Pachter: "Nintendo Is Doomed"

[vansau]

Pachter: "Nintendo Is Doomed"

Satoru Iwata made some comments at GDC that have generated a number of strong opinions, including Michael Pachter's rather extreme comment.

Nintendo President Satoru Iwata's <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/100548-Nintendo-Defeats-Sony-Apple-is-Enemy-of-the-Future>comments at GDC this week have rubbed some members of the industry the wrong way, and they're not afraid to say so. Essentially, nobody agrees with the man, but exactly how much they disagree with him seems to be varying.

The boldest statement came from industry analyst Michael Pachter. "Long-term, Nintendo is doomed," he said of the company's fight for the handheld market against iOS devices and smart phones. "He's under full frontal assault by Apple."

Meanwhile, Iwata's keynote comments, that he feared the industry would be hurt by the current emphasis on making low-cost social games instead of high-quality titles, aren't being accepted by some rather high-profile members of the videogame industry.

Jeff Brown, VP of corporate communication at Electronic Arts, didn't completely dismiss Mr. Iwata's opinions, but he didn't agree with them either. "He may be right, but then the 200 to 300 million people who play games on Facebook are wrong," he said. "Social gaming as a whole aggregates into a business that is undeniably big money. When it's that big you are forced to pay attention."

Meanwhile, Brian Reynolds of Zynga was a bit more vocal with his disapproval. "I expected better from Nintendo," he said. "They are missing the point of what we are doing, We are making games that everyone can play and socialize on while playing."

Personally, I think Iwata's comments bear some consideration, but it's a bit too early to determine whether or not he's right. That said, claiming that Nintendo is "doomed" seems like an incredibly rash judgment.

Source: <a href=http://emoney.allthingsd.com/20110302/no-ones-buying-nintendos-cautionary-tale-about-mobile-and-social/?mod=ATD_rss>eMoney via <a href=http://www.gamepolitics.com/2011/03/04/industry-push-back-iwata-comments>GamePolitics

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[Worgen]

patcher is an idiot, we all know this

 

[Irridium]

Nintendo has been in business in the games industry for well over, what, 25 years? I think they'll be fine. They seem to know how to make a hit. Its been proves with the Wii, the DS, and the 3DS(which is apparently a massive success in Japan).

They also seemed to have catered to the "casual" market quite a bit. Agian, with the Wii and DS. Also known as the two best selling consoles of this generation.

They're playing the market. Going from the "core" audience, to the causuals, back to the core ones, and will go again to the casual space. At least thats what I assume what will happen.

 

[Tim Latshaw]

The 200-300 million people who play games on Facebook aren't wrong. They just have boring jobs.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

If you're gonna take Nintendo down though Apple, you're gonna fall as well. This isn't Rockem-Sockem Robots anymore. Or vice versa.

 

[Singularly Datarific]

Haaaa, what an idiot.
They've sold 5 times as many DS's than there are Canadians.
Doomed my ass.

 

[gummiworms]

I think Patcher's comment of 'Nintendo is doomed', is complete bollocks. While I do agree that the hand held market has changed since Nintendo has released its first handheld console. I find it really hard to believe that Nintendo is 'doomed'.

 

[LavaLampBamboo]

Mr Pachter, I believe in this instance you are wrong. Nintendo have broken new ground with the Wii, and look set to do the same with the 3DS. I'm fairly sure that they will continue strong at best, and survive at the very worst.

 

[Mr. Fister]

Haha, he actually used the "Nintendo is doomed" line? Talk about ascended meme (I'd link to TVTropes, but I don't wanna send anyone on an accidental hour-long binge).

On an unrelated note, the ReCaptcha gave me this:

 

[Cousin_IT]

Umm those linked comments are from a year ago :S

 

[manythings]

Haaaa, what an idiot.
They've sold 5 times as many DS's than there are Canadians.
Doomed my ass.

Not if he's right in 2015. Just because the DS(etc.) is the shit now doesn't mean nintendo are fuckwit proof, plenty of companies have ruined themselves before with willful stupidity.

 

[teh_Canape]

>Nintendo
>going bankrupt and dying

oh man, the I almost die laughing

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

Haha, he actually used the "Nintendo is doomed" line? Talk about ascended meme (I'd link to TVTropes, but I don't wanna send anyone on an accidental hour-long binge).

On an unrelated note, the ReCaptcha gave me this:

I thank you for that consideration, I only lost a day there yesterday and I don't want to be sucked in there, again.

OT: Doomed? Wow Pachter, you must really love jumping over sharks.

 

[JDKJ]

"None of my predictions are correct, but most are close. The nature of my work is like a game of horseshoes, where close counts." - Michael Pachter

I wonder what qualifies as "close" to doomed? Semi-doomed? Quasi-doomed? Who knows?

 

[Pebblig]

Social games are a pile of crap to be perfectly honest. They're repetitive and useless and just a genuine waste of time. There are no goals, just simply endless. You get to a point where you feel you should stop, yet you've played so much that you feel it would be a waste to stop.

I got up to level 100 on Mafia Wars and I decided enough was enough. It was horrible and I've pretty much turned my back on facebook since realising how much time I used to spend on, Facebook is just a bad, bad thing in my opinion.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

As far as young children go, I think that parents playing with children in the same room is much more healthy and something that parents are more comfortable with. Also, if people want to have a party or just generally hang out with each other then they are not going to sit in different rooms in the same house playing facebook games.

Pachter always talks down Nintendo. Nintendo are not always going to do everything right or always make money but I think they have some fight left in them.

EA spent a huge amount of money on a social game company that I don't think has paid off. If any of the big publishers is doomed then it's EA and everyone knows it. They reek of desperation.

Brian Reynolds just wants people to take his pathetic facebook games seriously, I guess. Nobody here cares Brian, earn some bread then come back and make a real game if you still care.

 

[Bon_Clay]

Hah Nintendo doomed? Iphone games are mostly just gimmicky things to kill some time. And the "social games" that you would also find on facebook are the most gimmicky crap of them all. The original and good ideas are few and far between in that market.

Nintendo will survive just based on their popular series like Mario and Zelda, and that people trust they will make FUN games. They may not be the best with 3rd party development, but their bread and butter areas they still dominate.

 

[Sixcess]

Why do you keep running stories about this guy? If I want to read ill-informed and erroneous opinions about gaming I can just visit the forums.

More to the point, who the hell is paying this idiot to keep coming out with idiocy like this and stunning insights like "GTA5 could be very successful." ?

 

[Worgen]

Nintendo has been in business for well over, what, 25 years? I think they'll be fine. They seem to know how to make a hit. Its been proves with the Wii, the DS, and the 3DS(which is apparently a massive success in Japan).

They also seemed to have catered to the "casual" market quite a bit. Agian, with the Wii and DS. Also known as the two best selling consoles of this generation.

They're playing the market. Going from the "core" audience, to the causuals, back to the core ones, and will go again to the casual space. At least thats what I assume what will happen.

actually nintendo has been around like over a hundred years, they started out making playing cards

 

[Irridium]

Nintendo has been in business for well over, what, 25 years? I think they'll be fine. They seem to know how to make a hit. Its been proves with the Wii, the DS, and the 3DS(which is apparently a massive success in Japan).

They also seemed to have catered to the "casual" market quite a bit. Agian, with the Wii and DS. Also known as the two best selling consoles of this generation.

They're playing the market. Going from the "core" audience, to the causuals, back to the core ones, and will go again to the casual space. At least thats what I assume what will happen.

actually nintendo has been around like over a hundred years, they started out making playing cards

I know, I was referring to business in the game industry.