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Nintendo's share price is falling faster than a leaf in autumn. Why? The industry is pointing the finger at the poor sales of the Gamecube, citing all the surplus stock sitting on the warehouse shelves.
Nintendo are a big company, of course, but they are pretty worried about the fairly hefty fall in their company's profits by about 37 percent. Even their usual fallback on the handheld market is now being threatened by Sony's new handheld Playstation, currently being readied for release over the next year, and their Pokemon franchise, which is slowing down of late.
The news is that they want to ditch the Cube and try again, but doing this would drastically affect their company image. This was a company founded on trust, when they took back faulty NES consoles without arguement and replaced them with new ones in Japan it made their sales jump through the roof.
Whatever way they decide to stay afloat, it looks bad for the true gamers who were hoping and believing that there could be room for 3 consoles in the market. E3 showed that some companies are cutting back again on their Gamecube titles, despite earlier efforts from Nintendo to gain support from big players like EA Games. We'll just have to wait and see what happens.
Nintendo are a big company, of course, but they are pretty worried about the fairly hefty fall in their company's profits by about 37 percent. Even their usual fallback on the handheld market is now being threatened by Sony's new handheld Playstation, currently being readied for release over the next year, and their Pokemon franchise, which is slowing down of late.
The news is that they want to ditch the Cube and try again, but doing this would drastically affect their company image. This was a company founded on trust, when they took back faulty NES consoles without arguement and replaced them with new ones in Japan it made their sales jump through the roof.
Whatever way they decide to stay afloat, it looks bad for the true gamers who were hoping and believing that there could be room for 3 consoles in the market. E3 showed that some companies are cutting back again on their Gamecube titles, despite earlier efforts from Nintendo to gain support from big players like EA Games. We'll just have to wait and see what happens.
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Yes.
Yes you do.
A shifty one at that.
Yes you do.
A shifty one at that.
Goatboy wrote:
> So why is it failing?
Do I look like a business analyst?
> So why is it failing?
Do I look like a business analyst?
An advert isn't going to make you part with that much money
So why is it failing?
There are more adverts for the GBASP than I have ever seen for the playstation or Xbox.
Ok, not doing my usual "Nintardo" routine here so relax.
The problem with low-sales and rapidly dwindling ones is that Nintendo simply rely on past glory. There's no advertising anywhere outside of Nintendo mags and that's preaching to the converted.
Whether you like Sony or Microsoft, they've got the idea and have plastered commercials everywhere. David Lynch did the PS2 ones, the Xbox ones were banned (making the news and increasing awareness).
Playstation sponsors skateboarding events etc.
It's all about brand name. Sony have captured the "Gen X" gamer, that is over 20 age-group with disposable incomes.
It's nothing to do with "true gamers" and "retards that like The Getaway", and to argue that is to show yourself as barely literate in a business sense.
Nintendo, Sony & Microsoft do not give a toss about whether you're a "true gamer" (whatever the hell that is), it's all about the ££ at the end of the day.
Which is why we keep getting Tomb Raider sequels, Metal Gear games (Hideo saying "last one" for MGS2, then mega-sales and whaddya know??).
It's about marketing, about promoting your brand (whatever it is) and gaining recognition amongst the general public, whether they're gamers or not.
And whether you like it or not, Nintendo simply do not bother. They concentrate on Japan where they have a strong image and awareness with the public.
Over here? Nintendo means Donkey Kong. Still, after all these years. Cutesy platform games and monkeys in balls rolling about. And, sorry folks but here's the rub, the reason Nintendo are failing?
Because you're target demographic, the Gen-X over 20s gamer doesn't want to play those games.
How do I know this?
Plummeting share prices and falling unit sales. This isn't just somebody that dislikes Nintendo, this is someone pointing out that despite your rabid insistence otherwise - people aren't buying Nintendo games/machines because the games do not appeal to your ideal market target of disposable income, free-time and brand loyalty.
Sony own the console market. Microsoft are catching up, PC fans like the Xbox and there are *millions* of PC gamers out there, you've even using one right this very second.
Nintendo have consistently failed to promote/crack/sell into Europe in anything like the quantities needed to make a dent. It's exactly what happened with the N64. Came out in a blaze of...well...not much, floated on the market for almost a year and then went under because why?
No decent games offered to European sales base.
Ignore a market, don't promote your brand and you'll sink.
It's nothing to do with games, it's simple business practice.
The problem with low-sales and rapidly dwindling ones is that Nintendo simply rely on past glory. There's no advertising anywhere outside of Nintendo mags and that's preaching to the converted.
Whether you like Sony or Microsoft, they've got the idea and have plastered commercials everywhere. David Lynch did the PS2 ones, the Xbox ones were banned (making the news and increasing awareness).
Playstation sponsors skateboarding events etc.
It's all about brand name. Sony have captured the "Gen X" gamer, that is over 20 age-group with disposable incomes.
It's nothing to do with "true gamers" and "retards that like The Getaway", and to argue that is to show yourself as barely literate in a business sense.
Nintendo, Sony & Microsoft do not give a toss about whether you're a "true gamer" (whatever the hell that is), it's all about the ££ at the end of the day.
Which is why we keep getting Tomb Raider sequels, Metal Gear games (Hideo saying "last one" for MGS2, then mega-sales and whaddya know??).
It's about marketing, about promoting your brand (whatever it is) and gaining recognition amongst the general public, whether they're gamers or not.
And whether you like it or not, Nintendo simply do not bother. They concentrate on Japan where they have a strong image and awareness with the public.
Over here? Nintendo means Donkey Kong. Still, after all these years. Cutesy platform games and monkeys in balls rolling about. And, sorry folks but here's the rub, the reason Nintendo are failing?
Because you're target demographic, the Gen-X over 20s gamer doesn't want to play those games.
How do I know this?
Plummeting share prices and falling unit sales. This isn't just somebody that dislikes Nintendo, this is someone pointing out that despite your rabid insistence otherwise - people aren't buying Nintendo games/machines because the games do not appeal to your ideal market target of disposable income, free-time and brand loyalty.
Sony own the console market. Microsoft are catching up, PC fans like the Xbox and there are *millions* of PC gamers out there, you've even using one right this very second.
Nintendo have consistently failed to promote/crack/sell into Europe in anything like the quantities needed to make a dent. It's exactly what happened with the N64. Came out in a blaze of...well...not much, floated on the market for almost a year and then went under because why?
No decent games offered to European sales base.
Ignore a market, don't promote your brand and you'll sink.
It's nothing to do with games, it's simple business practice.
I think with the right games - the kind Nintendo have lined up for this coming holiday season - Nintendo can make a surprise comeback. Microsoft don't have their big hitter, Halo 2, ready for it, and if GTA 4 slips... Sony find themselves without a mass market game for casual gamers. Nintendo do an official price cut, or numerous unofficial ones with key suppliers....the market changes.
Xbox may be picking up but I'm pretty sure that, despite the hype, there are a fair amount of people who've found that Xbox Live is not quite the all round brilliance we were persuaded it was. In hindsight I think that Nintendo's decision to not pursue online gaming on a large scale is a smart move.
As for losing third party developers, well most of my favourite games are Nintendo ones anyway, and I think it's about time the industry had something happen which cleared out the driftwood - there are a lot of developers out there churning out mediocre junk, and that no one will mourn the loss of.
I think that the competition has barely begun, really. Sony are stuck with an ageing machine which developers have to puch harder all the time to keep up with the Gamecube and Xbox. I've seen nothing on Sony's console which measures up to Metroid and Halo, and in Halo's case we're talking about a 2 year old game.
Xbox may be picking up but I'm pretty sure that, despite the hype, there are a fair amount of people who've found that Xbox Live is not quite the all round brilliance we were persuaded it was. In hindsight I think that Nintendo's decision to not pursue online gaming on a large scale is a smart move.
As for losing third party developers, well most of my favourite games are Nintendo ones anyway, and I think it's about time the industry had something happen which cleared out the driftwood - there are a lot of developers out there churning out mediocre junk, and that no one will mourn the loss of.
I think that the competition has barely begun, really. Sony are stuck with an ageing machine which developers have to puch harder all the time to keep up with the Gamecube and Xbox. I've seen nothing on Sony's console which measures up to Metroid and Halo, and in Halo's case we're talking about a 2 year old game.
The N64 started off slow. It picked up, nintendo are experts at dealing with developers. Nintendo always have something up their sleeve (like what they did with pokemon). They seem to be trying to fill sega's arcade gap which should be interesting. GBA makes so much money that Nintendo have a fair bit of freedom of choice. A lot of developers have very good relationships with Nintendo, Acclaim are big fans. They will what their console is associated with and focus on that (N64 was mainly platformers and FPS games, with Nintendo and Acclaim filling in the blanks).
If you know the history of Nintendo (cards, arcade machines etc) you know Nintendo are survivors. I believe the name Nintendo translates as 'work hard - the rest is in gods hands'. Come christmas who will be the ones praying though?
If you know the history of Nintendo (cards, arcade machines etc) you know Nintendo are survivors. I believe the name Nintendo translates as 'work hard - the rest is in gods hands'. Come christmas who will be the ones praying though?
pb wrote:
> Whatever way they decide to stay afloat, it looks bad for the true
> gamers who were hoping and believing that there could be room for 3
> consoles in the market.
Remember a couple of years ago we were debating exactly this point on the forums as XBox arrived on the scene? The general consensus at the time was that Nintendo would get pushed out of North America because of it, and that was a huge market for them back then.
There's no doubt the Gamecube has the best games out there at this present time in terms of gameplay, but then so did the Dreamcast at one stage and look what happened to that.
Sony's main advantage is the generic 'Playstation' term, it's what the public say instead of 'Games Console'. Sony also have the better marketing (wonder how much they paid to get J.K. Rowling to include the word 'Playstation' in the Harry Potter books?) And their longterm future was secured by Gran Turismo 4 and Metal Gear Solid 3 announcements at this year's E3. Just those 2 titles alone will keep the PS2 going for a long while.
Microsoft's main advantage is cash, they've an unlimited amount to throw at their product to make it stick. They have a major advantage over the other two in terms of XBox Live, which has its infrastructure in place and is functioning particularly well in the U.S., not to mention the potential that XBox hardware has to produce the best looking games.
I can't really see Sony's PSP handheld denting the Gameboy market, maybe a few existing PS2 users will buy one out of loyalty, maybe even a few non-gamers will buy one (it does more than just play games), but Nintendo will always have that corner of the market sewn up.
In my view, the clincher is going to be online gaming. Sony and XBox already have their partnerships and hardware systems in place, U.S. and Japanese gamers can already use these, and Europe will follow suit as it gets better broadband coverage over the next few years. Online gaming takes fun and increases it at an exponential rate, and Nintendo are way behind in getting systems like centralised community meeting areas in place to cater for this. To date they have one game playable online. XBox are way ahead of everyone else in this respect, Sony will start to catch up by the end of the year even though there are already titles out there you can play online with unofficial network adaptors. Surf over to Nintendo.com and look for news about future online releases, there isn't any news about future online releases.
At this rate, we won't be seeing a Gamecube 2. Expect to see Nintendo go into software publishing for the other platforms full-time by the year 2007.
> Whatever way they decide to stay afloat, it looks bad for the true
> gamers who were hoping and believing that there could be room for 3
> consoles in the market.
Remember a couple of years ago we were debating exactly this point on the forums as XBox arrived on the scene? The general consensus at the time was that Nintendo would get pushed out of North America because of it, and that was a huge market for them back then.
There's no doubt the Gamecube has the best games out there at this present time in terms of gameplay, but then so did the Dreamcast at one stage and look what happened to that.
Sony's main advantage is the generic 'Playstation' term, it's what the public say instead of 'Games Console'. Sony also have the better marketing (wonder how much they paid to get J.K. Rowling to include the word 'Playstation' in the Harry Potter books?) And their longterm future was secured by Gran Turismo 4 and Metal Gear Solid 3 announcements at this year's E3. Just those 2 titles alone will keep the PS2 going for a long while.
Microsoft's main advantage is cash, they've an unlimited amount to throw at their product to make it stick. They have a major advantage over the other two in terms of XBox Live, which has its infrastructure in place and is functioning particularly well in the U.S., not to mention the potential that XBox hardware has to produce the best looking games.
I can't really see Sony's PSP handheld denting the Gameboy market, maybe a few existing PS2 users will buy one out of loyalty, maybe even a few non-gamers will buy one (it does more than just play games), but Nintendo will always have that corner of the market sewn up.
In my view, the clincher is going to be online gaming. Sony and XBox already have their partnerships and hardware systems in place, U.S. and Japanese gamers can already use these, and Europe will follow suit as it gets better broadband coverage over the next few years. Online gaming takes fun and increases it at an exponential rate, and Nintendo are way behind in getting systems like centralised community meeting areas in place to cater for this. To date they have one game playable online. XBox are way ahead of everyone else in this respect, Sony will start to catch up by the end of the year even though there are already titles out there you can play online with unofficial network adaptors. Surf over to Nintendo.com and look for news about future online releases, there isn't any news about future online releases.
At this rate, we won't be seeing a Gamecube 2. Expect to see Nintendo go into software publishing for the other platforms full-time by the year 2007.
Ahhh faeces to the lot of them.
As long as they keep the good games coming then I'm happy.
*looks at release list*
Yup, I'm very happy.
As long as they keep the good games coming then I'm happy.
*looks at release list*
Yup, I'm very happy.
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