gaming Is Nintendo losing focus?

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,728]

Lately, (and by lately I mean the past couple of years or so) I have been feeling like Nintendo is starting to lose focus their in gaming. I have always loved Nintendo, but with many of their actions that they have taken over the years, I feel like they are falling down a very odd path. With the immediate abandoning of the Wii once the Wii U released, the odd decisions with the New 3DS, the apparent crusade against Youtuber's, and the announcement of making 'mobile' games and a new mysterious console, overall it feels like Nintendo has no major and concrete focus like other companies do now. They seem very scattered. They are trying to spread their division out yet their gaming division is feeling more unorganized. They still do have many great things and many great games have been released for the Wii U and 3DS, but because of this scattered nature, I feel like Nintendo is not as exciting as it once was. Their brand doesn't feel as cemented. This is not particularly making their games suffer at this point given how good 2014 was but it could down the line.

 

Does anyone else feel this way? If so, what do you think about it? Maybe these new branching paths are a good thing in the long run, but I am just a bit concerned is all. I hope Nintendo is not biting off more than they can chew.

 

Who knows, maybe I am wrong with all of this. Of course this is just my opinion but I would like your opinions as well.

[long gone 8,929]

They do seem a bit scattered. It's almost as if they've lost their focus - they've even introduced "freemium" features from mobile games in their own games, and not in a good way - just look at Pokemon Shuffle, the microtransactions in that are awful.

[Dust and Memories 557]

You're correct on most points. Nintendo isn't a mobile gaming company, and the Wii (easily one of their best products) should have been given a lot more attention, especially as the Wii U started to fail.

 

However, I believe that where their focus really needs to be is on games that adhere to modern tastes. As much as it pains me to say it, we are the violent games generation, and Nintendo's family-friendly image just doesn't work. The PC Master Race and the Console Skrublords that they make their games for are simply not their intended audience-a reason why they branch out into mobile gaming. Unlike us oldies, playing with the original Xbox and the PS1, the new gamers are growing up playing stupid games like Flappy Bird and Crossy Road. All on mobile.

 

In short? Thank God Nintendo is showing the new gamers what real games are, but I wish you luck against the real mobile game companies. You'll need it.

[Megas 27,765]

I'm just worried how they're gonna approach their "Quality of Life" thing, as I'm hoping it doesn't cannibalize their gaming division

 

Also I don't mind them going mobile as much as everyone else and am excited to see their new console(assuming they don't kill off the Wii U early)

[KrazyDashie 1,847]

im just worried that they would jump into something a little too fast. like what you said, putting wii out of production and only selling wii U... probably making a new wii variant and putting the wii U to rest. (why not make another variant of the gamecube ;~; ) also in pokemon shuffle is an overpriced mobile like game... another thing im worried about is I think they are starting to run out of ideas of what to do for games/consoles... you would expect a "2ds" to come after a 3ds.... and remake after remake is the newest games coming out

Edited March 25, 2015 by KrazyDashie

[TheJLeeTeam 914]

Let me just say Nintendo is trying different things all the time. And this deal with mobile might actually end up interesting. They still appeal to me because I love their family friendly games. Mature games just don't appeal to me.

[Felix 1,363]

They are pretty scattered right now actually, I agree. But on the flip side their games have never been better (at least in the majority of what they release anyway) so it doesn't bother me that much.

[Twilight Dirac 721]

Nintendo seems to endlessly experiment with hardware and don't seem to be particularly good at it.  While I have lost interest in Nintendo's games for some time, when people praise Nintendo or want to purchase the next Nintendo system, it always seems to be for the Nintendo exclusive games.  I don't think I have ever encountered someone who absolutely positively wanted or needed to use a wii-mote or that new touchscreen controller thing; if they were excited about getting a new wii-u it was because it let them play Super Smash Brothers X or the new Mario Party or whatever.  I almost feel that players would be better off if Nintendo simply made their games for the X-box, Playstation and PC so players could just play those games along with the rest of the games on the market rather than being forced to subsidize Nintendo's latest hardware experiments just so they could play the games they want to play.

[A Black Circle 1,586]

Nintendo isn't in trouble for being Nintendo. They're in trouble for trying to attract markets that they can't attract.

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,162]

From my limited viewpoint they're lacking a solid direction; scattered is possibly the best term to describe them at the moment.

 

However they have a great year last year in regards to quality of software, so there is hope at least. Nintendo can right their ship without having to duplicate the market strategies of Sony & Microsoft.