Updated:Nintendo Considering Smartphone Games, Restructuring

[Colt47]

Nintendo has a pretty strong set of software titles to use to power their console, they just need to get the right games on the console to get people interested in it again. As people already stated, the wii had a runaway success because it appealed to a completely different audience than their previous GameCube and Nintendo 64. Returning to the gamepad once again, they have to deal with somehow magicking back their previous core audience to make the Wii U a success. Also hoping for digital distribution to take off a bit more so we don't end up with more Gamestop / Operation Rainfall artificial game shortage shenanigans.

Also, expanding into the mobile, and especially the IPhone market, is probably not the best idea for Nintendo with existing brands. I'm betting they will come up with original titles to test the waters first.

 

[MetalDooley]

now try and persuade Activision and EA to bring more titles to your console.

You mean like how they brought out John Riccitello on stage during their E3 presentation and he publicly announced massive support for the Wii U only for said support to take the form of a handful of late,overpriced,half assed ports.Then when it turned out that people weren't interested in buying those late,overpriced,half assed ports EA took their metaphorical ball and went home...

Yeah EA can go do one

I'm aware no Star Fox games were released for the Wii - that was kind of my point. Same with Kirby.

There was 2 Kirby games released on Wii along with another 4 or 5 on DS and 3DS not too mention that all the older games were re-released on VC or in the Anniversary collection.Kirby may not have the same high profile as other Nintendo franchises but he's not some obscure forgotten franchise either

They have fantastic franchises that they are just sitting on. Instead of rolling out fresh installments of beloved franchises, they've been pumping out Mario after Mario title

Not that beloved apparently.The most recent installments in the Starfox franchise both sold poorly enough with Assault on GC just cracking 1m while Command on DS only managed around half that.The most recent F-Zero game(another franchise people are always looking for)sold just over 600,000 worldwide.People have been calling out for a new Pikmin game for years and when we finally get one it's hardly set the sales charts alight

Lets face it.As much as I would love to see new Starfox,F-Zero etc. myself Nintendo's big sellers have always been Mario and his various spinoffs,Zelda and Pokemon so is it any surprise that they continue to keep producing those titles

They just need to pull their heads out of the sand soon, or there won't be a Nintendo left.

Meh people have been saying this since the N64 and Nintendo are still around nearly 20 years later

 

[WeepingAngels]

I don't understand people who say the Wii U has no games but act like the PS4/One has enough to validate a console purchase. The Wii U currently has a better library than either the PS4 or the One.

I do understand the people who say that Nintendo burned them last gen.

In my opinion Nintendo needs to really pick up the pace on the Virtual Console on both the 3DS and Wii U (where is SMB 3 for NA?). Not only will it give them some fairly easy money but it will fill in the gaps between big releases. Nintendo needs to reconsider it's pricing for downloadable titles, people are used to downloading free or cheaper games because of mobile devices and there is no putting the shit back in the horse. Maybe $3 for NES, $5 for SNES, $7 for N64.

 

[Silverbane7]

the problem with smartphone games are..they only come in two main flavours...
crap...and crack.

they ether last you a half hour before they smack you in the face with a paywall, or you get so bored that you cant play them....unless they are the crack type, in which case the paywall passed you by 40 hours of play ago, and you are walking about like a zombie, but muttering 'crush' instead of brains...while flicking your fingers over your phone, playing candy crush saga.
(seriously. i was in line for the bus with one of these players. even getting off the bus, they were still playing candy crush, that stuff is crack for phone users)

while i can understand their desire to get into the app buisness, they realy would be somewhat better off trying to gain some from their back catalogue of decent games. they did it with OoT on 3ds, why not give us majoras mask, goemon 64...hell, pokemon stadium 1 and 2, with a bit of tweeking to allow for the new get pokemon would make fantastic party style games. we KNOW a 3ds can comunicate with a wiiu, we have used their system to port over your miis and copy our accounts to and from wiiu and 3ds (i know i have since i wanted to be able to use both to buy stuff on the online e store)
they could let players use the wiiu and their 3ds with a pokemon 3ds capable cart in, to connect to the pokemon bank to allow for trading and so forth.

and there are a fair few snes games i know i woul buy for virtual console...secret of mana, secret of evermore, lord of the rings the fellowship, terranigma, illusion of time...and i allready OWN those for snes. but, since i cant take a tv, a power supply and my snes with me on the train...*shrugs* would be nice to take them with me on 3ds/have em on wiiu catalogue too.

and if they removed the bloody region locking, even just on the 3ds, it would help some as a LOT of games dont make it to my region (uk) for years. or at all. with whats happend with rune factory 4, i dont expect the UK to ever get a release for that. nor hometown story. i personaly would have imported (or rather, give the cash to the bf and got him to import, since i cant buy off the net)both those games from the us when they released, had there been no region lock on my 3ds xl (yes, i know the work-around of a usa or japan 3ds, but thats out of my price range)

if the DO make some mobile games,i hope for their own sake that they DO NOT release their main characters or them, in new main character games...minigame ones will work but lets face it. mobiles are for short, quick games you can pause and put down hen your stop arrives, or when your dinner break is up. not for 4 hour grand sagas like mario galaxy or windwaker ect

 

[Simalacrum]

I don't understand people who say the Wii U has no games but act like the PS4/One has enough to validate a console purchase. The Wii U currently has a better library than either the PS4 or the One.

I do understand the people who say that Nintendo burned them last gen.

In my opinion Nintendo needs to really pick up the pace on the Virtual Console on both the 3DS and Wii U (where is SMB 3 for NA?). Not only will it give them some fairly easy money but it will fill in the gaps between big releases. Nintendo needs to reconsider it's pricing for downloadable titles, people are used to downloading free or cheaper games because of mobile devices and there is no putting the shit back in the horse. Maybe $3 for NES, $5 for SNES, $7 for N64.

I think the reason why people act as if the PS4/Xbone are viable consoles is because of the potential those consoles hold. Potential for new, bigger, more powerful games. And a LOT of them. They may not be here just yet but everyone knows they're coming, and that makes them a viable choice.

The Wii U, on the other hand? The console may have potential but there is a public perception that it's simply outdated. People are tired of having the MUCH less powerful Nintendo console (they up with it last gen because of the novelty the Wii offered, something that isn't working this time), and almost every media outlet has simply been treating it as "not really next gen", which really harmed the brand of the Wii U.

 

[Loop Stricken]

Hey, Nintendo?
Do you know what would get you some instant money?

RELEASING POKéMON BANK.

 

[Dragonbums]

Hey, Nintendo?
Do you know what would get you some instant money?

RELEASING POKéMON BANK.

Well, that has nothing to do with the Wii U first off.

And secondly it wouldn't be instant money because everyone has a one month free trial anyway.

 

[WeepingAngels]

I don't understand people who say the Wii U has no games but act like the PS4/One has enough to validate a console purchase. The Wii U currently has a better library than either the PS4 or the One.

I do understand the people who say that Nintendo burned them last gen.

In my opinion Nintendo needs to really pick up the pace on the Virtual Console on both the 3DS and Wii U (where is SMB 3 for NA?). Not only will it give them some fairly easy money but it will fill in the gaps between big releases. Nintendo needs to reconsider it's pricing for downloadable titles, people are used to downloading free or cheaper games because of mobile devices and there is no putting the shit back in the horse. Maybe $3 for NES, $5 for SNES, $7 for N64.

I think the reason why people act as if the PS4/Xbone are viable consoles is because of the potential those consoles hold. Potential for new, bigger, more powerful games. And a LOT of them. They may not be here just yet but everyone knows they're coming, and that makes them a viable choice.

The Wii U, on the other hand? The console may have potential but there is a public perception that it's simply outdated. People are tired of having the MUCH less powerful Nintendo console (they up with it last gen because of the novelty the Wii offered, something that isn't working this time), and almost every media outlet has simply been treating it as "not really next gen", which really harmed the brand of the Wii U.

I don't mind that the hardware isn't that powerful but let's face it, it's overpriced compared to the competition.

 

[VG_Addict]

Nintendo has sold less and less on every console after the NES. Maybe they're just irrelevant.

 

[Loop Stricken]

Hey, Nintendo?
Do you know what would get you some instant money?

RELEASING POKéMON BANK.

Well, that has nothing to do with the Wii U first off.

And secondly it wouldn't be instant money because everyone has a one month free trial anyway.

Look, just... I really need that storage space, okay?

 

[Signa]

"Given the expansion of smart devices, we are naturally studying how smart devices can be used to grow the game-player business. It's not as simple as enabling Mario to move on a smartphone.

With all due respect to him, I think he's wrong. I agree that it isn't 'real innovation,' but NES and SNES titles are so basic (I mean come on, the controllers had like 4 buttons total) that it would be simple enough to squeeze the backlog out real fast. That could be a LARGE revenue stream that they currently lack, giving their budgets actual room to fix the problem long term.

Nintendo is a long term thinking company, but without a short term goal to get them to the long term they'll just sit there floundering for another year or two.

Have you even tried using a touchscreen as a controller? It doesn't work. Whether you are thinking about it or not, you're constantly leaving your fingers touching the buttons on your controller, waiting to press them. You can't do that on a touch screen. If you try to be smart about it and leave your fingers hovering over the device (a feat much easier said than done due to how you still need to hold your device), you will lose track of the position of your thumbs in relation to the on-screen buttons while in the heat of battle.

Now, I do like the Pokemon idea above, because that doesn't require timing or skill. You just navigate menus, which is what touchscreens are best at.

 

[Cecilthedarkknight_234]

Activision and EA to bring more titles to your console.

Activision? I can see.

EA?...eeeeyeeaaano. EA has outright lied about the Wii U, took a big shit on it, embarrassed themselves during the Xbox One fiasco, and sworn off working on the Wii U.

While them coming back to produce games on it isn't impossible, EA act like giant corporate babies and there is a good chance that they aren't going to do shit for the Wii U unless Nintendo ponies up some serious cash.

Well so has square-enix, Bethesda, atlus, nis, capcom, rock-star, bandai-namco and konami. No-one is making games for this system heck the wii-u at all let alone porting over anything. Heck the wii-u didn't even get the latest dragon ball z game despite being more than capable of running it fine. Nintendo needs to step up and find a way to get 3rd party support back even if most are just ports at least more games will be out there. As for the 3ds I see it doing fine and continuing to do so if they get more portable games on e-shop like lynx, wonder-swan and neo-geo pocket.

 

[faefrost]

I don't understand people who say the Wii U has no games but act like the PS4/One has enough to validate a console purchase. The Wii U currently has a better library than either the PS4 or the One.

I do understand the people who say that Nintendo burned them last gen.

In my opinion Nintendo needs to really pick up the pace on the Virtual Console on both the 3DS and Wii U (where is SMB 3 for NA?). Not only will it give them some fairly easy money but it will fill in the gaps between big releases. Nintendo needs to reconsider it's pricing for downloadable titles, people are used to downloading free or cheaper games because of mobile devices and there is no putting the shit back in the horse. Maybe $3 for NES, $5 for SNES, $7 for N64.

The problem isn't number of games. It's installed user base. It's eyeballs and wallets on the consoles. Nintendo's profit point is software sales. But those are hobbled by the limited number of WiiU's out there in the market. When your game needs to sell to 80+% of your installed user base in order to hit its designed metrics there is a problem. In the case of the WiiU the problem isn't with overly high games sales expectations, its from overly low installed user base.

And Nintendo's Christmas sales were THAT bad. They were so low that it basically meant either people were just literally ignoring the console, or that the stores never even bothered to put it out for the public to find. The 3dS survived and turned around because Nintendo in that case was competing with themselves. There really was not a strong competitor in the handheld niche. When the 3dS released most lost sales went to DS's or people simply stuck with the DS they already had until a reason to change came along. The only competition was from the Vita which was minimal at best. People wanted the 3dS upgrade, they just didn't want it at the original 3dS price. The WiiU is another story entirely. We've seen this dance too many times before. Jaguar? Saturn? etc. It will take a large miracle for Nintendo to turn the WiiU's fortunes around. They almost have to pull it from the market and re release it under a different name.

 

[VG_Addict]

I don't understand people who say the Wii U has no games but act like the PS4/One has enough to validate a console purchase. The Wii U currently has a better library than either the PS4 or the One.

I do understand the people who say that Nintendo burned them last gen.

In my opinion Nintendo needs to really pick up the pace on the Virtual Console on both the 3DS and Wii U (where is SMB 3 for NA?). Not only will it give them some fairly easy money but it will fill in the gaps between big releases. Nintendo needs to reconsider it's pricing for downloadable titles, people are used to downloading free or cheaper games because of mobile devices and there is no putting the shit back in the horse. Maybe $3 for NES, $5 for SNES, $7 for N64.

The problem isn't number of games. It's installed user base. It's eyeballs and wallets on the consoles. Nintendo's profit point is software sales. But those are hobbled by the limited number of WiiU's out there in the market. When your game needs to sell to 80+% of your installed user base in order to hit its designed metrics there is a problem. In the case of the WiiU the problem isn't with overly high games sales expectations, its from overly low installed user base.

And Nintendo's Christmas sales were THAT bad. They were so low that it basically meant either people were just literally ignoring the console, or that the stores never even bothered to put it out for the public to find. The 3dS survived and turned around because Nintendo in that case was competing with themselves. There really was not a strong competitor in the handheld niche. When the 3dS released most lost sales went to DS's or people simply stuck with the DS they already had until a reason to change came along. The only competition was from the Vita which was minimal at best. People wanted the 3dS upgrade, they just didn't want it at the original 3dS price. The WiiU is another story entirely. We've seen this dance too many times before. Jaguar? Saturn? etc. It will take a large miracle for Nintendo to turn the WiiU's fortunes around. They almost have to pull it from the market and re release it under a different name.

The December NPD says the Wii U had its best month yet.

 

[Razhem]

well i'm ready for an industry crash over this any-day and I hope it's enough to fully shake the foundation that has become the norm lately. Releasing mario, pokemon and other 1st party games on smart-phones/tablets of course is going to lead down the road of micro-transactions. You want an extra life well that's .99cents, you want to unlock this legendary Pokemon pay 3.99 and don't think it won't happen everyone. H*** look at what's gaming become now on last and current gen consoles with on disc dlc, pay for costumes etc. Yeah I'm sound like a pessimistic here but screw it I would rather let the industry start over again.

The actual quote says they're "studying" smart phones; considering that Iwata said "it's not as simple as making Mario move on a smart phone", you're probably not going to see that. Sure, idiots like Pachter and short-sighted Western investors will throw a tantrum, but they would do it regardless. They might put free apps on smart phones, but I doubt we'll be seeing Nintendo games on there. That would just be stupid

They are a gaming company, there isn't much if any incentive for them to make generic apps, so it's a given that they are thinking of making games. What Iwata's last comment probably means is that they aren't just going to port something and call it a day because it would be shit. They are considering developing for smarthphone's such using the nintendo mascots no doubt, but they will be games focused on the smartphone's capabilities. That means Dr Mario puzzle reboot yay, any platformed is a nay since platformers are hell on that format and a Pokemon game is perfectly playable on a smartphone.

 

[faefrost]

I don't understand people who say the Wii U has no games but act like the PS4/One has enough to validate a console purchase. The Wii U currently has a better library than either the PS4 or the One.

I do understand the people who say that Nintendo burned them last gen.

In my opinion Nintendo needs to really pick up the pace on the Virtual Console on both the 3DS and Wii U (where is SMB 3 for NA?). Not only will it give them some fairly easy money but it will fill in the gaps between big releases. Nintendo needs to reconsider it's pricing for downloadable titles, people are used to downloading free or cheaper games because of mobile devices and there is no putting the shit back in the horse. Maybe $3 for NES, $5 for SNES, $7 for N64.

The problem isn't number of games. It's installed user base. It's eyeballs and wallets on the consoles. Nintendo's profit point is software sales. But those are hobbled by the limited number of WiiU's out there in the market. When your game needs to sell to 80+% of your installed user base in order to hit its designed metrics there is a problem. In the case of the WiiU the problem isn't with overly high games sales expectations, its from overly low installed user base.

And Nintendo's Christmas sales were THAT bad. They were so low that it basically meant either people were just literally ignoring the console, or that the stores never even bothered to put it out for the public to find. The 3dS survived and turned around because Nintendo in that case was competing with themselves. There really was not a strong competitor in the handheld niche. When the 3dS released most lost sales went to DS's or people simply stuck with the DS they already had until a reason to change came along. The only competition was from the Vita which was minimal at best. People wanted the 3dS upgrade, they just didn't want it at the original 3dS price. The WiiU is another story entirely. We've seen this dance too many times before. Jaguar? Saturn? etc. It will take a large miracle for Nintendo to turn the WiiU's fortunes around. They almost have to pull it from the market and re release it under a different name.

The December NPD says the Wii U had its best month yet.

And? It's best month ever still put its full yearly totals noticeably below just the december sales of its two main rivals.

 

[Strazdas]

So the wiiU hit finally hit home and made them a loss. We all knew this will happen, we all saw it coming, yet we refused to believe it. Now its only a question of will the company continue to lay on the train tracks of stand up and start walking.

When Michael Pachter inevitably spouts off on this, would someone please punch him in the mouth...? (Or just, y'know, not make like it's news, for once?)

too late http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/131440-Pachter-Nintendo-Should-Consider-Getting-Out-of-the-Wii-U-Business

Also, Pachter was right.