Is Nintendo Doomed? Another One of These Discussions

Recently, there’s been a lot of talk… more than usual, in fact, about Nintendo being “doomed”. Sales are not as good as they wanted. Their expectations have lowered A LOT and speculation as to what happens next has been the only thing in discussion within the game industry. Why? Because nothing else is really happening. There’s nothing new or exciting happening on the other consoles, so let’s focus on the one potential tragedy that is occurring at the moment. You want to talk about it? Okay. Let’s talk.

Let’s start with the facts we have. Yes, Nintendo is in a tight spot. The WiiU isn’t selling and the sales are having a hell of a time trying to pick up to any realistic degree. The original expectation set by Nintendo was to sell 9 million units by March. Recently they lowered that projection down to 2.5 million. Yeah, that’s bad. Bad enough where developers outside of Nintendo don’t want to develop for their console because the numbers aren’t there to make it worthwhile. Bad enough where the lack of games is preventing more sales. And bad enough where the WiiU sits idly by because while it’s a great system and anyone who owns one will tell you this, that’s not enough to convince people to try it out.

To make matters worse, while the 3DS is holding steady in its own right, that’s not enough. Thanks to Pokemon X/Y, the sales of the device skyrocketed last year. But still not enough to meet original projections and Nintendo lowered those as well. Investors are now scared of what will happen to their once lucrative investment. Fans of Nintendo are worried their preferred console will, yet again, be snubbed for no real reason (more on that in a moment). And Nintendo is probably shaken as well, finally feeling the effects of every decision they’ve made up until now causing them to not have only lost momentum, but to have slowed down to practically a crawl.

So where does this start? Where does this begin? Is this the end of Nintendo? What will happen next? 

I’m no real expert on business or technology, but having followed gaming for as long as I have and seen how things go, I can certainly give some educated speculation. While a fan of Nintendo, I’m also one of their more critical observers to boot. So, yes, I support them, but I will not make this post simply saying they aren’t at fault. This is a message that kind of throws mud in everyone’s face… again. I say again because I pointed this shit out months ago before the new consoles launched and no one listened then, so I doubt they’ll listen now either. But, fuck it, let’s try anyway.

First off there’s that continuous cyclical problem with the WiiU that I mentioned months ago. You know, the fact that developers’ unwillingness to take risks on the WiiU and the consumer’s unwillingness to support a perfectly fine console leads to both the console and those who actually like the console to eat shit? Yes, everyone has a fault in this but it doesn’t help that no parties are budging an inch after a year of this stupid nonsense. Why? 

Consumers, the WiiU is the cheapest nextgen console on the market. Argue if you will that “the next gen doesn’t live in a bubble” and say that the Xbox360 and PS3 somehow affect this. I don’t give a fuck about last gen because I’m not talking about last gen. I’m talking about next gen. And to continue arguing price about the WiiU being too high is getting old. Not only has the price dropped but compared to ALL of the next gen consoles, the WiiU has the most games to play for the lowest price. How so? It can play WiiU games, Virtual Console games, and (yes) WII games! Only console with backwards compatibility so you have something to play after launch aside from the usual launch shit. Neither of the other two consoles offer that and they haven’t released really anything since their first line up at launch. What exactly do you do when you get bored of the games on it? Plug in a different console? I just switch to different games on the same console.

Developers! Yes, developing for the WiiU is a risk. But, let’s be fair, anything you really do is a risk. EA releasing anything is basically a risk because EA is a pile of shit and the fact they sell anything still surprises me anymore given that it’s all the same bland garbage from the year before sprinkled with their usual corporate bullshit. Any time you release a game, you run the risk of it being a failure and it being terrible. Technologically speaking, the WiiU is just as capable as the last generation and certainly capable of doing most of what the other current gen consoles can do. So grow some balls and stop making excuses to not build shit for it. Imagine if you sold even just a million copies of a game on the console. That’s $60 million added to your sales. It might not seem like much, but any little bit helps when you spend too much to develop games as it is anyway. 

Continuing with developers before I get to Nintendo specifically… Is it the controller? Are you really still that fucking befuddled with the touchpad that you refuse to develop for it? You know what? As fans of the console, WE ARE PERFECTLY FINE IF YOU DON’T UTILIZE IT AT ALL! Some of us might be disappointed, but if you deliver a good enough experience that just utilizes the buttons on it, the ProController, or even the fucking Wii remotes, we’ll be fine. There’s not mandate from the heavens saying you have to use it. Every developer out there has potential to make a great game, one that COULD help sell this console. Yet none try because they’re afraid to take a risk. How do you know the WiiU will fail you if you don’t even bother to try? It’s the same with Horror games and the industry saying that genre is dead. It’s the same with Point-n-click adventures, and the industry saying they’re dead too. What about the PC being dead? Nothing in this industry dies. It evolves and adapts once it has been deemed obsolete. Because someone will come along and try. They will succeed. And the industry will then have to adjust for them. It’s what happened with horror games in the wake of games like Amnesia and Outlast. It happened with point-n-click adventures in games like Walking Dead. And it happened with PC gaming thanks to wonders like Steam. Don’t count Nintendo out simply because you lack the balls to try releasing something on it.

This brings me to Nintendo. Sigh… guys… It’s time you wake up and face facts. Yes, the WiiU numbers were insanely high projections by your count. The Wii was a lucky break for you. The WiiU didn’t have a chance of making those numbers and you should have been more realistic with your numbers from the start. But I say that to every developer or publisher out there. It’s insane to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a game like Dead Space or Tomb Raider or even Resident Evil and expect to make that money back when these games started off as niche to begin with. YOU, Nintendo, should have been thinking that as well. You know you’re niche. You should have speculated low and spent low in the hopes of exceeding expectations and profiting from that. 

Then there’s the way you make games. I still love a good portion of what you put out throughout the year. But things need to change. Many argue Mario has been the same for years and years. Unlike them, I can see where things have changed and improved over time. But you have to make a valiant attempt on your part to show Mario as something other than gaming’s Mickey Mouse. Zelda can’t always be the same game about the same mute protagonist saving the same stupid princess from the same evil pig-monster. You experimented with your games’ formulas before and it paid off then. Now is the time to boldly take games like Mario, Zelda, Metroid, and the like and do something insane and off the wall with them. You are already in a hole, so you really have nothing to lose at this point. Fortune favors the bold and inventive. Of all the consoles on the market, the WiiU is certainly the most inventive. But the games you provide need to reflect that and push the limits of your system beyond what we’ve seen and what many expect.

People expect you to be making a new console. People are taking rumors of your talks about going to mobile devices seriously. I don’t think you should make a new console. That’s what got SEGA where it is today. I don’t think you should jump to mobile devices because then you’ll never be able to recover from that and I sure as hell won’t buy your games if they’re all going on to mobile. Nothing against mobile gaming, but I like having a controller or a mouse & keyboard. I like having a dedicated gaming device that serves no other functions because then I can just have it focus on gaming and not be slowed down by multi-media garbage, social media bullshit, or useless programs tacked on by companies for no reason that I have to spend time looking for and removing (if possible). 

Why won’t I buy a PS4 or an XboxOne? Actually, let me rephrase that because the latter is obvious. There has never been an Xbox exclusive I’ve ever wanted that didn’t eventually come to the PC. The only exception would be Condemned and I’m not going to spend money on a console for a single game when I have plenty of other options on other platforms. Aside from that, there’s nothing about the Xbox brand that has ever enticed me to give a shit about it. So… back to my earlier question, “Why won’t I buy a PS4?”

Because I already have a PS3 I barely play. And I bought that because I wanted to experience PS1 and PS2 gaming I had missed out on in years past. The PS4 doesn’t do me any good because all those games I spent money and time on would be a waste. I don’t have room for another console in my living space. And I don’t have spare money for a console that doesn’t have any games at this point in time I really want or care about and none on the horizon that necessitate a purchase. Again, fuck Kingdom Hearts 3 because for SquareEnix, it’s Chrono Trigger or nothing. Had the PS4 been capable of full backwards compatibility, then, yes, I would have been there day one and bought it because that would have been a sensible purchase. Unfortunately, I see no value in it or the XboxOne as being nextgen consoles… Why? 

What are they doing differently that the last generation didn’t already have? Motion controls were already a thing and they aren’t any better now than they were then. Social media was already integrated into the consoles in some way, but it was less so last generation. I fail to see how implementing it more “improves” the games. There’s the multi-media hub which, again, consoles were all perfectly capable of doing last generation. They might be faster now, but they are outclassed by PC’s and SmartTV’s in this realm. Controllers haven’t changed in any meaningful way save for the PS4’s touchpad (not a screen, just a trackpad) which can add…. Exactly what to a game? It’s kind of out of the way for either hand to waste time getting to and I can’t think of anything a trackpad can really be used for beyond movement (which the dualshock controller has at least three other options for).

The only thing we got in the next generation thus far is slightly better graphics (which are outclassed by PC still so buying a new inferior box solely for shiner games is a flawed logic to begin with) and more unnecessary shit that has little to do with actual gaming. Meanwhile, Nintendo has actually added features to their console to improve their games. Their controller, their interface, and the way they design everything is focused on gaming first because they’re a game company. Not a technology company or an entertainment company… a game company.

Looking forward, realistically, Nintendo will survive. The WiiU will be a constant uphill battle, but the success of the 3DS will allow Nintendo to keep pushing forward while dragging the WiiU behind. Optimistically, a “killer app” like Smash Bros can push the WiiU above water, but there’s only so much one game can do. But Halo saved the Xbox. Final Fantasy saved the Playstation. So it is perfectly possible for Smash Bros to save the WiiU. But Nintendo will continue to run the WiiU at least until 2016. They’ve likely already started developing the next console (because why wouldn’t you start some level of R&D after a launch). But they’re likely pushing that harder than originally intended in the event the WiiU’s second year ends up being a complete bust as well. 

If Nintendo was smart, they’d give incentives to both consumers and developers to start working with their console. They’d offer sales for their games more frequently, like Steam or just lower their prices to levels that aren’t asinine like they are for almost all games. They’d start releasing riskier projects with bolder ideas in the hopes of getting attention on said projects (Bayonetta 2 was certainly a good start). They’d also be smart to make no mentions or give any hints to anything they might have in R&D hardware wise so that the idea of a new console doesn’t make people even more worried about the WiiU’s string of failure.

Ultimately, I see the console market drying up either at the end of this generation or the next one. Things have been gearing that way for a while with everything and everyone gearing towards a one-device for all concept. Smart TV’s and Valve’s up and coming Steam Machines are perfect examples of bringing all these different devices together for all-in-one entertainment. Am I happy with that idea? Not especially, but it is what it is. Devices dedicated to one task or function are on the out as everything goes towards this supposed future. I’ll still hold on to my dedicated gaming devices and PC for as long as I can before that happens because that’s my preference. But, ultimately, that’s how it’ll end. 

I certainly hope, for Nintendo at least, they don’t fall hard like SEGA did and they manage to recover from this nonsense. They certainly have the money on hand to recover, but do they have the ability to live up to the name they once made? It’s not so much about competing with the other game companies, but about being the company that continued to do things differently. That’s what I liked about them and why I’ve supported all their games throughout the years. Kind of sad to start the New Year off in such a dismal fashion, but that’s just how it goes. Anyway, see ya next time.