Nintendo doomed to oblivion?

epsomepsom Posts: 4,684
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The founder of Atari suggest this may be the case!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23995569

Comments

  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 36
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    As a hand-held manufacturer probably not, they still lead the way. As a maker of consoles, there’s every chance. Does it mean they would become irrelevant? Not if they become a software only business. I’m pretty sure a Zelda or Mario game on a PS4 or XBone would be massive.

    Do Nintendo aim to compete with Sony and Microsoft? I’m not sure they do, they just plough their own furrow.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 681
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    they just plough their own furrow.

    Giggety.
  • ChparmarChparmar Posts: 6,367
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    Oblivion? No. He says that Nintendo are on the 'path to irrelevance'.
    Which means nothing! I think Capcom are more on the 'path to irrelevance' with their latest output!

    Look at Nintendo with their strong line up this holiday. They will probably end up being the highest selling publisher yet again!

    Also, smartphones/tablets were already here with the 3DS arrived; people should really be questioning Sony's Vita bomb!

    The Wii U will be a slow burner, with Nintendo feeding it.
  • Dean DareDean Dare Posts: 545
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    I honestly think that Nintendo are going to go the same way as Sega, and I'm not sure this is a bad thing.
  • BinaryDadBinaryDad Posts: 3,988
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    Chparmar wrote: »
    people should really be questioning Sony's Vita bomb!

    It's interesting that nobody's really bringing this up. But then, why kick somebody while they're down?
  • cnbcwatchercnbcwatcher Posts: 56,681
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    I actually think what killed Nintendo was not releasing games for smartphones/tablets as that's where loads of people play games these days. Even Sega managed to port Sonic the Hedgehog to Apple iOS and Android. A Mario or even Pokemon game would be great on a mobile device. I'd love to play the classic Pokemon games on my phone :D
  • MD1500MD1500 Posts: 14,234
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    This guy has been saying similar for years.

    Nintendo is making far more money than going the mobile route. Animal Crossing in Japan, for example, brought in more revenue than Rovio (the poster child for App Store success) made in an entire year - that's just one game in one small country.

    I also think Nintendo going third party would be a terrible idea. If you enjoy endless 2D Marios, fine, but for those of us that enjoy their more experimental stuff, it would be a tragedy. For example, a third party Nintendo would never fund something as risky as The Wonderful 101. Just look at what a shell SEGA's output has become since they left the hardware business.
  • ChparmarChparmar Posts: 6,367
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    If you listen to people on the internet: People have been giving up on Nintendo since the PS1 days! :p

    The thing is that it's first party is just so strong in the long run.
  • brbbrb Posts: 27,405
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    I've never understood this mentality that tablet/phone gaming will knock out the need for handheld consoles. You don't get the depth or anything with phone games due to space, among other things. I find tablet/mobile gaming to be extremely overrated anyway - I can't just sit their on my phone of iPad playing a game. I just don't find it comfortable, the touch controllers get boring fast (and are nearly always the same anyway). Games like "Angry Birds" and "Candy Crush" aren't going to knock out the need for handheld consoles ever.

    Sales also don't lie. The 3DS is currently leading the way.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 114
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    This is the man who in article a says that Nintendo are irrelevant because of android and iOS. In article b, a couple of places below, he says that android and iOS are screwed because of google glass.

    And he speaks for Atari, who don't have to worry about either as they're already irrelevant.

    No one can firmly predict what will happen. For what it's worth, i enjoy my wii u, will probably enjoy my ps4, and while i won't get one, imagine Xbox One users will enjoy that too. I don't imagine I'll be worrying about missing Google Glass exclusives mind.
  • DavonatorDavonator Posts: 4,406
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    I think its its a bit harsh the title of the post, he didn't say that (I also think the BBC journalist kind of put the words in his mouth at the end).

    Nintendo have quality and formidable IPs on their side, so fundamentally I think they're okay. But I think there are elements that Nintendo need to work on. It's plain to see that their marketing is not up to snuff.

    One thing that surprises me (and I think Nintendo has to work on) is how despised they seem to be at the minute. Not a week goes by without a analyst, senior game dev trashing nintendo. There also seem to be a multitude of 'Wii U destined to fail' type editorial pieces by mainstream gaming sites. On top of that the opinion on gaming boards when you mention Nintendo seems overwhelmingly negative.

    What shocks me about it is the extent of 'wanting' the Wii U to fail, and the schadenfreude that is being got from the Wii U's predicament. Whether this vitriol has been gained by Nintendo fairly or unfairly is besides the point, as this toxicity is only going to spread if Nintendo don't challenge it in their marketing and branding.
  • 2dshmuplover2dshmuplover Posts: 8,271
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    Nintendo aren't taking the big risks Sega dd, they're being stringent with their money and that will ensure they survive, they're not stupid. Nintendo are just VERY slow to get going and the way they've handled the Wii U has been pretty terrible.

    Once the big guns come along things will look up though and there's already a respectable amount of decent games, I'm pretty sure once everyone gets over the new powerful tech of the other next-gen consoles the Wii U will start to shine with quality games and people will realise this, then maybe we'll see more 3rd party software too. The 3DS is obviously doing very well and rightly so, fantastic handheld, probably the best I've ever owned.

    So the answer to your question, no.
  • MD1500MD1500 Posts: 14,234
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    Davonator wrote: »
    I think its its a bit harsh the title of the post, he didn't say that (I also think the BBC journalist kind of put the words in his mouth at the end).

    Nintendo have quality and formidable IPs on their side, so fundamentally I think they're okay. But I think there are elements that Nintendo need to work on. It's plain to see that their marketing is not up to snuff.

    One thing that surprises me (and I think Nintendo has to work on) is how despised they seem to be at the minute. Not a week goes by without a analyst, senior game dev trashing nintendo. There also seem to be a multitude of 'Wii U destined to fail' type editorial pieces by mainstream gaming sites. On top of that the opinion on gaming boards when you mention Nintendo seems overwhelmingly negative.

    What shocks me about it is the extent of 'wanting' the Wii U to fail, and the schadenfreude that is being got from the Wii U's predicament. Whether this vitriol has been gained by Nintendo fairly or unfairly is besides the point, as this toxicity is only going to spread if Nintendo don't challenge it in their marketing and branding.

    It was similar when the 3DS was released too... you couldn't move without an article proclaiming how the Vita (LOL) would completely destroy it, how the optional 3D affected the eyes, etc, etc.

    I think the bias of the gaming media eventually inspired Nintendo to ditch them entirely and announce their news via Nintendo Direct, on their own terms. It also explains decisions like "avoiding E3" etc.

    Nintendo is trying to create their own ecosystem. That's why you have Miiverse - a message board talking about games, without the GameFAQ level trolling.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 0
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    MD1500 wrote: »
    This guy has been saying similar for years.

    You're right, he has said this before about Nintendo. Irrelevant man is irrelevant.
  • 2dshmuplover2dshmuplover Posts: 8,271
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    Hahahaha that's brilliant.
  • RunawayGroomRunawayGroom Posts: 635
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    lol is bushnell one of the many people nintendo pissed off in the eighties or something?



    As for nintendo becoming an irrelivence, unless they get their act together business wise with their consoles, then they might be, game making though they will never become irrelevant, they still make top top tier games and i doubt that will ever change. Like someone else said though, nintendo have been doomed since the ps1 days, and reading gaming forums these days the people predicting nintendo's demise were the same people predicting this before and even a year after the wii released ;)
  • BigDaveXBigDaveX Posts: 835
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    I think when people say that Nintendo are doomed to go software-only in the near future, they fail to understand the circumstances which forced Sega to go down that route. They didn't leave the hardware business just because the Dreamcast sold badly; in truth they had only had one console which was a major success, namely the Mega Drive/Genesis, on top of two modestly successful consoles in the Master System and Game Gear. However, they squandered the profits from those consoles on stupid stuff like the Mega CD, 32X and Nomad, then had an absolute disaster with the Saturn, which had low hardware sales, even worse software sales, and sky-high production costs. The Dreamcast didn't actually do that badly all things considered (for the time it was on the market it actually sold comparably to the original Xbox), but it just had too much to do to rescue things for the company.

    By contrast, Nintendo have only had one absolute, unequivocal failure - the Virtual Boy. Every other console they've made has been profitable, and while I'll go ahead now and say that I think the Wii U will finish in last place this generation and be extremely lucky to even match the GameCube's overall sales, they could carry on for a long time before having to seriously consider going software-only.
  • ChparmarChparmar Posts: 6,367
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    Both the N64 and Gamecube are considered 'failures', but the truth is that for Nntendo, it sold a lot first party games for both those systems. And the systems easily turned a profit.

    I don't believe in this 'path to irrelevance' nonsense. Eithier they are in the market as a platform holder or they are not.
  • steven123steven123 Posts: 3,237
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    Chparmar wrote: »
    Both the N64 and Gamecube are considered 'failures', but the truth is that for Nntendo, it sold a lot first party games for both those systems. And the systems easily turned a profit.

    I don't believe in this 'path to irrelevance' nonsense.

    I'd agree in so much as Nintendo aren't going anywhere any time soon, and I think they are a long way from having to give up on the hardware business (if that time ever comes). Even if the Wii U continues with it's terrible sales and software drought, the handheld market will get Nintendo through as it always has when their home consoles haven't been a great success (e.g. N64).

    However, I think they got an awful lot wrong with the Wii U and now are paying the price with lousy sales and next to no third party interest in the console.

    IMHO the most serious problem is (just like the Wii) they just haven't put enough raw processing (and graphical) power into the machine. I know some of the budget had to go on the tablet controller but it still astounds me that they thought it perfectly ok to launch a console that only just matches up to the current generation when the current generation was going on eight years old and (at the time) barely a year away from the release of Sony's and Microsoft's next generation systems. Whilst launching first they could never have bettered Sony/Microsoft's specs they could have made a console that can comfortably handle 1080P visuals (and not just in 2D games). Likewise the storage is just plain mad, with 8GB or at most 32GB (excluding the OS!) how can you ever build up a digital games collection like you can on the 8+ year old X Box 360 or PS3? Answer: you can't :( back to needing a disc for every game....

    They got away with a very low specification on the original Wii because the motion control was a real revelation and genuinely added to the experience. I think they were banking on the tablet doing that again but I just don't think it has anything like the same impact and is (debatably) an unwanted distraction when all your attention is focused on the main screen.

    It's a shame too as I do genuinely like the look of some of the games on the Wii U (New Super Mario U, Pikmin 3) and some of the forthcoming titles but they made so many mistakes with it, it's real hard to justify buying one unless they get a lot cheaper.
  • TheSilentFezTheSilentFez Posts: 11,103
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    I really don't think this is the case.
    The 3DS is doing fantastically well and quality game after quality game is being released on it.
    Okay, most of these are first party games so for those people who aren't fans of Mario, Zelda, Pokémon, Animal Crossing or other such titles, I can see why the 3DS wouldn't be of interest, but for those of us who are, the 3DS is brilliant.

    At the end of the day, Nintendo has never really competed with the core gamers on the Xbox and Playstation. Their strengths have always been with their first party games and their large fan base. They've always made their money with their huge variety of Mario games, their Pokémon games and their Zelda games, with the odd spattering or new and original games such as WiiSports on the Wii

    The WiiU is a different matter. I got one last Christmas, but since release Nintendo haven't made much progress releasing their usual Mario titles and they haven't come up with anything innovative and new such as Wii Sports and Wii Fit. I'm excited for Mario Kart 8 as I've always loved the Mario Kart series, but even it (one of Nintendo's best selling games) won't be released until Spring 2014; almost two years after the console's release!
    The only game I have is Black Ops 2 which isn't a game you'd immediately think of as a game anyone would play on a Nintendo console. That said, I did find the game very enjoyable and there is a decent-sized online community so finding matches was never a problem. Also having seen it played on the PS3 and Xbox 360, I can conclude that the graphics on the WiiU were far superior. However, because Nintendo have been doing such a bad job advertising their console and encouraging buyers, the WiiU version of CoD was eventually ignored and stopped being developed and updated even thought it was initially very well made. It has been confirmed that CoD Ghosts will be released on the WiiU so I'm looking forward to that and I hope it will be as well made as Black Ops 2 was and receive more updates and DLC, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

    In short, I think the WiiU is a great console with a lot of potential. Yes, it doesn't quite have the power of the new PS4 or Xbox One, but it is capable of producing great HD visuals and it isn't as reliant on the motion sensitive controls of the Wii which is a plus for core gamers who aren't fond of gimmicks. Also the Pro Controller is in my opinion the best controller I have ever used- far better than the Wiimote or the Xbox and PS3 controllers. The tablet isn't bad either, but for those who aren't fond of gimmicks it isn't essential for most games.
    The WiiU just needs more endorsement and more games. There is absolutely nothing at all wrong with the console itself, just Nintendo's management of it. If I remember rightly, the 3DS started off slowly with very few games, but Nintendo eventually got their act together. I think it could be the same with the WiiU. We just have to wait and see.
  • SimonB79SimonB79 Posts: 3,135
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    I love the wiiu!!! :o ... I'm currently playing Splintercell & using the gamepad makes it such a pleasurable experience! :) ... I tried 2 use the pro controller but it was such a chore I gave up after about 10mins! :p ... That's the nintendo magic!!! ;)

    (I've got friends that are still getting AssassinsCreed, Watchdogs, CallofDuty etc etc on the WiiU despite getting an X1 / PS4 cause they love the gamepad so much!! ... Good on em I say!!! :cool:)
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