tech."
It lacks perspective and understanding anything about why Nintendo is as awesome at making games as they are.
Look at the 3DS - the thing is tearing shit up! It's been the best selling system for months before the new consoles launched in November. It's eating everybody's lunch in Japan.
It is increasingly eating lunches worldwide, even since the new consoles launched. PS4 and Xbox numbers have settled after their opening blasts, while the 3DS goes into the Christmas crescendo you expect from a product that's been on the market for a few years. It outsold everything the week of Black Friday, even with the PS4 launching in Europe, and repeated the trick by an even larger margin the week after. The 3DS has quietly sold two million units in two weeks.
I think Sony are more likely to go third party than Nintendo but I would prefer if Nintendo stay in business as long as possible. I like their approach to video games and they best represent traditional gaming to me. Even if it means terrible online and what not, it's not my expectation for that when buying a console. I do all my digital purchasing on Steam mostly because I don't care about games I paid $10 for and play online on PC.
To all the people jumping on him saying it will never happen.
There was a time when people thought that Sega ever going third party was crazy and would never happen, but here we are.
Sega had several failed consoles behind them, all one after another and very few big name games to help keep them going aside from Sonic. People like to point to Sega as an example of what could happen to Nintendo, but they're radically different situations and the comparison only helps to show how well Nintendo are doing (compared to Sega, obviously the Wii U is in trouble). There's much more chance of Microsoft dropping out of the console business, if you only want to look at numbers. The only reason they're still here is because they're determined to create a foothold and they can survive not making any profit to achieve that.
To all the people jumping on him saying it will never happen.
There was a time when people thought that Sega ever going third party was crazy and would never happen, but here we are.
Sega had several failed consoles behind them, all one after another and very few big name games to help keep them going aside from Sonic. People like to point to Sega as an example of what could happen to Nintendo, but they're radically different situations and the comparison only helps to show how well Nintendo are doing (compared to Sega, obviously the Wii U is in trouble). There's much more chance of Microsoft dropping out of the console business, if you only want to look at numbers. The only reason they're still here is because they're determined to create a foothold and they can survive not making any profit to achieve that.
I am not disagreeing.
I said it was unlikely to happen, it is just crazy to outright dismiss it, because Nintendo like any other company is not going to last forever.
This edit will also create new pages on Giant Bomb for:
Beware, you are proposing to add brand new pages to the wiki along
with your edits. Make sure this is what you intended. This will likely
increase the time it takes for your changes to go live.
Comment and Save
Until you earn 1000 points all your submissions need to be vetted by other
Giant Bomb users. This process takes no more than a few hours and we'll
send you an email once approved.
Log in to comment