gaming Is the home console business viable for Nintendo?

[CastletonSnob 3,079]

The Wii U is flopping. That's just a fact. But I don't see the next console faring any better for Nintendo. Third parties aren't coming back, and people won't buy their console just for first party games. They're also behind on online and infrastructure. 

Can they even make a successful home console?

[Shanks 10,816]

You are forgetting that the Wii while it had problems of its own was the best selling console of the previous generation due to expanding the gaming audience into casual gamers, appealing to the novelty of motion controls as well as appealing to parents and families and its cheap price point. With that said the Wii U started out with hardly any games though the same can be said of the Xbox One and Playstation 4. Nintendo is still way behind in third party but to their credit they seem to be making some effort to sort of catch up though they still have a very long way to go.Nintendo is a company full of contradictions on the one hand they are a bit ahead in some ways with willing to experiment with things like motion controls but on the other hand they are behind in as you have said online and infrastructure.

 

This didn't matter as much during the previous generation but this one game annalist made a good point, and that is that the same casual gamers and families that Nintendo attracted with the Wii are the type of gamers that are less likely to go out and buy a new console in the first place. Nintendo hasn't given them much reason to buy the Wii U and as a result they weren't able to hold onto them but were with the Nintendo 3DS which is successful no only with them but also some of the more "core" gamers. Part of this is due to the fact that the Wii U didn't have that many games but some of their recent announcements are quite promising especially Zelda U.

 

But it seems like Nintendo overplayed their hand with the family and casual gaming audience and gained a reputation for being a "kiddy" console which is somewhat of an exaggeration but not totally unfair. Nintendo's stategy of broadening its audience was sound but it seems to have also forgotten some of the gamers who have been loyal to them for years. To make a very long story short YES but Nintendo needs to change a lot of its business practices. Nintendo is both behind and ahead at the same time, they seem to be willing  to experiment with things like motion controls but seem a bit more reluctant to update their approach to things like online play which is starting to catch up with them.

[Panne 1,342]

Third parties aren't coming back,

Is 3rd arty even needed for Nintendo? Microsoft and Sony need it because their ip list is actually quite short, heck in the 20th anniversary picture for Sony there are like a total of 5 original Sony exclusive characters (Also they stole Megaman's art work from Nintendo's rendition,but that's beside the point). Nintendo however has tons and tons of character/games exclusive to themselves (If only they would use more than just Mario, Zelda, Pokemon).

[Megas 27,765]

Is 3rd arty even needed for Nintendo? Microsoft and Sony need it because their ip list is actually quite short, heck in the 20th anniversary picture for Sony there are like a total of 5 original Sony exclusive characters (Also they stole Megaman's art work from Nintendo's rendition,but that's beside the point). Nintendo however has tons and tons of character/games exclusive to themselves (If only they would use more than just Mario, Zelda, Pokemon).

As much as I love Nintendo's franchises, they need more than that to become successful. I dunno about you, but I'd love to play my Metal Gear/Resident Evil/Final Fantasy games on the same consoles as Mario/Zelda/Metroid/etc. You can't rely on Just Dance, LEGO and Sonic all the time(especially if Sonic Boom was any indication

 

As for the topic, I think your selling the Wii U short. Yeah, it's not selling well as Nintendo wants it too, but it's hardly a flop, Nintendo's still making money off of it, and the sales has been getting a lot better, with the last holiday sales being the best it's ever had. And the current line up of games coming out is looking really strong

[Panne 1,342]

As much as I love Nintendo's franchises, they need more than that to become successful. I dunno about you, but I'd love to play my Metal Gear/Resident Evil/Final Fantasy games on the same consoles as Mario/Zelda/Metroid/etc. You can't rely on Just Dance, LEGO and Sonic all the time(especially if Sonic Boom was any indication

So it's Nintendo's fault that Hideo Kojima is "too good" for them? Also Skip Final fantasy XVXVIXIVXIVXIXVIXXVI or what ever number it is now, and go for their better series on the 3DS, Bravely Default and it's soon to be released Bravely Second.

 

Also you forgot to mention a big big big big exclusive 3rd party member on the Wii U now:

[CastletonSnob 3,079]

So it's Nintendo's fault that Hideo Kojima is "too good" for them? Also Skip Final fantasy XVXVIXIVXIVXIXVIXXVI or what ever number it is now, and go for their better series on the 3DS, Bravely Default and it's soon to be released Bravely Second.

 

Also you forgot to mention a big big big big exclusive 3rd party member on the Wii U now:

Don't forget Xenoblade Chronicles X, Splatoon, and the new Star Fox. 

[Megas 27,765]

So it's Nintendo's fault that Hideo Kojima is "too good" for them? Also Skip Final fantasy XVXVIXIVXIVXIXVIXXVI or what ever number it is now, and go for their better series on the 3DS, Bravely Default and it's soon to be released Bravely Second.

 

Also you forgot to mention a big big big big exclusive 3rd party member on the Wii U now:

I'm just saying that they shouldn't neglect 3rd parties(both multiplatform and exclusives), regardless of how strong their first party titles are. This is why the SNES, PS1, and PS2 were so strong and are often regarded some of the best consoles ever, because they had strong helpings of both

Edited February 6, 2015 by Megas75

[CastletonSnob 3,079]

Speaking of games, I would buy a Startropics developed by Next Level Games (Punch-Out Wii, and Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon)

[A Black Circle 1,586]

Also, the rumours of a Mother remaster in 2016...

 

Yeah. Bring it on, Nintendo.

[Radiance64 7,053]

They're gonna stay in the home console business for as long as they possibly can I'm sure, they've still gotta have billions to fall back on. No matter what's said about them and however the sales figures go, I don't see Nintendo backing down from making consoles for a long time yet.

They really need to make a new Metroid or two already tho

[Mutemutt 773]

Oh right forgot to post about the main topic. Oops

The Wii U certainly did start out flopping around, but it seems like they've found their footing. Even if they never quite catch up to the other consoles, I'm pretty sure they'll stay in the game for the rest of this generation without a problem.

 

Is 3rd arty even needed for Nintendo? Microsoft and Sony need it because their ip list is actually quite short, heck in the 20th anniversary picture for Sony there are like a total of 5 original Sony exclusive characters (Also they stole Megaman's art work from Nintendo's rendition,but that's beside the point). Nintendo however has tons and tons of character/games exclusive to themselves (If only they would use more than just Mario, Zelda, Pokemon).

 

On the flip side, you could say that "Microsoft and Sony don't need a big ip list because they have plenty of 3rd party developers that will pay them to use the console which also helps sell the console to consumers. Nintendo has to maintain a large 1st party offering because they get barely any 3rd party support".

 

Whether they need it or not is mostly irrelevant. It's about whether they have it or not, because 3rd party support is pretty much always only ever a boon.

 

Don't forget Xenoblade Chronicles X, Splatoon, and the new Star Fox. 

 

Well, none of those are 3rd party, but I love Monolith Soft's previous works; Xenoblade Chronicles X is the one Wii U game that I want to have. 

Edited February 7, 2015 by Mutemutt

[Sunny Shimmer 259]

When it comes to the Wii U, they will always be held back. It is the slowest selling Nintendo console.

 

In general, Nintendo's policies are bad for business so they have been shooting themselves in the foot since launch. I see people everyday that still don't know that the Wii U is its own console. They had an extremely bad PR team.

 

Of course, Nintendo doesn't like to have 3rd party games because they usually get the gimped version and they come out too late since there console is gimped.

 

Nintendo hasn't handled the Wii U well. If they would have done things right from the beginning, then Wii U could be a good console. I don't see myself buying one because they need more games and they need to speed it up a tad. Last time I tried one, it moved rather slow and clunky through the interface. Who knows if they fixed that or not.

  

I just expected better of Nintendo. I hope they do better next time.