Poll: Should Nintendo Stop Making Consoles?

[Arkley]

Assuming that Nintendo will continue producing video games after they pull the plug on console production SEGA-style, then I am 100% in favour of Nintendo ceasing to make consoles. It means I'll get to play all the great Nintendo franchises but I'll have one less console to fork over money for.

And honestly, I think that would be for the best. For the entire last three generations of Nintendo consoles, they've had so little third party support that it's all but inarguable that their first-party efforts have kept them afloat almost single-handedly. Buying a Nintendo console in the last 15 years has gotten you plenty of great Nintendo games and precious few non-Nintendo efforts. Moving Nintendo games to platforms that already have outstanding third-party support like Sony & Microsoft's consoles just means more great games in one place.

Furthermore, Nintendo seems all but committed to "outdated" tech supplemented with gimmicks. The Wii was little more than a GameCube with a new controller and the Wii U is launching with similar tech to the ageing 360/PS3 with, again, nothing more than a unique controller to support its claim to being "current". If Nintendo cease console production they can pour those funds into creating genuinely current gen versions of their signature franchises for genuinely current gen consoles.

All of this definitely better for the gamers, in my opinion. It's probably not what's best for Nintendo, though.

 

[Sean951]

No! Sony and Microsoft just want to get at Nintendo's first party games. Mario and Zelda might be 25 years, but just a quick glance at them should tell you they are still going strong, and if we ignore Other M (and who doesn't) then we can add Metroid to that list.

Skyward Sword is also my game of the year (admittedly, I only play PC and Nintendo games) and I can't imagine going back to a Zelda based entirely on buttons and joysticks. I LOVED using the sword, and if they every make one accurate enough that we can use the sword to deflect or parry... Well, I would be incredibly happy.

 

[deadish]

Right now the one thing that consoles have over the pc is a simple used game market, once you get rid of that, there isn't much point in having a standard console anymore.

Sorry man, but from the perspective of developers (and the publishers who fund them), that is NOT "one thing that consoles have over the pc".

When you buy a used game, the developers get nothing. Zip, zero, nothing.
From their point of view, you might as well just pirate the game, it's has the same "effect".

That is their hang up and it will come back to bite them in the ass with new consoles that really push getting rid of that sort of thing, console sales will go way down, some stores will even refuse to carry the consoles, and it will become more difficult to market games since navigating a digital market space tends to be clumsy at best with only a controller.

It isn't a "hang up", it's a matter of life and dead of their jobs.

In the end it all comes down to money.
If publishers can't recoup their invest, budgets for games will shrink, developers will get laid off.

With less manpower, quality of games will go down, but the price will stay the same.

It is fact that game development cost money, and you will pay for it in one way or another, in the cost of the game or the reduction in quality.

No amount of arguing will change the laws of economics.

 

[Crazedc00k]

Snip.

That seems pretty narrow minded. Just because the console's nature doesn't appeal to you personally, just because you aren't a part of its most corely focused audience, doesn't mean that nintendo should shut down a profitable part of its business that keeps an exclusively game-making company in the console market.it sells well, its shown games to a wide variety of people, and it trounces PS3 and Xbox in the "fresh and new" department. Do I own a Wii? No. But its a perfectly respectable platform that nintendo should be proud of producing, and they shouldn't stop just because they no longer appeal to the hardcore part of their fansbase. why should they? as you pointed out, you bought one.

 

[Worgen]

Right now the one thing that consoles have over the pc is a simple used game market, once you get rid of that, there isn't much point in having a standard console anymore.

Sorry man, but from the perspective of developers (and the publishers who fund them), that is NOT "one thing that consoles have over the pc".

When you buy a used game, the developers get nothing. Zip, zero, nothing.
From their point of view, you might as well just pirate the game, it's has the same "effect".

That is their hang up and it will come back to bite them in the ass with new consoles that really push getting rid of that sort of thing, console sales will go way down, some stores will even refuse to carry the consoles, and it will become more difficult to market games since navigating a digital market space tends to be clumsy at best with only a controller.

It isn't a "hang up", it's a matter of life and dead of their jobs.

In the end it all comes down to money.
If publishers can't recoup their invest, budgets for games will shrink, developers will get laid off.

With less manpower, quality of games will go down, but the price will stay the same.

It is fact that game development cost money, and you will pay for it in one way or another, in the cost of the game or the reduction in quality.

No amount of arguing will change the laws of economics.

It is their hang up and in the end it will force games to either go down in price or put less money into them since they wont sell as well, or it might even encourage more piracy. One thing that publishers always forget about when they start whining and crying about used games is that the money people get from a used game is going to be spent on another game it might be new, it might be used but that money goes back into the game economy, you get rid of that and suddenly there is less money for games.

 

[Warlord211]

Snip.

That seems pretty narrow minded. Just because the console's nature doesn't appeal to you personally, just because you aren't a part of its most corely focused audience, doesn't mean that nintendo should shut down a profitable part of its business that keeps an exclusively game-making company in the console market.it sells well, its shown games to a wide variety of people, and it trounces PS3 and Xbox in the "fresh and new" department. Do I own a Wii? No. But its a perfectly respectable platform that nintendo should be proud of producing, and they shouldn't stop just because they no longer appeal to the hardcore part of their fansbase. why should they? as you pointed out, you bought one.

I didn't buy one, my parents bought me one after I told them to not get me one. I wasn't really ever really interested in the motion controls.

 

[Crazedc00k]

Snip.

That seems pretty narrow minded. Just because the console's nature doesn't appeal to you personally, just because you aren't a part of its most corely focused audience, doesn't mean that nintendo should shut down a profitable part of its business that keeps an exclusively game-making company in the console market.it sells well, its shown games to a wide variety of people, and it trounces PS3 and Xbox in the "fresh and new" department. Do I own a Wii? No. But its a perfectly respectable platform that nintendo should be proud of producing, and they shouldn't stop just because they no longer appeal to the hardcore part of their fansbase. why should they? as you pointed out, you bought one.

I didn't buy one, my parents bought me one after I told them to not get me one. I wasn't really ever really interested in the motion controls.

The point is moot--millions more people bought one than bought a 360 or PS3. They're making money hand over fist, why would they stop now because a few "hardcore" gamers are angry with an otherwise successful product?

 

[deadish]

One thing that publishers always forget about when they start whining and crying about used games is that the money people get from a used game is going to be spent on another game it might be new,

True but not quite true ...

You are ASSUMING the money gotten from reselling will be used to buy a new game. But it could easily be used to buy a another resale game.

In fact it's technically possible for an infinite number of people to play a game and for the developer to sell only one copy due to resale. Sure, it's an extreme case, but the principle stands.

Secondly, it will not necessary force prices to go down like you think.

Publishers will instead raise the price to compensate for the "lost profit" from resales, as people buying resale aren't buying a new copy directly from them so they get nothing.
This is what happened during the cartridge days before the Playstation 1, because the carts were expensive and slow to manufacture. Publishers will play it safe and underestimate demand - having unsold carts is very bad as it cost them a bomb to manufacture. 2nd runs are rare because most people will buy resale rather than wait for the 2nd run to arrival weeks later - so almost guarantee losses if you do a 2nd print. Knowing it will be resold, they build into the retail price the profit from the resales.

And if they can't raise the price, the game industry will just shrink and people lose jobs. In the worst case, it will start a deflationary spiral as publisher invest less and less in game development, until the industry effectively cease to exist.

There is no way to cheat "the system".
I will say it again, game development cost money and will have to pay for one way or another.

Right now, we got 2 choices.

The pre-PS1 era method of selling games, where publishers build the resale profit into the retail price. Where you don't get to keep the game after playing it, because you are almost forced to resell due to the high price.

Or the "current system" before blood suckers like GameStop started the resale craze, where you pay much less for a game, publishers get a better metric regarding how well their game is selling, and you get to keep the game.

IMHO the latter is preferred.

 

[Snoozer]

I don't know if it was a good decision for the company, but if I had a console that would offer me Nintendo titles as well as hardware and games of a Playstation that would be awesome.
It's annoying that you either have to make a decition between consoles or have to buy both (same goes for handheld).
The thing is that it makes no sense for Nintendo to stop doing what they are doing. The Wii is not aiming at the same costumers as Playstation and Xbox and it works for the company.

 

[Worgen]

One thing that publishers always forget about when they start whining and crying about used games is that the money people get from a used game is going to be spent on another game it might be new,

True but not quite true ...

You are ASSUMING the money gotten from reselling will be used to buy a new game. But it could easily be used to buy a another resale game.

In fact it's technically possible for an infinite number of people to play a game and for the developer to sell only one copy due to resale. Sure, it's an extreme case, but the principle stands.

Secondly, it will not necessary force prices to go down like you think.

Publishers will instead raise the price to compensate for the "lost profit" from resales, as people buying resale aren't buying a new copy directly from them so they get nothing.
This is what happened during the cartridge days before the Playstation 1, because the carts were expensive and slow to manufacture. Publishers will play it safe and underestimate demand - having unsold carts is very bad as it cost them a bomb to manufacture. 2nd runs are rare because most people will buy resale rather than wait for the 2nd run to arrival weeks later - so almost guarantee losses if you do a 2nd print. Knowing it will be resold, they build into the retail price the profit from the resales.

And if they can't raise the price, the game industry will just shrink and people lose jobs. In the worst case, it will start a deflationary spiral as publisher invest less and less in game development, until the industry effectively cease to exist.

There is no way to cheat "the system".
I will say it again, game development cost money and will have to pay for one way or another.

Right now, we got 2 choices.

The pre-PS1 era method of selling games, where publishers build the resale profit into the retail price. Where you don't get to keep the game after playing it, because you are almost forced to resell due to the high price.

Or the "current system" before blood suckers like GameStop started the resale craze, where you pay much less for a game, publishers get a better metric regarding how well their game is selling, and you get to keep the game.

IMHO the latter is preferred.

I wasn't assuming it would be used for a new game, that is why I said "MIGHT". I still don't get the point your trying to make, I've already addressed all the things your saying here, why are we still talking?

 

[Mr.Mattress]

Absolutely not! Just because the Wii is a Desert (Overall Games for the System) with a few Oasis's (The Good ones) that have some pretty funky looking trees (Motion Controls), does not mean that they should give up. The 3DS is finally starting to get good, what with Mario Kart, Mario Land and Legend of Zelda. The WiiU is looking like it's gonna be the Wii done right. Nintendo makes excellent games no matter what system they are on. Plus, I grew up on Nintendo (N64 and Gameboy Color specifically), they are a staple of my youth and I love them for it.

Plus, it's clear that your horribly biased against Nintendo with your opening statements.

 

[Rylingo]

Not fond of Nintendo but a market full of identical dual stick controls? No thanks.

Hate dual stick controllers for anything other than platformers.