It seems like when ever something bad for goes for Nintendo its bigger news then problems at Microsoft and Sony. People start jumping to conclusions like its the Death of Nintendo. In comparison Microsoft lost a billion dollars this year on the Xbox brand and that is a improvement. Sony is set to lose 1 billion this year and has laid off 5000 people. It seems like those two are doing worse.
Nintendo Failures seem exaggerated
- Thread starter kilenem
- Start date
I think it's more a relative size / diversity thing. Or rather, the perceived size.WeepingAngels said:
Microsoft loses a billion dollars on Xbox, they can easily take it and await future returns playing the longer game. Sony loses the same on Playstation, and they can sell off their (not very profitable) PC division and happily make back the deficit, again, playing the longer game.
I think the fact that Nintendo are smaller, and don't have the same reserves or resources makes people believe they're tiny and liable to go under at the first sign of trouble, forgetting that smaller than Sony or Microsoft is still pretty big.
I read yesterday that investors want to kill off the xbox division. I honestly don't care. If I were told that about Sony I would care a little more but not as much as I would if I read that investors wanted Nintendo to get out of the game business.9thRequiem said:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/02/05/investors-want-microsofts-new-ceo-to-kill-xbox-bing-and-surface/
It makes for a narrative that people like following. This is especially true when you consider how many people want Nintendo to leave home consoles and design their games for other platforms, and any news that they're struggling makes it seem like that desire may become reality in the near future. On the other hand, bad news for Sony and Microsoft really can't be spun into a positive quite as easily, so there's comparatively little point in blowing any of their failures out of proportion.
Difficult to say but I know a lot of people are annoyed about the path Nintendo took with the Wii and that it alienated a lot of core gamers. People who were Nintendo fans pretty much stopped supporting them soon after they bought the Wii as it didnt offer much for them and tbh besides a handful of excellent titles I agree it didnt offer much at all beyond a gimmick that soon got old.
So now I think deep down some people want Nintendo to fail or rather see their failure as a way to look and point and say yeah thats what you get for abandoning us and going for the big bucks with the casuals basically reinforcing their belief that they knew better than Nintendo. Now instead of giving Nintendo a chance again they just sideline them and label them as not worth their time so any indication of their failure is perfect opportunity to dig in the pitchforks and make it sound as bad as possible, its like a mild form of anti fanboyism.
So now I think deep down some people want Nintendo to fail or rather see their failure as a way to look and point and say yeah thats what you get for abandoning us and going for the big bucks with the casuals basically reinforcing their belief that they knew better than Nintendo. Now instead of giving Nintendo a chance again they just sideline them and label them as not worth their time so any indication of their failure is perfect opportunity to dig in the pitchforks and make it sound as bad as possible, its like a mild form of anti fanboyism.
Depends.
Nintendo won't die and they'll bounce back, but there's no denying the damage they've created for themselves.
Nintendo won't die and they'll bounce back, but there's no denying the damage they've created for themselves.
Well Sony and Microsoft do other things besides games, whereas Games is what Nintendo does... and you know Nostalgia. People start sweating and crying when their big dependable monster in under threat, other people like the idea of forced change, and feel they've been treading very familiar water this whole time.kilenem said:
Same way they bounced back after the Virtual Boy, which while the Wii U is doing bad, the Virtual Boy is still known as one of the biggest gaming blunders in the history of the gaming industry. It's always possible for them to be unable to bounce back, but that's only if they don't fix anything at all, and it seems at least they are trying now.VG_Addict said:
Nintendo honestly needed this humility to bring them back to reality, because they probably felt on top of the world with both the Wii and DS, just like how Sony thought they were pretty much invincible after the PS1 and PS2's success. Eventually though reality comes crashing down on you when you think that way. It happened big time with Sony when it came to the PS3, and it's happened with Nintendo for both the 3DS from when it launched and it's happening to Nintendo with the Wii U right now. It's also similar with what happened with the N64 because Nintendo was riding on the SNES' success and made some pretty big mistakes when it came to the design of it and how development on the console would go. In the end that completely bit them in the butt as it just helped Sony out more. For another parallel, Sony made the same sorta mistakes when it came to the PS3, looking at you Cell architecture, and it just helped the Xbox 360 more when it came to how multiplatform games would perform better on the 360 than the PS3.
Both companies learned after that though, with Nintendo's GameCube making many right choices (ignoring the fact that the PS2 eclipsed it, but that was the case for many things), and now with the PS4 it seems that Sony learned from it's mistakes it made with the PS3. Now if only Sony would learn to stop using proprietary memory cards that cost too much and perhaps the Vita would do at least a little better.
How will this irreparably damage their name? OK, so people will remember the Wii U as a failure. That doesn't mean that it's automatically going to make every future console from Nintendo a failure as well.VG_Addict said:
Nintendo isn't so much a company as an institution. Its the bedrock of gaming for many gamers. Franchises like Mario and Zelda reach deep into the minds of gamers. The problem is, Nintendo has spent much of the last twenty years in decline. Now, we know the last few were pretty kind to them. The wii got them enough cash to sail through two more underperforming consoles. However, in the minds of gamers its been a company on the wane for a long time. Popular franchises have disappeared (F-Zero) or been destroyed (Metroid). They have nothing we normally associate with a successful platform (Third Party Support, pop culture currency). Over all, to your average gamer it would seem obvious that Nintendo was about to go down in flames.
But yes they are exaggerated, at least in the long term. Nintendo is so loaded they have plenty of time to fix up their business model, increase third party ties, and attract back the lion's share of their market. But a lack of a communicated vision for their future to gamers is another thing that adds to a negative perception.
But yes they are exaggerated, at least in the long term. Nintendo is so loaded they have plenty of time to fix up their business model, increase third party ties, and attract back the lion's share of their market. But a lack of a communicated vision for their future to gamers is another thing that adds to a negative perception.
That's pretty much how things have been for awhile. I've just given up trying to understand the logic of it as there is clearly no logic involved. The closest thing I can find to reasoning behind it is that people are still pathologically sulking over the Wii/DS/3DS/N64/Gamecube...but all of those are so silly they CAN'T be the reason.
It has to do with the fact that Nintendo deals exclusively with video games whereas Sony and Microsoft have their fingers in many pies. If either Sony or Microsoft find their video game divisions are not performing they can just cut their losses and shut them down. Nintendo doesn't have that luxury, if they're not performing they're screwed.
I will say Nintendo is headed in the right direction with their plans for mergers and acquisitions, and integrating their handheld and consoles, which some have interpreted as meaning they'll make a hybrid console, but I think they'll make their next console compatible with their handheld, similar to PS4 and Vita.Neronium said:
Investors always want companies to sell off their assets, it causes a one time jump in the stock price that they can then sell off for massive profit. Very few actually invest because they want the company to succeed and thrive, all they see is a division not turning an immediate profit and a steady or sliding stock price. I will agree that bing needs to die.WeepingAngels said:
Back on issue. The big N only brings in money from the sale of software on their own systems. If a system isn't selling then they're not making money; and as it's been made painfully clear that the wii u isn't selling, and they can only float on 3DS income for so long. MS and Sony have their hands in everything, they can absorb failures and grow new divisions at a loss.
In my opinion Nintendo will find a way to keep doing what they do. Yes they're many people out there who are tired of seeing the same games in circulation with each console they release(Mario and its variations, Zelda and so on) not to mention the 3DS which I find kinda gimmicky in itself. I have to agree with the previous post that Nintendo is just coasting through with the money they made off the Wii. They themselves seem to be oblivious to the fact that the Wii U is in a slump up until recently when they reduced their projected sales amount for the upcoming year for both the Wii U and now 3DS.
Not to mention they have yet to figure out a proper way to implement some user friendly online functionality for their system. Nintendo has to figure out a way to be more competitive with Sony and Microsoft. The new tablet controller is just not convincing enough for me to pick up the new system which by the looks of it doesn't have lasting appeal.
Not to mention they have yet to figure out a proper way to implement some user friendly online functionality for their system. Nintendo has to figure out a way to be more competitive with Sony and Microsoft. The new tablet controller is just not convincing enough for me to pick up the new system which by the looks of it doesn't have lasting appeal.
People have already pointed it out but Nintendo has really screwed the gamer in every department except in the core titles. People (myself included) love their games. Of my top five games of all time at least two would be a Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time. However, they make really really bad consoles that deprive you of basically every third party title so I avoid the Wii and Wii U.
If MS had a console that made quality GOW titles and Halo titles only I would never buy it but be very mad at MS for basically taking good games hostage. That is how I feel about nintendo. I want their games, but they are douches as they refuse to even pretend to back the third parties and make a normal console. So many of us are just crossing our fingers praying for their terrible console choices to cost them big so they are forced to go the route of sega or actually make a real console I can justify buying. Either way I win and get to play my fill of Mario and Zelda without having to buy two consoles.
Personally if either Ms or sony went of the gaming market it wouldn't kill me because MOST of the games in my library are cross platform and I could just jump ship to the other console so I don't really care if they go out.
If MS had a console that made quality GOW titles and Halo titles only I would never buy it but be very mad at MS for basically taking good games hostage. That is how I feel about nintendo. I want their games, but they are douches as they refuse to even pretend to back the third parties and make a normal console. So many of us are just crossing our fingers praying for their terrible console choices to cost them big so they are forced to go the route of sega or actually make a real console I can justify buying. Either way I win and get to play my fill of Mario and Zelda without having to buy two consoles.
Personally if either Ms or sony went of the gaming market it wouldn't kill me because MOST of the games in my library are cross platform and I could just jump ship to the other console so I don't really care if they go out.
The Virtual Boy wasn't that big a deal as they still had the Gameboy which was doing very very well. The Virtual Boy can be seen as a side project that didn't pan out.Neronium said:
On the home console front ... Nintendo hasn't bounced back since the SNES. The Gamecube was a good try - just a little late to the party and with the PS2's clout ... it was a hell of an uphill battle. They probably could have been a contender if they didn't release Wii with underpowered hardware which gamers didn't take seriously due to to it's weakness. With the Wii U they blotched it again!
Maybe they can make a comeback next gen, if they can pull their heads out of arses long enough to listen to what developers are telling them. The "Nintendo Way" is a lonely way and not a very profitable one.