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It always puzzled me as to why Nintendo have yet to go multi-format. Truth be told everyone loves Mario, even if the general public no longer wish to buy a console to play his latest outings. You see if Nintendo went multi-format and they released their games on the X-box and PS2 then you will see a dramatic chance in the multi-format European charts (Nintendo tend to dominate the Japanese chart anyway).
Pokemon Coliseum will not only be sitting nicely at the top of the charts when it was released, it will still be sitting nicely at the top of the charts, it’s only competition coming from Mario Golf. Whilst dear old Driv3r will be situated at number 3. Games such as Pokemon channel will be getting hundreds of thousands of sales instead of just thousands. Zelda would have sat at the top of the charts for months and months on end and sold multiple millions of copies. With the sad fact that the Gamecube is selling crap and that the console is not making dividends for Nintendo, why don’t they just give it up and start making a mint as the worlds biggest third party developer?
Once upon a time I would have said the gaming industry needs Nintendo. Nintendo drive the industry, innovations with analogue sticks, D-pads, rumble packs and other hardware related tomfoolery all mean Nintendo are needed in keeping gaming fresh. But I’m no longer so sure. Microsoft are the brave ones launching its super online service, Nintendo are floundering around with Bongo drums and GBA connectivity whilst Sony are proving they can still make hardware with their ingenious Eye-Toy device. I’m not saying Nintendo have lost it with innovation, look at the DS, but all I’m saying is that Sony can do things by themselves now.
So is it time for Nintendo to pack up their bags, keep their development team solely concentrating on DS and GBA development whilst Nintendo’s superior teams make multiple millions on multi-format games?
Well no.
This argument may seem valid, it makes sense right? The thing is I hear these arguments day in, day out… Nintendo should go multi-format because they’d make so much more. You’d be surprised how wrong that could be. You see a third parties has to pay companies like Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo to produce the games. The price Capcom, EA, Activision etc… have to pay means they have everything straightened out and released by Nintendo’s teams but it also makes Nintendo a bit of extra money in the long run. Nintendo do not have to pay Nintendo to have their games printed, coded and released, this saves Nintendo a bucket load of money. Exclusivity deals are often based around the fact that there are massive cuts in what third parties have to pay. Soul Calibur 2 was published by Nintendo, which allowed Namco to make far more money on that title than the X-box and Playstation 2 edition.
GTA 3 and Vice City may have sold in similar quantities as Pokemon Yellow, but Nintendo made more money on Pokemon Yellow than Rockstar did on their franchise. I am fed up about all this third party nonsense talk. It may be true that the difference in what Nintendo earn is minimal, and that looking at it Nintendo may make a little more money than they do. But SEGA is evidence on how going third party can prove disastrous, SEGA are essentially the slaves to the other systems. If SEGA want a game released in November say then Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo need the game by mid-late October. If there is a delay SEGA are screwed, they can beg the first parties to speed up development, but that’ll cost more. Not a situation Nintendo suffer.
Also SEGA have split development between all 3 formats because of this “cost”. If you are going to release a game on a system it needs to do well. For example it would be a catastrophe for SEGA to release House of the Dead 3 on the Gamecube, no one will buy it and after paying Nintendo money to produce the game it would make a loss! Therefore SEGA have to release certain games on certain formats, they look at their games and judge the user base it would work best for. They tend to have got it right (although Phantasy Star should be more X-box exclusive and Jet Set Radio would work better as a Gamecube game), Super Monkey Ball appealed to the Nintendo market just as Virtual Fighter has to the Playstation one. But you see by doing this SEGA have split their fan base, if you are a SEGA fan you either need all 3 formats or just pick your favourite games and see which console houses them. As a SEGA fan you will be missing some games you previously would not have missed.
Imagine if Metroid Prime was an X-box title along with F Zero, 1080, Wave Race, Pilotwings, Kirby and Advance Wars… whilst Zelda, Mario, Pokemon, Animal Crossing etc… were Playstation software (the likes of Smash Brothers and Mario Kart multi-format). Which console would you choose? I mean I’d obviously opt for Sony but I’d be gutted at the amount of games I’d have lost. Nintendo may be able to make ALL their titles multi-format but then they’d almost certainly make a loss of some description. Microsoft don’t have a children fan base at all and Pokemon, Mario and Animal Crossing would almost certainly do badly meaning the money Nintendo invested into the Microsoft editons would be a loss.
If Nintendo went multi-format they’d lose some control over when they release games; they would lose control over their content due to the different market appeal of Sony and Microsoft, their all important die-hard fan base (us) would crumble and all for a more regular profit.
This is why Nintendo have not gone multi-format, this is why Nintendo will not go multi-format.
If they are forced out of the console race then (as long as the PSP doesn’t do too much damage) Nintendo will more likely than not concentrate on handheld development. And if the PSP does do too much damage, then expect a “Nintendo-Microsoft” partnership that er-no discusses so much to emerge. After all with a kiddy appeal and a Japanese fan base, Nintendo are exactly what Microsoft need.
Here’s to the future.
Dringo.
Pokemon Coliseum will not only be sitting nicely at the top of the charts when it was released, it will still be sitting nicely at the top of the charts, it’s only competition coming from Mario Golf. Whilst dear old Driv3r will be situated at number 3. Games such as Pokemon channel will be getting hundreds of thousands of sales instead of just thousands. Zelda would have sat at the top of the charts for months and months on end and sold multiple millions of copies. With the sad fact that the Gamecube is selling crap and that the console is not making dividends for Nintendo, why don’t they just give it up and start making a mint as the worlds biggest third party developer?
Once upon a time I would have said the gaming industry needs Nintendo. Nintendo drive the industry, innovations with analogue sticks, D-pads, rumble packs and other hardware related tomfoolery all mean Nintendo are needed in keeping gaming fresh. But I’m no longer so sure. Microsoft are the brave ones launching its super online service, Nintendo are floundering around with Bongo drums and GBA connectivity whilst Sony are proving they can still make hardware with their ingenious Eye-Toy device. I’m not saying Nintendo have lost it with innovation, look at the DS, but all I’m saying is that Sony can do things by themselves now.
So is it time for Nintendo to pack up their bags, keep their development team solely concentrating on DS and GBA development whilst Nintendo’s superior teams make multiple millions on multi-format games?
Well no.
This argument may seem valid, it makes sense right? The thing is I hear these arguments day in, day out… Nintendo should go multi-format because they’d make so much more. You’d be surprised how wrong that could be. You see a third parties has to pay companies like Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo to produce the games. The price Capcom, EA, Activision etc… have to pay means they have everything straightened out and released by Nintendo’s teams but it also makes Nintendo a bit of extra money in the long run. Nintendo do not have to pay Nintendo to have their games printed, coded and released, this saves Nintendo a bucket load of money. Exclusivity deals are often based around the fact that there are massive cuts in what third parties have to pay. Soul Calibur 2 was published by Nintendo, which allowed Namco to make far more money on that title than the X-box and Playstation 2 edition.
GTA 3 and Vice City may have sold in similar quantities as Pokemon Yellow, but Nintendo made more money on Pokemon Yellow than Rockstar did on their franchise. I am fed up about all this third party nonsense talk. It may be true that the difference in what Nintendo earn is minimal, and that looking at it Nintendo may make a little more money than they do. But SEGA is evidence on how going third party can prove disastrous, SEGA are essentially the slaves to the other systems. If SEGA want a game released in November say then Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo need the game by mid-late October. If there is a delay SEGA are screwed, they can beg the first parties to speed up development, but that’ll cost more. Not a situation Nintendo suffer.
Also SEGA have split development between all 3 formats because of this “cost”. If you are going to release a game on a system it needs to do well. For example it would be a catastrophe for SEGA to release House of the Dead 3 on the Gamecube, no one will buy it and after paying Nintendo money to produce the game it would make a loss! Therefore SEGA have to release certain games on certain formats, they look at their games and judge the user base it would work best for. They tend to have got it right (although Phantasy Star should be more X-box exclusive and Jet Set Radio would work better as a Gamecube game), Super Monkey Ball appealed to the Nintendo market just as Virtual Fighter has to the Playstation one. But you see by doing this SEGA have split their fan base, if you are a SEGA fan you either need all 3 formats or just pick your favourite games and see which console houses them. As a SEGA fan you will be missing some games you previously would not have missed.
Imagine if Metroid Prime was an X-box title along with F Zero, 1080, Wave Race, Pilotwings, Kirby and Advance Wars… whilst Zelda, Mario, Pokemon, Animal Crossing etc… were Playstation software (the likes of Smash Brothers and Mario Kart multi-format). Which console would you choose? I mean I’d obviously opt for Sony but I’d be gutted at the amount of games I’d have lost. Nintendo may be able to make ALL their titles multi-format but then they’d almost certainly make a loss of some description. Microsoft don’t have a children fan base at all and Pokemon, Mario and Animal Crossing would almost certainly do badly meaning the money Nintendo invested into the Microsoft editons would be a loss.
If Nintendo went multi-format they’d lose some control over when they release games; they would lose control over their content due to the different market appeal of Sony and Microsoft, their all important die-hard fan base (us) would crumble and all for a more regular profit.
This is why Nintendo have not gone multi-format, this is why Nintendo will not go multi-format.
If they are forced out of the console race then (as long as the PSP doesn’t do too much damage) Nintendo will more likely than not concentrate on handheld development. And if the PSP does do too much damage, then expect a “Nintendo-Microsoft” partnership that er-no discusses so much to emerge. After all with a kiddy appeal and a Japanese fan base, Nintendo are exactly what Microsoft need.
Here’s to the future.
Dringo.
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I could not, and I don't want to imagine Nintendo going third party.
SEGA went out of the console buisness and into being a third party company. I was not pleased about that at the time. But I was happy about Sonic on the Game Cube, that is one of the main resons I bought a GameCube.
But, I doubt you would here someone go out and say, I want a PS2 purley for Mario or purley for F Zero GX.
I think if Nintendo go out of buisness whilst still making consoles, I think they shoud quit all together. It would be too embarrasing for Nintendo to have lost the console war forever.
SEGA went out of the console buisness and into being a third party company. I was not pleased about that at the time. But I was happy about Sonic on the Game Cube, that is one of the main resons I bought a GameCube.
But, I doubt you would here someone go out and say, I want a PS2 purley for Mario or purley for F Zero GX.
I think if Nintendo go out of buisness whilst still making consoles, I think they shoud quit all together. It would be too embarrasing for Nintendo to have lost the console war forever.
NB, do you honestly think Nintendo would just hold up their hands if they lose the handheld market and go "fine lets close our doors" despire the fact that have a massive software group of teams?
Rubbish that's just stupid, if I owned the company with that amount of software I'd have Sony and Microsoft begging for them.
NB you are mistaken Nintendo make A LOT out of Gamecube software, they always have and they always will. True True the hardware sales don't match it but you see every Gamecube owner doesn't own a Gamecube for EA or Capcom.
Why do I own a Gamecube? Nintendo! Why do 90% of every other Gamecube owner own a Gamecube? Nintendo. This is why third party sales are so poor, even the good third party games are ignored because us Gamecube owners own a Gamecube for Nintendo and there is little room for anyone else.
If Nintendo lose this fan base it would be a catastrophie and Nintendo will have no one to fall back on.
Microsoft have two problems against Sony. No appeal for Children unlike the PS2 and no Japanese market share. Nintendo can sort both of that out.
They won't go first party, oh no, but second party. Maybe.
Rubbish that's just stupid, if I owned the company with that amount of software I'd have Sony and Microsoft begging for them.
NB you are mistaken Nintendo make A LOT out of Gamecube software, they always have and they always will. True True the hardware sales don't match it but you see every Gamecube owner doesn't own a Gamecube for EA or Capcom.
Why do I own a Gamecube? Nintendo! Why do 90% of every other Gamecube owner own a Gamecube? Nintendo. This is why third party sales are so poor, even the good third party games are ignored because us Gamecube owners own a Gamecube for Nintendo and there is little room for anyone else.
If Nintendo lose this fan base it would be a catastrophie and Nintendo will have no one to fall back on.
Microsoft have two problems against Sony. No appeal for Children unlike the PS2 and no Japanese market share. Nintendo can sort both of that out.
They won't go first party, oh no, but second party. Maybe.
Still no.
Nintendosoft
Yes Nintendo could probably make more money going third party, but that isn't what they want to do, and I don't want to see it happen either. And I still believe Nintendo can turn things around for themselves and regain a larger market share.
Nintendo are not making money on the Gamecube at the moment. They never did on the hardware, they certainly aren't now and it doesn't sell all that many games - the Xbox has the highest tie ratio in the industry. Nor is there an online service bringing in money.
Now I can't quite remember the royalties Nintendo gets from third party games sold on the GC, but I think it is between 10 and 15%. So would Nintendo make more money if their major properties were on the Xbox and PS2? Yes. Nintendo would sell far more units, probably as many all Gamecube game sales combined. Instead of a potential market of 14 million, they would have one of 85 million. You would expect Nintendo's sales to be between 5 and 6 times higher at that point.
Now Nintendo published games account for more than 1/6th or even 1/5th of all Gamecube game sales. "Ah but they would have to pay royalties on those games and they wouldn't get the royalties for other games like they do now". True, but 85% of the revenue from games on all formats would be far more than 100% of the revenue of half of the Gamecube games plus the 15% or so on the other half of the Gamecube games.
The bottom line is Nintendo would make considerably more money if they released their games on the PS2 and Xbox, possibly even PC. On the PC of course there are no royalties.
Yes there are issues with multi format development, but the next round of consoles will all be far more powerful than current consoles meaning that middleware games will look better than expected. At the moment you can tell the difference between a game that was ported or developed on middleware compared to one that was made specifically for a platform. In the next generation of consoles the extra power will make that far less noticable. Middleware would reduce the costs considerably and allow for more abstracted programming.
If Nintendo don't increase their market share to at least 25% in the next generation then I see them giving up the home console market. No, they won't go multiformat, they'll concentrate on handhelds. If they ever lose that market then Nintendo as we know it will end.
Now I can't quite remember the royalties Nintendo gets from third party games sold on the GC, but I think it is between 10 and 15%. So would Nintendo make more money if their major properties were on the Xbox and PS2? Yes. Nintendo would sell far more units, probably as many all Gamecube game sales combined. Instead of a potential market of 14 million, they would have one of 85 million. You would expect Nintendo's sales to be between 5 and 6 times higher at that point.
Now Nintendo published games account for more than 1/6th or even 1/5th of all Gamecube game sales. "Ah but they would have to pay royalties on those games and they wouldn't get the royalties for other games like they do now". True, but 85% of the revenue from games on all formats would be far more than 100% of the revenue of half of the Gamecube games plus the 15% or so on the other half of the Gamecube games.
The bottom line is Nintendo would make considerably more money if they released their games on the PS2 and Xbox, possibly even PC. On the PC of course there are no royalties.
Yes there are issues with multi format development, but the next round of consoles will all be far more powerful than current consoles meaning that middleware games will look better than expected. At the moment you can tell the difference between a game that was ported or developed on middleware compared to one that was made specifically for a platform. In the next generation of consoles the extra power will make that far less noticable. Middleware would reduce the costs considerably and allow for more abstracted programming.
If Nintendo don't increase their market share to at least 25% in the next generation then I see them giving up the home console market. No, they won't go multiformat, they'll concentrate on handhelds. If they ever lose that market then Nintendo as we know it will end.
Most of what you said is rather obvious.
And of course Pokemon made more that GTA, for Christ's sake. It was made on a handheld for starters, plus they didn't have to pay for any middleware tools.
And of course Pokemon made more that GTA, for Christ's sake. It was made on a handheld for starters, plus they didn't have to pay for any middleware tools.
I'm sorry but there's no way in hell that Mario Golf would even come close to Driver 3's sales. I'd be suprised if Pokemon Colleseum came close as well, they'd sell better but Driver 3's seling like hot cakes even though it smells.
Not multiformat; no. Multiformat games have to be dumbed down in one or another, this is Nintendo we are talking about and I don't believe the term 'dumbed-down' is their vocab and as such I don't think both financially or otherwise they would be able to develop the same game totally separate for different multiple platforms.
Join with Microsoft, yes, join with Sony, yes, bot not both.
At the moment the Xbox has practically rim jawed my Cube in the sense that I rarely even plug my Cube in these days, that socket is reserved for my US Xbox and the Step-down converter which about 6 months a go couldn't have been any different. I lie in wait for the next Mario genius or for Capcom to do something special.
Join with Microsoft, yes, join with Sony, yes, bot not both.
At the moment the Xbox has practically rim jawed my Cube in the sense that I rarely even plug my Cube in these days, that socket is reserved for my US Xbox and the Step-down converter which about 6 months a go couldn't have been any different. I lie in wait for the next Mario genius or for Capcom to do something special.
Not much more I can say other than I pretty much agree with all you wrote. As much as people will disagree, I think Nintendo can turn things around. Everyone I've told about the DS think it sounds brilliant, and if they can do somethign similar with the Revolution then they may have a chance of staying afloat.
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