What's Eating at Nintendo?

[GameHED]

I think the big mistake about Nintendo is that they're only trying to couple up with the big publishers and may alienate the smaller companies who bring the niche games to the market that make breakout hits.

Grand Theft Auto, The Sims, Medal of Honor and Battlefeild were all gambles way back when. But you have to take a few risks to make money. I guess they want to be safe, but all the franchises they want are known to be PS2 based franchises (like Tony Hawk).

Too little, too late.

You've hit the nail on the head. Once enough developers get comfortable creating software and actually focus on the handheld, they can flood the market with enough titles that it won't matter how great the quality of titles are on the gba. (they're great enough, but you have mainstream fanatics of other lesser-respected titles to sell games to as well as an environment where developers can cash in on cloning the best things)

It's all about filling in the gaps that are left open by nintendo (and other well-off and established third parties too busy with sequels) that will make the difference.

One thing that may scare people is if some of thier favourite franchises become focused on psp over gba due to limitations. It happened with final fantasy on n64, and in the case of most developers preffering 3d to 2d these days, it could happen again in the handheld arena. A franchise like resident evil (now exlcusive on gc) started life on ps1 and would have been a little gamble for capcom at the start. But given that it helped bring the survival horror genre to consoles and allowed other companies to compete within that genre, (silent hill) it opened up a new market for developers. (nowadays survival horror games are a staple amoungst most people rather than a niche imo. The game market overall expands when new niches are open to exploit) Another example is Konami's MGS which shows no loyalty to any one manufacturer. And who's to say we won't see things like Castlevania appearing on a psp alongside gba castlevanias?

GBA's price is its advantage but if there's a handful of third party "killer apps" or a dozen average-to-good quality titles flooding the shelves for psp, you'll find it harder each month to ignore psp as more and more developers support the alternative. These days you can wait till your favourite titles reach bargain bins or go second hand and you pick them up cheap if you're worried about money. (so long as there's a flood of titles and developer activity)

The key threats to nintendo is 1. sony being able to fill up the gaps being ignored and 2. the game market that can expand when third party developers compete against each other for niche areas and refine thier games to perfection. History has shown that when a developer comes up with an idea it usually gets cloned (by others) and improved-upon several times over and turns itself into a well known franchise after developing a following (either cult or mainstream) and then is brought over to new console generations to please a fanbase. If the market for games like, say, another Tony Hawk or GTA appears, and then allows sony to gain better marketshare (by bringing a safer environment for less-well-known third parties to compete against each other) then this could be a repeat of when ps1 took over from saturn and n64 and flooded the shelves with too many games that even sega/nintendo-only fans had to eventually give in.

Nobody can predict the future. When better quality of service appears (Animal Crossing only just appeared in pal makrets, geezus...and with less stuff) and companies focus on globally dominating rather than instant profit, (possibly expanding the existing total game userbase in the process) you see all kinds of unexpected shifts. (ie sony dominating for 2 generations and possibly a third)

[gamevet]

I think people give Sony too much credit. The PS2 sold well, because it offered a DVD player with a game machine included. Japan saw a jump in DVD sales when the PS2 was released and the launch software sold like shit.


There is no way that I could imagine paying $200 for something I play when I'm not at home. The Lynx failed because of it's price and a lack of software to compete with that offered on the Gameboy.


Even if the PSP offers a nice lineup of 3-D games, it's still not going to be that big of a deal. Wow, I can play Playstation games on the go!

The GBA is succesful because it is cheap and it offers a large library of games, dating back to the original Gameboy.


Playstations success had a lot to do with interactivity. You could invite your friends over for a game of Madden or challenge eachother to a game of hoops. The Genesis was succesful in North America, because it was cool to play games like Madden with your friends, or decapitate eachother in a game of Mortal Kombat. Saturn failed in North America, because Sony's product offered Madden and any other sports titles you wanted, while Sega was too busy brining over games that the general masses were'nt interested in.


Sony has proven in the past, that they can release products that are too ambitious, or totally missing the target audience. The Mini-Disc was a complete failure, because of it's price and lack of anything beyond recording your own music on an expensive disk that costed as much as just buying a CD instead.

[Johnny Nighttrain]

Sony has proven in the past, that they can release products that are too ambitious, or totally missing the target audience. The Mini-Disc was a complete failure, because of it's price and lack of anything beyond recording your own music on an expensive disk that costed as much as just buying a CD instead.

maybe back in 1991, but today, i can put 5 hours of music on a $2 disc. 56 hour battery life on 1 AA, and USB support.

things took off in japan i hear, but regardless. i love my MiniDisc Player. it's no ipod, but it beats the shit out of any mp3 player of cd player out there.

[RetroActive]

I believe GBA's own success might be it's weakness (as well as strength)... .

Ah.. yea..wha!?

[Diff-chan]

I think people give Sony too much credit. The PS2 sold well, because it offered a DVD player with a game machine included. Japan saw a jump in DVD sales when the PS2 was released and the launch software sold like shit.

Okay, yea, so you just described the first 2 or 3 million units sold, tops. But the PlayStation 2 has sold fucking 50 million units, champ. You can't explain that success away with stupidity, and anyone who tries sounds like a fucking idiot.

I worked at an EB when the PS2 came out and let me tell you plenty of people bought games on the system when it came out. Madden 2001 PS2 was one of the top selling games of the year.

[Kinopio]

Yes, sometimes it is OK to be arrogant, like when you've outsold the closest competitor 5 to 1, or when you know there's no way in Hell for other hardware producers to even come close to the saturation level you've reached worldwide. In other words, it's OK to be arrogant after you've proven yourself and your product against any and all competition.

Never has this been the case with Nintendo. They always look down their nose at prospective competition before they've even compeeted, and, again, all it's gotten them is second place.

I think you are confusing the home console and portable markets. There is a large difference.

Since the inception of portable gaming, Nintendo has been number one. Dethroning their monopoly in that sector would be like a company outselling Windows in the OS market. Neither is gonna happen anytime soon because the status quo is so imbedded in the conscience of the marketplace.
I've used this example before, but i'm gonna do it again bcause its so fitting. When you go onto an airplane, most times they will say "please turn off all cd players, radios, and gameboys".

Some people may take my argument with a grain of salt because they think i'm biased towards Nintnendo or whatever. But i'm very close to reality. I don't think Nintendo will catch up to Sony next console gen, no matter what, for instance. And I think the PSP will have three times as much success as any other non-nintendo portable, but thats still a very small market share.

[Diff-chan]

I've used this example before, but i'm gonna do it again bcause its so fitting. When you go onto an airplane, most times they will say "please turn off all cd players, radios, and gameboys".

How often do you fly? Because in the past 3 years I have never heard them refer to Game Boys specifically. They say, please turn off all portable electronic items, such as CD players, radios and laptops until we reach a cruising altitude. Please be aware that radios and cell phones are not permitted during the duration of the flight.

Besides, when I was a kid, nobody referred to it as videogames. NOBODY. It was Nintendo. Nobody ever said, "do you play videogames?" It was "do you play Nintendo?". It wasn't, "oh johnny's playing a videogame" it was "oh johnny's playing Nintendo". I swear to you I didnt even know Master System or Atari 7800 existed, they were like distant clouds because Nintendo was all that mattered. If you want to discuss how embedded a single product can be in the consumer conscious, don't talk Game Boy now, talk NES in 1988. Hell man, remember the World of Nintendo section in Toys R Us back then? I dont see any World of Game Boy sections today. Back in the late 1980s Nintendo had an incredible monopoly and was absolutely untouchable. They were absolutely ruthless with their business practics and took advantage of their monopoly power in every way.

And then Sega came along and within 2 years that monopoly was a distant memory.

So, maybe you dont really know your gaming history as well as you think you do, because I can assure you that Nintendo has been in this haughty, untouchable monopoly position before, and they were destroyed by a determined competitor.

[Josh]

XBL tag: not making GT public

Then don't type anything there... you fucking idiot.

[AstroBlue]

How often do you... blah blah blah ...and they were destroyed by a determined competitor.

I agree that whole post, also... during the PSX/N64/SS generation, I heard a lot of people refer to videogames as "Playstation".


Today's dominant market leader is tommorrow's market competitor.

[RetroActive]

Then don't type anything there... you fucking idiot.

lol..What a greeting. Let's review: You take 'issue' with my stating "Not making GT public" in lieu of my actual GT, reasons that might be obvious to most, except for snotty little simpletons, and really not even an issue or concern to probably 99% of the viewing public. Yet, you waste precious seconds to point this out. And I'm the "fucking idiot"? Just knowing this troubles you is amusing, and even mildly satisfying. Pathetic. I hope you're an exception rather than the rule on TNL.