The 5 things Nintendo must nail to make the NX a success

Tom from GamersFTW writes: "As we head towards E3, the rumours regarding Nintendo’s next console – codenamed the NX – are only going to pick up pace. Following the commercial failure of the Wii U, speculation has been rampant about what Nintendo can do to find their mojo once more. Nintendo are not oblivious to this, to the extent that they actually went out of their way to clarify that March’s Nintendo Direct won’t discuss the NX. Regardless, there are a few things that Nintendo must learn from the Wii U. Here are the top five things that Nintendo must nail for the NX to be a success."

[gepugg]

Nintendo will make sure they succeed with the NX after the launch of the Wii U. They can't cripple themselves like that this time.

[wheresmymonkey]

I think the biggest problem Nintendo might have will be pricing.

[Yukes]

Appreciate it's something that's definitely on everybody's mind, but with all due respect I disagree. As long as it's not ridiculously high, if Nintendo can demonstrate WHY it's priced as it is (i.e. show off the hardware and what it can do), people could be willing to pay a fair whack for the NX. Doesn't necessarily need to be cheap and dirty, in my opinion.

[maxleresistant]

Nintendo cannot price a portable more than 199 and home console more than 299.
It's just how it is.

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

@ Maxleresistant

So let me get this straight...
If my assumption about you wanting Nintendo to make a system with better tech inside is true [a safe assumption since that's what everyone wants from Nintendo at this point], you want them to make a system that's, at minimum, as powerful as the PS4 or XBone, if not more powerful...
For the price of $299.

...

You think Nintendo's a f***ing charity, is that it?
Your expectation is just plain stupid for the kind of tech you're likely expecting out of Nintendo.
The PS4 and XBone aren't that old yet; trying to get similar tech into the NX is not going to be a cheap venture.
They'd be throwing their financials under the proverbial bus by trying to sell at a price like that.
They need to make a profit, not bury themselves alive.

[Whymii]

Nintendo needs an audience prepared to listen to their offering and this will require a very explicit cost/benefit message to the market and the publishers.

[miyamoto]

They should really ditch the "overpriced underpowered" traditional philosophy.
Both casuals & hobby gamers have seen through that so many times.
When they launched the 3DS they thought they are like Apple of Japan and they did not learn their lesson with the Wii U.

When they promise catering to the hardcore hobby gamers as per Mr. Iwata they better not break it again!
Where is the AAA Zelda they shown at E32011? I want that! Not the budget bishonen cel shaded Link they are doing now.
and AAA Full HD Metroid??? where?

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

That Zelda was just a demonstration, not something they were planning on using.
Hell, if anything, that was just an alternate version of the Gohma fight from Twilight Princess, with Navi mixed in.

You shouldn't judge a Zelda's quality entirely by its art style or graphics.
Each one so far has been a marvelous adventure in its own right; you should give Zelda U a chance before discarding it as a "budget bishounen cell-shaded" title.

[nevin1]

I didn't click the link, but what are the chances NX will be the official name?

What does NX stand for?

[maxleresistant]

click the link.

NX will not be the official name.
Kimishima itself couldn't say what the NX codename stands for.

[Nevers0ft]

"Nearly XBox"

(sorry, couldn't help myself despite being an avid Nintendo fan)

[deafdani]

Don't worry, I'm a Nintendo fan as well and I find it funny. More so considering that the NX is supposedly "near Xbox One" in terms of performance.

[maxleresistant]

Perfect article.
I would add a sixth point, Nintendo needs to have an on-par OS, account system and online structure.
Don't tie the account to one system. Don't have a schizophrenic OS like the WiiU's. Improve the eshop and the visibility of the eshop.

[Yukes]

Very good point. And thanks.

[maxleresistant]

I love that nobody disagreed with me, but apparently someone disagreed with you agreeing with me. Internet is a marvelous place

[Yukes]

@maxleresistant Spoke too soon!

[ape007]

Hope nx succeed big time because this is nintendos last chance, if it failed they're done as a console manufacturer

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

You couldn't be more wrong.
Nintendo's got the capital, and the investments, to continue making enough profit to support their console business regardless of how the NX does.
Heck, the mobile deal alone is going to make them so much cash that they'll probably be able to open new branches of Nintendo World in states that don't have them.

[maxleresistant]

@wonderfulmonkeyman

I'm going to respond to you here, since I can't do it in the initial conversation.

Your comment

---

"@ Maxleresistant

So let me get this straight...
If my assumption about you wanting Nintendo to make a system with better tech inside is true [a safe assumption since that's what everyone wants from Nintendo at this point], you want them to make a system that's, at minimum, as powerful as the PS4 or XBone, if not more powerful...
For the price of $299.

...

You think Nintendo's a f***ing charity, is that it?
Your expectation is just plain stupid for the kind of tech you're likely expecting out of Nintendo.
The PS4 and XBone aren't that old yet; trying to get similar tech into the NX is not going to be a cheap venture.
They'd be throwing their financials under the proverbial bus by trying to sell at a price like that.
They need to make a profit, not bury themselves alive.

---

First of all, I didn't say anything about power. I don't expect the NX to be as powerful as a PS4. Don't make assumptions.

Second of all, at that point, the PS4 can be sold at 299 and make a profit. So Nintendo could easily make a console that has the same specs for 299. Thing is, they are going to bring some innovative stuffs that are going to cost, so they'll probably have something less powerful, probably as powerful as an Xbox One, or a little less. The important thing is not so much about power, but architecture, they need an X86 architecture, an HDD, 8GB of RAM and a good online infrastructure. That's all they need to be in the game. It doesn't matter if it's a little less powerful than a One, as long as it is the same technology. That way the ports will be easy and cheap and they'll have third party support.

As for the price itself, Nintendo doesn't like to sell their systems at a high price. Whether you agree or not with that, they just prefer low prices. And the public doesn't respond well when they try to up their prices, the WiiU at 349 and the 3DS at 249 are good proof of that. Maybe one day they'll be able to, but now? They just can't, they're stuck with 149/199 for handheld and 249/299 for home consoles. That's the image they have.

Finally, you don't need to be an agressive little prick to have a conversation with someone on the internet. Grow up and learn to act like a man.

[Whymii]

Well said. It'll have a lowish price point, be x86 and reasonably powerful to attract back the developers and publishers and will have some other USP to make it attractive to the public, such as being portable and/or being scaleable in some way.

[Edvin1984]

I just got a WiiU last xmas I got stack of games to play my wife and I both have been playing on it daily or try to at least. Once we finish our backlog I will look into the new system very happy with the WiiU.

[blawren4]

Exactly how does anyone disagree with this? You're saying he didn't have fun and doesn't like his wii u?

[sk8ofmnd]

Nintendo seem so out of touch with what the mass of gamers want. So heres my list and ill be a happy nintendo camper again.

1. Complete online mp on par with current gen.
2. Third parties.
3. No gimmicks! As much as you guys like to claim the gamepad isnt a gimmick... Most can agree as well as this article, it never seen its full potential. Why? Because it wasnt needed. Give me a traditional controller in the box and sell this touch screen thing seperately! Or make two diff models one with and 1 without. That was nintendos biggest ef up with the wiiu is that they tethered the gamepad to the wiiu making it needed to do almost everything. To my knowledge japan was supposed to get a gamepadless model but it never happened. Ms learned from this with kinnect and adjusted fire. Can you guys imagine how much less the xb1 would have sold if they didnt recant the saying ohhh kinnect is needed to even turn on the xb1... Same with wiiu. The nx would not even be on our minds if the wiiu sold better.
4. Agree with article... Where the fnck is my metroid and zelda game of this gen???? Thats only 2 games and they couldnt even do that in 4 years time.
5. Dont give a flying f about marketing or whatever... Make a strong console with games gamers want to play with a reg controller! Its that easy. Dont do all of these and well be seeing an nxu in 4.5 years flat... (Angry nintendo fan)

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

They need to have something more than a traditional console; a carbon copy of the PS4 or XBone will just bury Nintendo, not help them soar.

[BigDuo]

1. Nintendo will no doubt improve its online service as compared to what it offered on Wii U, but make no mistake about it that Nintendo will not attempt to match Sony and Microsoft's respective online services feature-for-feature.

2. Third parties will always be an issue primarily due to the fundamental issue of Nintendo home consoles generally lacking the target audience many third party IP are marketed towards. While some third parties are willing to take the risk, they ultimately have either ended up reducing software support or abandoning it when marketing, demographic and software sales data show that the platform is not likely viable to their respective business.

3. While it is anyone's guess as what to what new things NX may introduce, the fact of the matter is Tatsumi Kimishima already confirmed that NX is a unique and different kind of console. In addition to this, back in 2015, Satoru Iwata confirmed that NX is a brand new concept while Shigeru Miyamoto stated in an interview that he defined Nintendo as company focused on trying to offer a more unique console experience via interface instead of trying to focus on making high-spec console that is competitively priced as Sony and Microsoft do.

People need to accept the kind of company Nintendo is already. Even though NX is not going to be using the Wii brand name, Nintendo has been consistently clear and adamant about where its interests lie as a platform holder.

Selling gimmicks as stand alone peripherals is a problem because it places a limit on the likelihood of only some gamers choosing to buy it and further increases the lack of software support planned for it in the long run. Third parties would be even less likely to support such a peripheral like what we saw out of Wii Motion Plus and the games they did support were basically one-time efforts.

4. The reality is we should not expect Nintendo or any other video game company to always release every single IP they may have. Opportunities come about that lead to (unexpected) sequels, spin-offs or original IP and also third party collaborations. Metroid isn't exactly a big selling IP, so we should appreciate that Nintendo still finds the time to release sequels and spin-offs for it, but it is also naturally for such IP to go dormant for a while when Nintendo has its development teams prioritizing other projects. easily lead to the IP going dormant for several years, but Awakening's commercial succcess revitalized the IP and gave rise to an opportunity for the development team to create another Fire Emblem game on 3DS.

The Zelda team has worked on several titles over the course of this generation, so it is not like they were only focused on making Zelda Wii U. They were busy making A Link Between Worlds which came out in 2013 along with Wind Waker HD. We'll see the game at E3, so relax and hope the wait will be worth it.

5. It's not that easy making a platform that exists in a competitive market with two other platforms that have a lot more mind share and association to third party support and robust online services. It's not a magic solution for Nintendo to just make a powerful/more powerful console priced similarly to Xbox One/PS4 and marketed in some ways similarly to them would be largely bought by the same kind of consumers that already own a PS4 and to lesser extent, an Xbox One. Nintendo's philosophy is to create something unique so that it doesn't have to be face such steep competition in trying to acquire market share and sales from targeting the same audience as Sony and Microsoft platforms. Nintendo faces a lot of obstacles in its way, but honestly, some of them were created by itself when it ignored western marketing trends and the rise of online gaming to name just a few things it overlooked the significance of.

[blawren4]

Very well said. Nothing more to say.

[blawren4]

Read the article and this is probably the most well thought out nx article I've seen. Well done!