8 replies to this topic

[Nollog]

http://www.wired.com...intendo-mobile/

you ogres are going to be nice persons I know and say rainbow like "hur dur it is an article" etc. but I trust you either understand, or can ask an English teacher what I'm implying in the title.

The author makes points like:
Apple is a comptetitor.
Nintendo have a back-catalouge.
Nintendo has an eShop.
The 3DS is a problem as well as the Wii U.

[Abcdude]

hur dur it is an article

[Penguin101]

3DS is doing fine as a mobile competitor. I reckon if they do anything it is have a virtual console on the app store whch allows you to download games so long as you have already purchased a Wii U and have your Nintendo Network ID. Therefore you are trying to sell Wii Us too if a Wii U purchase is required to play Mario on a mobile. Plus people would then know how crappy it is playing a console game on a phone / tablet!

[Nollog]

3DS is doing fine as a mobile competitor. I reckon if they do anything it is have a virtual console on the app store whch allows you to download games so long as you have already purchased a Wii U and have your Nintendo Network ID. Therefore you are trying to sell Wii Us too if a Wii U purchase is required to play Mario on a mobile. Plus people would then know how crappy it is playing a console game on a phone / tablet!

No.

[DéliopT]

Finally, some common sense!

 

Best, most important part, and one that clearly reflects Iwata`s statements:

 

"Nintendo doesn’t need to go where its customers went; it needs to get them back or find new ones. Not having games on iPhone is not Nintendo’s problem. This is Nintendo’s problem: For the last few years, it has been attempting to use ~$250 game platforms on which you must pay $40-60 to play a game to compete with ~$250 game platforms that give you infinite games for free. Nintendo cannot win this fight. When consumers look at a 3DS and a Kindle and decide they want to play games on the Kindle, it’s not because of the hardware, but because that hardware is a magic portal to a world full of free entertainment. For Nintendo to stay relevant, it must develop a strategy that can legitimately compete with that reality.

 

I don’t know what such a strategy might be. The possibilities are endless. But if Nintendo were to decide that everything it has resisted so far — cheap game prices, an open platform one which everyone can create games, swimming in the same pool as “garage developers,” free-to-play mechanics — are in fact desirable, the most likely outcome would not be Nintendo entering a competitor’s app store, but Nintendo creating its own app store."

 

 

Nintendo made a market for itself with Wii and it can reshape itself to do so again.

[Azure-Edge]

Finally, some common sense!

 

Best, most important part, and one that clearly reflects Iwata`s statements:

 

"Nintendo doesn’t need to go where its customers went; it needs to get them back or find new ones. Not having games on iPhone is not Nintendo’s problem. This is Nintendo’s problem: For the last few years, it has been attempting to use ~$250 game platforms on which you must pay $40-60 to play a game to compete with ~$250 game platforms that give you infinite games for free. Nintendo cannot win this fight. When consumers look at a 3DS and a Kindle and decide they want to play games on the Kindle, it’s not because of the hardware, but because that hardware is a magic portal to a world full of free entertainment. For Nintendo to stay relevant, it must develop a strategy that can legitimately compete with that reality.

 

I don’t know what such a strategy might be. The possibilities are endless. But if Nintendo were to decide that everything it has resisted so far — cheap game prices, an open platform one which everyone can create games, swimming in the same pool as “garage developers,” free-to-play mechanics — are in fact desirable, the most likely outcome would not be Nintendo entering a competitor’s app store, but Nintendo creating its own app store."

 

 

Nintendo made a market for itself with Wii and it can reshape itself to do so again.

 

Realistically, I don't think the mobile/tablet gaming market has really done anything bad to the handheld market. Has it decreased their market size? Sure, but not necessarily in a bad way. The only thing that's happened is that the casual market who looks at games primarily as a means to waste time and the core gaming market who look at games as an entertainment investment have now been sorted out on to different platforms. 

 

 

One thing that I've noticed when comparing the DS and 3DS libraries is that the 3DS has FAR less shovelware than the DS had. Why is this? Because the shovelware developers have moved on to the tablet/phone market because that's where their demographics have gone. The tablet/phone market did take away something from the handheld/console market but what it took away was not the core market. This year they didn't sell nearly as much software as they had expected despite the 3DS arguably having one of the best lineups of the entire year. They didn't meet their forecast because there weren't dozens and dozens of cheap shovelware games padding their numbers. But this doesn't mean that they necessarily need to change their business strategy with the 3DS, they just need to readjust their expectations to realistic levels.

 

Even this article seems to think that the handheld market = casual market. It doesn't. Core gamers aren't dropping handhelds to pick up tablets to play games because the difference in quality is staggering. It's like comparing a McDonalds burger to a steak. The burger is cheaper and millions of people buy it, but they only buy it to fill their belly. Whereas the steak is something to savor and enjoy for those willing to spend the money. The market for that steak might be much smaller but it doesn't need to compete with the burger because they're offering different things for different people.

[DéliopT]

Realistically, I don't think the mobile/tablet gaming market has really done anything bad to the handheld market. Has it decreased their market size? Sure, but not necessarily in a bad way. The only thing that's happened is that the casual market who looks at games primarily as a means to waste time and the core gaming market who look at games as an entertainment investment have now been sorted out on to different platforms. 

 

 

One thing that I've noticed when comparing the DS and 3DS libraries is that the 3DS has FAR less shovelware than the DS had. Why is this? Because the shovelware developers have moved on to the tablet/phone market because that's where their demographics have gone. The tablet/phone market did take away something from the handheld/console market but what it took away was not the core market. This year they didn't sell nearly as much software as they had expected despite the 3DS arguably having one of the best lineups of the entire year. They didn't meet their forecast because there weren't dozens and dozens of cheap shovelware games padding their numbers. But this doesn't mean that they necessarily need to change their business strategy with the 3DS, they just need to readjust their expectations to realistic levels.

 

Even this article seems to think that the handheld market = casual market. It doesn't. Core gamers aren't dropping handhelds to pick up tablets to play games because the difference in quality is staggering. It's like comparing a McDonalds burger to a steak. The burger is cheaper and millions of people buy it, but they only buy it to fill their belly. Whereas the steak is something to savor and enjoy for those willing to spend the money. The market for that steak might be much smaller but it doesn't need to compete with the burger because they're offering different things for different people.

 

Like you, i don`t believe that a low cost games market will end the high end gaming. There`s no reason to do so as they offer completly different gaming experiences.

But we have to think about something: we were born and raised on either Nintendo, Sega, MS and Sony platforms. So, it`s easy for us to follow that path. But what about the kids who are just playing iOS game and such? In 5/10 years, how will the handheld/home console population be like? Still this big? Still this interested in being a part of this?

 

In a few years, that`s when we will actually see the toll mobile gaming is taking. Not now.

 

 

But if less games sell on Nintendo`s handhelds, the less money Nintendo will make. Hence, smaller will be the margin for things as price drops.
3DS missing by that much is not a good sign. With the line-up it had in 2013, it should have done way better than it did in 2012. The difference is a little above 500K.
I think that is concerning. And Nintendo must be still trying to find a good reason on why it didn`t went higher.

[JaylisJayP]

I think these "experts" who are clamoring for Mario on phones are underestimating just how rampant emulators are, as well.  I'd imagine a decent percentage of those who want Mario on their phones already have it.  And with the drivers out there for the Moga and Moga pro controllers, it's playable with a gamepad, too.

[MorbidGod]

That's not s bad article, and I can't find fault in it. What I personally love about it, however, Is purely genius. It's not about the hardware, it's about the games. Sure, in this piece, its talking about the price of games and opening up the eShop. But the writer didn't say the hardware is the problem. It's the price of the games. (but he is talking about the casual market).

Hopefully Nintendo listens to these ideas. It's not s bad suggestion.