Nintendo Will "Never" Develop For Other Platforms, Says Iwata

[Something Amyss]

Where did this nonsense start? Why do people expect Nintendo to make games for competing consoles? Is anyone suggesting that Microsoft put Halo on the PS3/4 or the Wii U?

I suspect it dates back to Sega getting out of hardware, because a lot of people SWORE up and down Nintendo was next and hoped they'd keep making titles and possibly even handhelds. That last part may have changed because back when people were first "hoping," there wasn't really a smartphone market. I myself would love Pokémon on my smartphone, but I'm not losing sleep over it, either.

I can see this as an even bigger thing this gen, with the Wiiiiiiiiiewwww having an issue of limited third party support already, people probably don't want to buy another system solely for a few specific games. Even with the PS4 and Xbone, you can expect a strong number of non-first party titles to come out. It's not like the only draws are dead rising or uncharted 85.

this isn't, strictly speaking,a problem with Nintendo titles, just Nintendo titles as the only draw to the hardware.

 

[Roxas1359]

Show me a single developer who made a gravity-and-planetoid based three dimensional platformer before Super Mario Galaxy. A single platformer which played with gravity to the same extent Gravity did.

Quick question, have you even played a Ratchet and Clank game before? Insomniac has been doing gravity based platforming since the first Ratchet and Clank game back in 2002 and has been in every Ratchet and Clank game since, full on spherical planets was added in a year later for Going Commando/Locked and Loaded.

While no game has done exactly what Galaxy has done, these games come pretty damn close to it.

 

[Strain42]

Good for them. Seriously, I don't have much left to say. Nintendo has been around for over 100 years now, they're doing fine. They have plans and things seem to work out for them by sticking to their guns and to their own consoles. It's why they're still one of the biggest (if not the biggest) game developer on the planet and are in no danger of fading away anytime soon.

One thing I DO think Nintendo should do though is go back on their decision on smart phones. App Gaming is a HUGE market right now, and while I understand they wouldn't wanna port any of their properties (or possibly make new ones) on something like an iPhone or an Android...

I think Nintendo should just go ahead and enter themselves in the smart phone race. If Nintendo managed to make a good phone with reliable service and functions that could also host their classic games and possibly even introduce smaller new IPs, that would sell like gangbusters.

I imagine a lot of people would be willing to pick up a Nintendo made phone.

Of course that's why Nintendo is still in business...because they don't just do what fans ask for. Have you noticed that companies that do this tend to tank?

 

[Roxas1359]

I think Nintendo should just go ahead and enter themselves in the smart phone race. If Nintendo managed to make a good phone with reliable service and functions that could also host their classic games and possibly even introduce smaller new IPs, that would sell like gangbusters.

I imagine a lot of people would be willing to pick up a Nintendo made phone.

Of course that's why Nintendo is still in business...because they don't just do what fans ask for. Have you noticed that companies that do this tend to tank?

I think that would be bad for them, as then they'd have to go against Google's Droid and Apple's iPhone, and Apple and Google are ruthless and would probably be worse than any game company they'd go against, especially with how Apple does business because if any company has better lawyers than Nintendo, it'd probably have to be Apple. *shivers*

OT: I never really answered this thread. I find it good that they are sticking with their first-party support as that's what's needed most of the time. If you ask me Sony and Microsoft were really never built on by their first party teams as much. Sony was at the beginning, but they don't focus on it as much which is a shame, but the ones they usually do put out are really good. Microsoft as I see it has always been a third and second party company when it comes to their games.

 

[Lightknight]

Yay, two games, one that's only a demo. Surely that's worth buying an entire system. Would you consider these titles to be console sellers? Really?

I like high quality action games. W101 is shaping up to not only be a great action game, but possibly the best game Platinum has put out so far, and therefore one of the greatest action games ever. Pikmin 3 is a ridiculously high quality game polished to an absolutely ridiculous mirror shine, with pitch perfect pacing and gameplay.

I don't care if they're console sellers or not. One of them is a nigh-flawless game, and the other is looking to be just as damn near flawless. If they're not console sellers, then they damn well should be.

Whether or not they're console sellers is the entire point of our discussion. If they aren't then it fails to pass the "what are you doing for me now" part of business.

Pikimin is a legit Nintendo product now. I'm glad it exists and W101 is certainly something to be excited about. If miyamoto's new IP ends up being good then we're at two new ones for the generation which is a strong start.

I swear if people mention Sega one more time...

Sega. It would be naive to expect individuals to not reference highly relateable business case studies.

Sega were coming off a near decade of console failures with the Dreamcast. The 32X, the Saturn, the Game Gear, none of those had taken off. They hadn't had a major console hit since the Mega Drive. That is simply not the case with Nintendo. None of their consoles with the exception of the Virtual Boy have tanked in the same way those consoles did, and thus far Nintendo has made a profit on all of them. Whether Nintendo sink or fail, it will have nothing to do with Sega, who sank for completely different reasons.

The gamegear was a success for the time at 11 million units and beat out Atari Lynx and NEC TurboExpress at the time. It didn't beat Nintendo. But you can't consider beating Nintendo in the handheld market the only qualifier of success. The Sega Genesis was only discontinued in 1997 with the release of the Saturn and was immensely successful.

It was the Saturn that killed the company, not the Dreamcast. Read up on the Saturn launch sometime. They sold even fewer consoles than the Dreamcast and that's what put them in such a weak position.

 

[BlumiereBleck]

Where did this nonsense start? Why do people expect Nintendo to make games for competing consoles? Is anyone suggesting that Microsoft put Halo on the PS3/4 or the Wii U?

I agree, if Nintendo starts doing it then Sony and Microsoft should defiantly join in.

 

[Kittyhawk]

I do not rate Iwata at all. he's a muppet who's far too short sighted and probably got Wii U in the dire state its in.

What a fool? He needs to go from leading Nintendo because he's making things worse. The transition of japanese gamers from handhelds to stronger mobile phones and tablets is already underway in Japan. With the Wii U doing so bad for Nintendo, they really need 3DS to do well and for it to remain strong.

If they lose their handheld sector too, they'll be in really big trouble. There's an old saying. '''If you can't beat em, join em'. Right now, Nintendo need to be more progressive, because even a version of Pokemon on mobiles would rake in plenty of cash for them.

Foolish, stupid and myopic.

 

[scorptatious]

Because as the legion of COD sequels and knock-offs has shown, rehashing the same gameplay mechanics works so much better.

Because Mario NEVER rehashes the same kind of gameplay. Neither does Kirby, or Metroid, or Zelda. Nope.

I'm not saying the games are bad for doing this. For the most part, each addition does add something new to the mix to keep things interesting. Metroid Prime and Mario Galaxy being pretty good examples.

Hell, I'm playing the Disgaea games right now, and fundamentally, they all follow the same kind of formula and gameplay mechanics. But it's the different stories, casts of characters, and additions to the gameplay that make each entry in the series fun for me.

I just think it's a tad bit funny that people would criticize a game series for sticking to it's guns when they themselves defend a company who have been releasing New Super Mario Bros. over and over for the past half a decade or so.

 

[Olas]

It's not really this in particular, but just the general way Nintendo's been doing its business since Iwata took control that gives me some real foreboding feelings about how he's going to run the company in the future.

On this in particular: It's one thing to say "Mario will never be on Xbox." It's something completely different to say "Nintendo will never develop for other platforms."

While yes, I do understand Nintendo has their own platforms to support with their own development... y'know, reaching out to other markets can't really hurt.

Sure it can. Does Nintendo really need to give consumers another reason not to buy their consoles? If Nintendo games start coming out for PS or PC what reason will anyone have to buy a WiiU? The controller? The predominate selling point of a Nintendo console is Nintendo games.

Nintendo is a company that has never stopped progressing

Progress, yes.

So... how many more times will Mario be fighting Bowser? Link fighting Ganon[dorf]? Samus fighting Ridley?

So progress means never reusing a concept from the past at all? In other words it doesn't matter how many new ideas Nintendo implements in their new Zelda game, if Ganondorf appears in it somewhere it automatically means they haven't progressed in any way?

Ya, I'm gonna go ahead and call bullshit to that.

 

[Kittyhawk]

Another thought.

What's also funny about this is that there is no risk to Nintendo in trying mobiles and tablets as a test, if they don't want to push their wares via MS and Sony. We all know that gamers love their games and are willing to pay for them, so whats the problem? (Please note, this is not about hating bashing Nintendo, but anyone that does have a gamer axe to grind for them is kind of justified.)

Their bank account has billions in it, and mobile development of just one Nintendo game would be peanuts to them, so why the mystery resistance? They have nothing to lose except their hubris and a bit of pride. We need only look as far as the recent release of Mother 3, a game that gamers were crying out for its release for years, only now hits Wii U and lo, the sales are really high.

It certainly pays to listen to your customers sometimes, Nintendo. I guess you'll wait until you are really hurting in Japan from mobiles to act, like the 3DS price drop.

@jeffers

I disagree. There's gold in them their mobile hills and if japanese customers continue migrating there each day, its more big trouble for Nintendo. Its good to follow the customer sometimes too.

 

[Kittyhawk]

@jeffers

There are controllers available for smart phones to deal with the tactile control problem, if it ails your fun too much. That's a lame excuse, sir. Feel free to google and see what's out there.

You say its stupid for Nintendo to consider mobile/tablet games. Lol. Did you hear about Puzzle and Dragons, a game that's earning 4 million a day from being free to play on mobile in Japan? That's how stupid it is for Nintendo to stay out of the sector.

4 million a day. Good god. Guess Nintendo don't like money if that can't tempt them. No one is asking them to do free to play games, but just to try something from their stable. Clash of Clans is also due to clean house in Japan and is doing well so far.

I commend Nintendo's gaming talent, but the mobile sector offers them a chance to make more money than just their 3DS, without compromising 3DS at all if they were to play it right. If they snooze, they'll miss this boat too.

 

[xaszatm]

You know, I never found the perfect analogy for Nintendo's unwillingness to publish on other consoles... until now:
Seriously, Nintendo: time to either evolve or die.

I do not rate Iwata at all. he's a muppet who's far too short sighted and probably got Wii U in the dire state its in.

What a fool? He needs to go from leading Nintendo because he's making things worse. The transition of japanese gamers from handhelds to stronger mobile phones and tablets is already underway in Japan. With the Wii U doing so bad for Nintendo, they really need 3DS to do well and for it to remain strong.

If they lose their handheld sector too, they'll be in really big trouble. There's an old saying. '''If you can't beat em, join em'. Right now, Nintendo need to be more progressive, because even a version of Pokemon on mobiles would rake in plenty of cash for them.

Foolish, stupid and myopic.

You know, it's people like you that really get to me. People who not only do NOT understand anything about business, but DEMAND that their ideas are better than other people. "Iawata is a fool." "Nintendo is dying." SHUT UP AND THINK BEFORE YOU TYPE!!! AND YES, I AM FULLY AWARE OF THE IRONY THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!

Nintendo has $6 billion in reserve. Let me repeat it. $6 billion. SIX BILLION U.S. DOLLARS!!! In what world is that much money mean a company is in financial trouble? If $6 billion means a company is going out, then EVERY COMPANY EXCEPT FOR A FEW WOULD BE GONE!!! And guess what? Nintendo isn't pulling a loss this year. In fact, until recently, Nintendo has been doing nothing but gaining profits. Like their games or not, they are the sole console company that has had such high profits for most of its life compared to Sony and Microsoft gaming division.

OH! There's another thing. If Nintendo's SIX BILLION U.S. DOLLAR reserve (no, I will not let this go. Nintendo is in no financial trouble) is not enough to save it, then how is Sony and Microsoft even staying afloat? Sony lost all of its profits during the PS3 era and Microsoft's gaming division has been constantly in the red. That's not even going into how the two companies as a whole are balancing of the edge of a cliff right now. And yet it's Nintendo that's making all the bad business decisions? It's attitudes like this as the reason we are in a recession right now!

But that's the thing. Now days, the ability to look beyond a year, let alone a decade has vanished among people. We have companies rushing towards new fads and trying to make every game the same without thinking about the consequences. We have companies lay people off work just so they can have another year in the black while keeping their bloated salaries. The gaming industry has become so short sighted that its heading for a collision and no one seems to be stopping it. And yet, there exist a few companies that can think in the long term, that can think beyond a year or two. Nintendo, yes, your ideas are extremely narrow-minded than Iawata's. Iawata is thinking beyond a single year. He is thinking about the next console generation and Nintendo's future.

If Nintendo "evolved" and gave up consoles, where would it go? Become like Sega and make a fraction of the profits it makes? Be forced to divide work for multiplayer and single player in order to cheer up some idiot executive, resulting in a lower quality game?

There are plenty of reasons to not like Nintendo, including not liking their games. However, in the business side of things, Nintendo stands to be the only one capable of thinking with his head. I'm sorry if this post is so angry but this is one of my biggest buttons and you two just happen to smash it hard with a hammer.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Yeah, im sure SEGA said the same thing.

 

[xaszatm]

@jeffers

There are controllers available for smart phones to deal with the tactile control problem, if it ails your fun too much. That's a lame excuse, sir. Feel free to google and see what's out there.

You say its stupid for Nintendo to consider mobile/tablet games. Lol. Did you hear about Puzzle and Dragons, a game that's earning 4 million a day from being free to play on mobile in Japan? That's how stupid it is for Nintendo to stay out of the sector.

4 million a day. Good god. Guess Nintendo don't like money if that can't tempt them. No one is asking them to do free to play games, but just to try something from their stable. Clash of Clans is also due to clean house in Japan and is doing well so far.

I commend Nintendo's gaming talent, but the mobile sector offers them a chance to make more money than just their 3DS, without compromising 3DS at all if they were to play it right. If they snooze, they'll miss this boat too.

Here's the thing, the mobile market is going to burst. If not soon, then eventually. It's a bubble and bubbles pop. There is little to no quality control among the app store and with such a saturation of games, mobile gaming will probably feature a mini-"great video game crash." It won't be nearly as bad as the 1983 one, but you will see many companies implode in the aftermath. Only companies with the short term profit on their minds will start dedicating any time with mobile games at the moment.