Atari Founder Warns Nintendo May be on The Way Out

[Steven Bogos]

Atari Founder Warns Nintendo May be on The Way Out

Nolan Bushnell says that Nintendo could be on the "path to irrelevance."

Nolan Bushnell is a legendary gaming personality and founder of what was once one of the biggest and most influential companies in games: Atari. He recently spoke to the BBC [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23995569?utm_medium=App.net&utm_source=PourOver], warning that Nintendo may be doomed to suffer the same fate as his own Atari did, a long trip down the path to irrelevance.

Bushnell said that the poor sales of the Wii U means the Japanese firm is left in a "very difficult position". Indeed, industry analysts have drawn parallels between Atari's doomed Jaguar console in 1993 and the struggling Wii U. Speaking on what happened to his own Atari, Bushnell said it had been "abused by corporate charlatans" after a "glorious beginning."

Nintendo's Wii U has repeatedly failed to meet its is inbound [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/121778-Wii-U-Sales-Forecast-Cut] for the console, and a strong lineup of upcoming games including a new Mario platformer and a new Super Smash Bros. title could be just the kick in the pants the system needs.

Bushnell went on to say that of all the new inventions he's seen in modern gaming, what excites him the most is the Occulus Rift, although he does still remain a little skeptic about it. "The problem with virtual reality has always been motion sickness," he said. "If they're able to really get the reality and the image right, with low latency, I think they'll get it.

Source: BBC [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23995569?utm_medium=App.net&utm_source=PourOver]

Permalink

 

[Phrozenflame500]

Nintendo won't die unless they stage a mass IP suicide with all their first-party titles.

As long as Mario and Link still sell, Nintendo will still exist.

 

[Doom972]

They can always make more Mario, Zelda and Metroid games for the WiiU to compensate for the losses. As long as they keep making them, the fans will keep buying them. Nintendo's efforts to sell the WiiU to a wider audience isn't going well, but the fanatical devotion some gamers have for it ensures that they'll still be here for a while.

EDIT: Ninjas everywhere.

 

[Gearhead mk2]

No offence, but I'm not gonna trust the word of a guy who's company's last big contribution to gaming was ET.

 

[TheProfessor234]

With all the Nintendoom going around these days, I actually do wonder how long it would take Nintendo to go under if they just stopped making games and lived off their current reserves.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

Debatable, while the WiiU sales have been lacklustre at best the 3DS is holding ground rather well and I suspect it will continue to do so.

Until the Smartphone marketplace becomes more than a wasteland dominated by Skinner Boxes, time wasters, and Angry Birds Nintendo will stay around.

The real question is if they'll remain relevant or become a niche.

 

[klaynexas3]

Atari had a few more failing consoles than just one, so to compare Nintendo's first failing(with chances of coming back) console for the past two decades to Atari's long line of failing is just premature. Even if the WiiU doesn't do well, Nintendo is far from doomed over just this one console. However, unless they step up their A game, that is a possibility. Though the same could be said for Microsoft and Sony in terms of their consoles.

 

[Ryan Hughes]

These "warnings" from industry insiders about the fate of Nintendo are always hilarious. Nintendo makes plenty of mistakes, but they consistently turn a profit and the 3DS is not tearing up the handheld division with some truly great games. All the while, Microsoft is vigorously rubbing its own face in broken glass and blaming it on used games. Activision had to pay somewhere along the lines of 8b USD to save itself from the Vivendi train wreck. Ubisoft has -while making some great games- seemingly gone completely insane and is planning years of sequels for Watch Dogs, a game that is not even released yet.

This stuff is comedy gold, folks.

 

[TheEvilCheese]

With all the Nintendoom going around these days, I actually do wonder how long it would take Nintendo to go under if they just stopped making games and lived off their current reserves.

A quote from last year.

"Buried in reams of financial data is the revelation that Nintendo have 812.8 billion Yen (£6.7/$10.5 billion) in the bank - enough for it to take a 20 billion Yen loss (£163/$257 million) every year until 2052. Then there's almost 469 billion Yen (£3.8/$6.0 billion) held in premises, equipment and investments. When that runs out - we're in the year 2075 by this point - they've got some of the most valuable intellectual property in gaming to sell off before the company goes out of business."

http://www.gamesradar.com/nintendo-doomed-not-likely-just-take-look-how-much-money-its-got-bank/

In short, not any time soon.


--

OT: As long as Mario, Zelda and Pokémon exist. Nintendo shall too. They could drop home consoles and afford to make handhelds based on the income of their first party titles alone. I'm pretty sure the pokémon brand is worth tens of billions of dollars.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

They can always make more Mario, Zelda and Metroid games for the WiiU to compensate for the losses. As long as they keep making them, the fans will keep buying them. Nintendo's efforts to sell the WiiU to a wider audience isn't going well, but the fanatical devotion some gamers have for it ensures that they'll still be here for a while.

EDIT: Ninjas everywhere.

Nintendo won't die unless they stage a mass IP suicide with all their first-party titles.

As long as Mario and Link still sell, Nintendo will still exist.

boom and boom.

once jeffers wakes up, this thread is about to be bouncin with nintendo morale

although i am interested in the oculus rift myself, so i can't completely dismiss what he's saying.

 

[TheProfessor234]

In short, not any time soon.

Thanks for the link!

 

[Evil Smurf]

Nintendo has Pokemon, they will be fine.

 

[Terminate421]

Nintendo won't die unless they stage a mass IP suicide with all their first-party titles.

As long as Mario and Link still sell, Nintendo will still exist.

You forgot Pokemon.

Seriously, pokemon sells like hot cakes during the winter.

 

[ron1n]

Wii U Pokemon MMO. That is all.

 

[WeepingAngels]

Atari had a few more failing consoles than just one, so to compare Nintendo's first failing(with chances of coming back) console for the past two decades to Atari's long line of failing is just premature. Even if the WiiU doesn't do well, Nintendo is far from doomed over just this one console. However, unless they step up their A game, that is a possibility. Though the same could be said for Microsoft and Sony in terms of their consoles.

It's sad that you resort to making this Atari vs Nintendo. BTW, Wii U isn't Nintendo's first failing console, that would be the N64 followed by the Gamecube. The Wii U is just the worst failing console.

I might also mention that Mario, Zelda and Pokemon didn't help sell the N64 or the Gamecube and it's annoying to see everyone say that those franchises will forever keep them afloat.

 

[WeepingAngels]

Wii U Pokemon MMO. That is all.

That's all? Let them just stop development on everything else and make an MMO from a single player franchise. Tell me, how often does it work out when publishers turn a single player franchise into an MMO?

 

[Negatempest]

lets be honest here. the atari jaguar had both faulty hardware and faulty games. The designs for those games were half assed made.
Now for the other consoles, i have no issue with sony or microsoft directly. But the moment 3rd party got leg room from the strong arm of nintendo especially during the ps3\360\wii era, what happened? Exploitative business practices galore. So forgive me if i dont look forward to those 3rd party games as much as other consumers. So until sony and microsoft have a stronger variety in 1st party games, im sticking fith a wiiu

 

[ClockworkUniverse]

Haven't they allegedly been on the way out since the Gamecube era or the Wii era, depending on who you ask?

I mean, I know they aren't exactly dominating the market, but if they're on the way out, they're walking VERY slowly.

 

[Caiphus]

Wii U Pokemon MMO. That is all.

Some people say that this would do well. I'm skeptical. I'm a decent MMO fan; I've played[footnote]At least tried them. I've only put 200+ hours into WoW, Rift, SW:ToR, GW2 and EvE[/footnote] moooost of the big ones. I also enjoy Pokemon; myself and my brother probably have ~10 pokemon games between us. I still wouldn't play a Pokemon MMO. So I dunno.

Edited the footnote

 

[WeepingAngels]

Haven't they allegedly been on the way out since the Gamecube era or the Wii era, depending on who you ask?

I mean, I know they aren't exactly dominating the market, but if they're on the way out, they're walking VERY slowly.

I bet some people were calling an end to Hostess years before it happened. Were they wrong?