What the Hell Is Wrong With Nintendo?

Earlier this week, amidst all the hype over the launches of PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the Bloomberg news service took a step away from the wall-to-wall coverage of the new consoles to discuss Nintendo and the Wii U. They say no press is bad press, but…

“Sony Corp. and Microsoft Corp. each sold more game consoles in 24 hours than the Wii U maker did in nine months,” read the story. “[Nintendo] sold just 460,000 Wii U machines in the six months ended Sept. 30, about 5 percent of its target for the fiscal year.”

[ritsuka666]

Nothing...next question?

[lilbroRx]

Indeed, you didn't see back to back articles like this when Sony was bombing for 3 years at the start of the 7th gen. People were still over boasting and promoting them all the way.

[Edsword]

The PS3 still had stronger sales than the Wii U. It was also evident that Sony was committed to the PS3 success. Also there were plenty of articles highlighting the PS3s struggles. The Wii U launched first. The other consoles should be playing catch up to the Wii U, not the other way around. PS4 and XB1 will likely both surpass Wii U lifetime sales by Q3 of 2014 or faster. There is little good news for the Wii U. Mario is not really selling the system and interest in the system is diminishing, not growing. I'm not saying this because I want Nintendo to fail. Quite the opposite, I am a huge Nintendo fan and I own a Wii U. The truth is the truth though.

[fonger08]

PS3 outsells a lot of systems (new and old) especially due to the fact it has a full library with some great games (and is cheaper). The biggest problem with Nintendo aside from their marketing team is media perception. We talk about fanboyism and bandwagon talk all the time, but the media is the spark, if they see a way to announce bad news or convey every nitpicking thing wrong of a person, product or, political ideology, they often run wild. Example, just in the past month how many articles did we see on PS4 having hardware issues (real or not) same with Xbox? Or how amny articles have we seen that consoles are done, or dedicated handhelds are done due to tablet and mobile phone gaming? And of course the doom and gloom reporting on the launch of the PS3? It only matters short term though, successful brands find ways to push through, and media and journalists typically have ADD and will jump on the next doom and gloom story... negativity sells!

[modesign]

you must of ignored the constant doom and gloom articles around sony and ps3.

[miyamoto]

Nintendo did not screw once but five times, big time:
1 Back stabbing Sony, gave birth to their nemesis and demise
2 N64 was late to the 3D party relinquishing the throne to PlayStation
3 GameCube: Nintendo learned that fighting the power specs game with Sony and M$ was a disastrous failure. Nintendo can not handle direct competition. GBA saves the company.
4 $250.00 "under powered-over priced 3DS" strategy and people saw through their arrogance
5 Wii U - completely trashing the Wii Blue Ocean strategy and destroying its momentum. Repeating mistake no. 3 and 4 all at the same time.

History has repeated it self again. Will 3DS save Nintendo?

[gcolley]

The N64's failure was due to the limitations and cost of using cartridges, and Nintendo's ridiculous game developer policies and costs. It was their ego that killed that console as developers started dropping like flies.

Also, the Gamecube was more powerful than the PS2 so I don't get the 3rd point. Sony only passed Nintendo in hardware specs with the PS3.

[lilbroRx]

Indeed, Nintendo haters are the most ignorant of gamers I've ever seen.

They always attack Nintendo for the things that they didn't do wrong or the things that are/were actually successful, and their is no real logic behind it.
NIntendo never owed Sony anything, so how could they back stab them?

The N64's release data had nothing to do with its problems, it was the high envelopment cost of having a console that is over twice as strong as every other console on the market with more limited storage capacity.

The GC was not only all around more powerful than the PS2, it was even more powerful than the Xbox1 in a lot of areas. The game with the record for highest polygons pushed at once that gen is on the Gamecube.

I still haven't figured out the logic behind calling something that was being sold at a loss overpriced. There was no mistake 3 and 4 for the Wii U to repeat

This is a typical Nintendo hater.

[mikeslemonade]

^
HAHA i'm actually impressed with some intelligence we have here with the comments above me. You guys know your history well.

You know the Nintendo fan are always the cocky fan. They're always ending their argument with Mario, Zelda, and 3DS.

^
Point 3 is that Gamecube, Xbox, and PS2 were essentially on the same level of hardware power. And Nintendo lost that battle. Gamecube was essentially the last "hardcore system" for Nintendo fans.

And he's trying to say point 3 and 4 is where Nintendo has a "catch 22". With there home console, if they target the hardcore they will lose and if they go casual they will lose. It was only the Wii that luckily attracted the casual gamers. You have to admit that the Wii was a one hit wonder. It made no sense in Nintendo's history of sales. 60 mil, 40 mil, 30 mil, 20 mil, to 100 mil(excluded the virtual boy)?? And to further proove my point the WiiU is only on pace to sell as much as the Gamecube.

The Wii wasn't sold at a lost. It was even at launch.

[KonsoruMasuta]

Mikeslemonade, GC, Xbox, and PS2 were not on the same level of power. Xbox left them both in the dust while GameCube came in at second. Look at the comparison of certain games. The PS2 version of RE4 was murky and lacked a lot of textures that the GameCube version had.

[R00bot]

Nintendo didn't backstab Sony...

[parentoftheyear]

The Origin of Sony Playstation in
3.
2.
1.

Sony was suppose to develop the Drive for a Snes-Cd video game console and Nintendo backed out, and pissed off Sony, so they decided to Create their Own Gaming Console.

[lilbroRx]

@Guy above

How exactly is that backstabbing? Nintendo didn't ak them to develop it nor did they make any deal for it.

Sony wanted that on their own. I guess if someone walks up to me on the street to get me to eat something they have in a box and I say I don't want, I'm backstabbing them according to this logic.

[TheLastVoiceOFsanity]

the REAL origin of the playstation!!!

@parentoftheyear

sony made sound chips for the snes, but KEN WHATEVERTHEF*CK wanted to make a sony game console, so when nintendo came to sony for disc drives for the snes&possibly N64 sony offered to completely manufacture the console, but they expected to not only own all nintendo first party games developed on the console, but also take a share of the profits first & third party software sales. THEY BASICALLY WANTED A SONY CONSOLE WITH NINTENDO'S BRAND NAME ON IT, AND NINTENDO AS A FIRST PARTY DEVELOPER WITHOUT ACTUALLY COMING OUT AND ASKING FOR THAT, BUT SNEAKING IT INTO THE CONTRACT FOR DISC DRIVES FOR THE N64,and because of that sony scared nintendo away for disc drive technology until the game cube, and standard disc drive technology until the wii u.

[TheDivine]

Yea Sony tried to steal the rights to all of Nintendo's ip's. Its like if Foxconn agreed to produce the Ps4 but wanted the rights to all of Sony's intellectual properties, a percent of every console sold, and to still get paid for manufacturing the system.

Or better yet if AMD agreed to make the Ps4 gpu but only if they received rights to all Sony games so they could make PS exclusives available to PC users who buy AMD parts.

Nintendo was right to say f*** off. Sony was trying to strong arm them. Why would you give away rights to your ip's just because the company you hired to manufacture your hardware wanted it?

[KakashiHotake]

I don't think 3DS can. 3DS is no where near as strong as GBA was at the time ( even I had one ) especially with mobile now dominating the portable gaming market which has always been Nintendo's emergency exit. This time I don't think there's no escape. Their gonna just have to bite the bullet and face their fate unless they're willing to do away with the gamepad which is the only logical option at this point.

[jcnba28]

Emergency exit? So owning the handheld market since day 1 equals an "emergency exit"? So it has nothing to do with the constant release of high quality games and handhelds? Please stop being blind.

[KonsoruMasuta]

The 3DS can sell more than the GBA easily.

The GBA sold around 80million

The DS sold about a 150million

Looks to me that Nintendo's handheld market is actually getting better.

The 3DS is already pushing on half of what the GBA sold and that was in just 2 years.

[truechainz]

Could you provide a breakdown of their finances in a way to support your argument about the dire circumstances? Or are you just saying stuff because you have a hunch? I hope since you have the sharingan that it is the first one.

[KakashiHotake]

The gamepad alone is costing them over $150 to make. Remove the gamepad and make it optional, then they can lower the retail price to $200 and problem solved. I'm not going to get into numbers because at this point if you don't know the Wii U is failing then your living under a rock.

[jcnba28]

"Back-stabbing sony" lol

You sony fanboys are so bitter. How about taking off those fanboy goggles and doing some real research before bad mouthing another company because it suits your fanboy agenda?

Sony wanted 100% of the software sales of the games that were put on disc.

In other words sony wanted 100% of the sales from games they didn't even create. Nintendo created them.

You think that's fair?

[Sarcasm]

If anything I'm glad Sony went their own direction and gave us the PS1, PS2, PSP, PS3, PSV, and now PS4.

Not a single PS console I have invested in and wasn't disappointed in, yes including the Vita.

[TheLastVoiceOFsanity]

i'm glad that someone else is aware of the truth behind the sony fanboy propaganda.

[Ashunderfire86]

Nintendos needs a new consoles within four years time. One more chance, or just go multiplatform like Sega. Better yet team up with their former rival Sega to build the ultimate console(Wii U and Dreamcast had a baby) WiiCast lol!!!

[Edsword]

Two failures the ultimate console does not make. I'm not convince Nintendo needs to go multiplatform quite yet, though I think it would be in their best long term interest to become the EA (in business terms only, not talking ethics) of Japan and just go full multiplatform. Mario games for Wii sold in the 10s of Millions. On XB1 and PS4 they would probably outsell COD games. Nintendo still has a successful handbeld system and could begin to move toward mobile markets with smaller games. I think Nintendo will have at least one more console, but I think it will be some sort of joint deal like they attempted with Magnavox. Nintendo might attempt to strike a deal to bring a new competitor in the console race without having to accept all of the liability if if fails.

[Edsword]

I must admit that Nintendo has made some bad decisions along the way. The N64 and PS1 were not even in the same league though. The N64 was a better machine by every standard except those stupid cartridges that Nintendo refused to give up. Storage won the battle between PS1 and N64.

[fonger08]

1. I would say more competition than demise.
2. While late to the 3D party, Nintendo essentially perfected the controls and camera system that 99.9% of 3D 3rd person games use now after Mario 64.
3. GameCube faliure to sell was the lack of 3rd party support, not system specs.
4. I'm assuming you're talking about the 3DS? But that wouldn't make much since it's the #1 selling system. You definitely can't be talking about Wii, so I'll go with the Wii U which costs $300 (previously $350) and not arrogance, just bad business practices and betting on the wrong market (causals).
5. I actually agree to this point, however this system never had momentum as gaming media questioned it far before it's release.
And Nintendo's savings and Japan will save Nintendo.

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

Learn your history regarding the deal behind Sony's birth; Nintendo brought Sony in to compete with Sega's use of CD's by developing a CD-rom Add-On for the SNES.

But Sony tried to pull a fast one in the contract; The rights to any game created for the SNES CD-ROM format would have BELONGED TO SONY if Nintendo had signed, alongside the majority of all profits. Nintendo wouldn't have seen much of the money in that deal, so they declined the contract and [unfortunately for the Zelda series] went with Phillips instead, and Sony went its separate way when they felt spited for being dropped without prior notice.

So, no. It was SONY that TRIED to back-stab NINTENDO by subtly attempting to gain control over Nintendo-brand games for their company, and when Nintendo dropped them without a word afterwards, they walked out to develop the Playstation.

[DanielGearSolid]

Sony was getting these articles daily a couple years

You'll learn to ignore it Nintendo homies

[josephayal]

Nice article, Nintendo may be going the way of Sega fairly soon. Shame, because the SNES and N64 are the best consoles of all time, IMO

[NeoTribe]

It will be better that way. You will be able to play the few games Nintendo has worth playing on your ps4 or x1. Nintendo has become a hardware failure. They lost me with the wii, and they nailed the coffin shut with the wii u trash.

[jcnba28]

Keep dreaming.

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

You're an idiot.
The majority of people hating on the Wii U right now are the same idiots that ridicule ALL of its games for being "childish and not worth playing" or "Causal and dumb".

If those went to other systems, they'd see even FEWER sales because of those people NOT BUYING THE GAMES.

Nintendo won't go third party.
You can keep dreaming about it or say "I'd buy them" as a counter-point, but it doesn't change the fact that it just won't happen, and that it would kill Nintendo off a hell of a lot faster than sticking to their own consoles.

[Sarcasm]

Nah they don't, they still are making money off their handhelds.

If anything, they will come back around next next gen with something much better. But as a company they still have a lot of cash left.

[SegaGamer]

Do you know how rich Nintendo are ? they ain't going anywhere anytime soon.

[ShutUpDonny]

If only Nintendo could make a new IP. Even if the new Mario and Zelda are supposed to be great, I'm sorry, but I moved on. It's like Ubisoft still making Assassin's Creed in 25 years! And even if the Mario and Zelda games are fun, Mario and Link are empty characters. Can't they have a real personality? Nintendo needs new studios, new talents and to show a little bit of ambition.

[Nodoze]

Sadly Ubisoft WILL still be making Ass Creed in twenty five years.

Ass Creed 29 - Canine - play as an animal Assassin!

[Tzuno]

What the hell is wrong with you people discussing Nintendo everyday? when it is clear that it sits on it's own square bothering no one.

[MadMen]

Everything; this company lives in illusions now.

They are lucky the Wii found a nitch, because since the SNES days when it comes to consoles, they have overall failed. N64, LOVED IT, but sales wise, got smoked, Game Cube Same, WiiU looking just like it.

WiiU is dead, Nintendo needs to rebuild and try again.

[Nodoze]

Face it, you are not a target demographic for Nintendo. They are the ONLY provider of safe, fun, family oriented software.

They are not targeting dude bro shooter fans. While some of those titles exist on the platform, it is the Nintendo software that is the key attraction. Always has been.

[ShutUpDonny]

This, is Nintendo
http://cdn.theresurgence.co...

[STK026]

One thing I don't understand, why is it that many people are suggesting Nintendo to leave the hardware business to become a third party developer when the 3DS is doing very well? I understand asking Nintendo to leave the home console business, but leaving the handheld market seems odd. The 3DS is doing very well for itself, easily outselling the Vita world wide.

If anything, Nintendo should focus on creating their next handheld as the go to place to play games where ever you are. Having to produce games for two platforms might be too much for Nintendo at the moment, mostly since their third party support has fallen, so it would make sense to only have one system to support. Smartphones are already allowing people to play games on the go, and on their TV when they are home, I think this would be the next logical step for Nintendo.

[DestinyHeroDoomlord]

I agree with the article, they should drop the gamepad include a pro controller and market heavily. At a lower price of course.

[SpiralTear]

The Gamepad is the biggest distinction the Wii U has compared to its competitors; it's a big part of the Wii U's identity. While I can't argue against a better marketing direction, a pro controller inclusion and even another price drop, but dropping the Gamepad would just move the Wii U further into the background.

[DestinyHeroDoomlord]

I agree somewhat

[strigoi814]

one thing is missing..a pokemon rpg..imagine using the wiiU gamepad to use as a map, to check your pet status and serve as your items bag..oh well i can dream

[AlexFili]

Great article with some good ideas as to how to remedy the problem. I have had my Wii U since March and have enjoyed the third-party and first party titles. Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag runs great and ZombiU, Batman Arkham City and Call of Duty Black Ops 2 were very enjoyable. Here's hoping for an awesome 2014

[TheLastVoiceOFsanity]

a lot of people say that nintendo should develop more first party games , and i assume they mean the developers at nintendo like miyamoto should make new ip's ,and while i agree that they should to an extent, i believe they should go out side the company to find new talent. what happened this entire generation? the creators of a lot of great games where fired, or left there company because of creative differences, because they weren't allowed to create the games they wanted.

hideki kamya-devil may cry/ shinji mikami-resident evil/ keiji inafune-mega man/
fumito ueda-ico, shadow of the colossus / tomonobu itagaki-dead or alive, ninja gaiden / hironobu sakaguchi- final fantasy

nintendo needs to go after some of these people, give them there own studio, and enough money to just play around and create more great games. this entire gen 3rd party companies have been throwing away talent.

[modesign]

i know people forgot the launch of the 3ds, it was piss at poor at best. it was only until ninte DROPPED the price did it finaly start selling, but i know by fact that a price drop for the wiiu will not save it.