Nintendo's Market Has Collapsed, Says Namco Bandai Boss

[Logan Westbrook]

Nintendo's Market Has Collapsed, Says Namco Bandai Boss

Nintendo has reason to be worried, according to Namco Bandai VP of sales Olivier Comte.

Nintendo might be king of the hill right now, but it's on shaky ground, says Olivier Comte, Namco Bandai's VP of sales. "It's a tough market," said Comte. "[T]he average quality of a game on Wii [http://www.amazon.com/Nintendo-DS-Lite-2d-Cobalt-2f-Black/dp/B001290A3U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1276194606&sr=8-1] game is to buy a game that isn't very good."

"One of the reasons the DS collapsed is piracy, it is very clear, but also it is a fantastic machine and very easy to develop for. It was possible for three kids in a garage to make a game for it," Comte explained. "DS is the most successful platform ever, but all my kids' friends at school have a DS with an R4. They have 100 games for no money. So yes, the market has collapsed for the DS and Wii."

Comte joins Final Fantasy VII writer Masato Kato [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/101046-FF7-Writer-Nintendo-Era-Is-Over ] in foreseeing difficult times ahead for Nintendo, albeit for different reasons. The prevalence of shovelware on the DS and Wii is a pretty common complaint amongst dedicated gamers, but whether it - along with piracy on the DS - will spell Nintendo's downfall remains to be seen.

Source: VG247 [http://www.vg247.com/2010/06/10/namco-bandai-boss-wii-and-ds-market-has-collapsed/]




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[Daystar Clarion]

Another doomsday prophecy for a console that will probably never happen.

 

[Tiswas]

Yet they are releasing One Piece: Project Jet on the Nintendo DS....

Yeahhhhhhh.

Nothing to be worried about. The shovelware is there but real gamers can tell the difference between quality games and shovelware.

 

[AMMO Kid]

Well. if you build a fan base of kids you can't expect anything else.

 

[Arawn.Chernobog]

Nintendo was also going to collapse back in early 2010, remember those predictions? Oh boy, too bad they all came true and the Nintendo consoles have no games any-more and are only part of the past... Lulz jealousy

Also, as it's BOUND to happen, I'll just go ahead and "Flame Shield Up"

 

[Simalacrum]

I'd have to disagree.

I think a lot of these predictions are neglecting the fact that the Wii and DS predominantly have a completely different market than, say, the PS3 and 360.

While the majority of the owners of the 'hardcore' consoles will likely be more educated about the games they play (and thus developers need to keep quality high if they're to succeed), many people who own a Wii or DS will likely not know much about the games they play, let alone how to pirate games on those consoles.

Sure, it may be very easy to pirate on the DS, and there may be a hell of a lot of shovel ware on the Wii, but the fact is that the majority of the Nintendo market does not know these facts. In the end, the casual audience is (in my opinion) simply looking at what is cheapest, console wise, and what appeals to them most - which is why Just Dance is so successful, and also why I think that both Move and Natal won't be able to make a dent in the Wii's market - it doesn't matter if they're better and more accurate, the casual audience does not know those facts, and, more importantly, they do not care that its slightly more accurate, or it does away with the controller - they will therefore keep going for the Wii, simply because its so much cheaper.

 

[Jack and Calumon]

Hmmm... Namco Bandai.

If this was about a year or two ago, I would disregard this comment, but they make Digimon games.

But they do have a point. Most games on the DS and Wii are shovel ware. Guinness book of records the game? I mean come on!

Calumon: But there are good games, like Zelda and The World Ends with You!

 

[fix-the-spade]

re: The piracy: I still think Nintendo are idiots for not having some kind of DS download store that lets you buy official games for the flash cartidges.

It's all well and good deploying the defending their property and income argument, but it's too late now, they've already failed at it. At least that way they stand to make some kind of income out of the situation.

re: The market collapse: That might be true, but Ninendo's collapsed market still seems to be substantially larger the other two manufacturer's apparently healthy market. Nice place to be to be honest.

 

[LavaLampBamboo]

Nintendo might be king of the hill right now, but it's on shaky ground, says Olivier Comte, Namco Bandai's VP of sales. "It's a tough market," said Comte. "[T]he average quality of a game on DS and Wii is very, very bad. So in the mind of the consumer today, to buy a DS or Wii game is to buy a game that isn't very good."

I don't think this is quite true. People who are more decicated gamers and who follow the industry would know that most shovelware is bad, but the general public assume that Wii Sports Resort and Big Beach Sports are just as good as each other. THere will always be a market for the Wii because so many non-gamers have one.

 

[ItsAPaul]

You can't pirate Pokemon, thus the system isn't dead. QED.

PS - Obviously there's cracks and shit, but your average R4 can't run it no matter what you do. It'll eventually crash on you and corrupt the save file.

 

[dochmbi]

The DS is remarkably easy to pirate for and as is the case in many other situations, the pirates get the better product: They can have a single cartridge with 4GB of games instead of having to carry around a bag of 30-100 individual games.

 

[Vaccine]

"One of the reasons the DS collapsed is piracy, it is very clear, but also it is a fantastic machine and very easy to develop for. It was possible for three kids in a garage to make a game for it,"

Half the reason they claim piracy is so bad for them.

Easy to Develop = easy to break into.

 

[Arawn.Chernobog]

People, pay no regard, there have been over eight-thousand nine hundred and ninety nine doomsday prophecies for Nintendo...

None of them came true.

 

[Phenakist]

Another doomsday prophecy for a console that will probably never happen.

I'm not sure about that, it's essentially true, granted it may not get to the complete doomsday level but Nintendo are really loosing it, insane amounts of shovelware etc.

Nintendo will always have a market, but they will loose alot of their long time customers if things keep going like this.

I havn't gone as far as Pirating my DS games because the only games I actually want have been the Pokemon and Zelda ones... and those seem to be the only ones WORTH buying and I am happy to do so.

 

[Tipsy Giant]

from a fiscal standpoint they 3DS has to be secure or piracy will own the handheld like it does the ds and then i'll get one


PIRATES WIN!

 

[Trebort]

This made my day. I hate the DS and I hate the Wii.

The sooner they both disappear and those abominations they call "games" die with them, the better.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

Game publishers, "we ruined the Wii market by releasing tat so what are you going to do about it to save our asses Nintendo? You suck Nintendo, you are in trouble and it is all your fault for letting us spoil the market by releasing bad games."

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

Another doomsday prophecy for a console that will probably never happen.

I have many friends who use an R4, pirating DS games is easy as hell. I go and buy them or borrow their R4 for a day or two but i know no other console on which hundreds of games can easily by pirated onto one cartrigde or disk.