Nintendo: Are They Fallen Stars?

Nintendo has always seemed like a powerhouse.  They gave extreme help to reviving the game industry back in 1985 and taking it to where it is today; it has the most memorable franchises of all time with many of gaming’s icons hailing from them, they have had such great portable devices that the first device able to even compete with it on even footing was the PSP (this is since 1989); and most recently, they were able to capture an entire market of gamers that others believed was never possible.  Sure, people hate Nintendo for all these things, but you have to admit, Nintendo has done a hell of a job in this industry.  They have always been the iron giants who do well no matter what seems to happen, which is why I think their current situation is an apparent shock to some people.  Sales are majorly dropping, the 3DS is not doing well, and public opinion on the Wii U is average at best.  The big question right now is “Is Nintendo in Trouble?”.  Will the giant fall?  With Wii sales majorly declining, the 3DS’s poor launch, in addition to the rising threat of mobile gaming as well as the Vita; and skepticism revolving around the Wii U, things are looking pretty bleak.  Through this bleakness though, I believe Nintendo is going to come out fine once again, though some things are going to need to change.

First off is Wii sales dropping.  Out of everything, I think this is smallest thing Nintendo needs to concern themselves with right now, especially since they seem to have countered it quite well with the Wii U.  Basically, Wii sales are not what they were last year.  Along with that, overall software sales have also dropped.  I really do not think this is something Nintendo needs to worry about though for a few reasons.  The first is that, they do consider this the end of their system cycle.  They see the Wii has had its life and really can no longer compete with the HD consoles.  The casual gamers they wanted to get into the market this generation they succeeded in, and the Wii still is the best selling of all current generation systems.  Due to that as well, it would be expected that hardware sales would drop for the sheer fact that everyone that wants one probably has one by now, and when going from a market where everyone wants a console that is not available, to normal to a sub-par sales record.  What I am trying to say is Wii sales were eventually going to go into this recessions off of the boom it once was.  Many consider the Wii an overall failure for Nintendo, I find that ridiculous because it was a huge success.  The Wii just had its time, and it is time to move on.  The complaint that was addressed with the Wii was the abandonment of the core gamer.  Now, with the Wii U, Nintendo is going to try to recapture the core.  Anyways moving on.

The next, and probably strongest problem Nintendo is having right now, is the 3DS.  The 3DS is an interesting case for Nintendo because it has three bad things going for it.  The first is the marketing of it as a system was poor.  I really do believe people were confused how the 3DS differred from an upgrade to the DS line.  The mass market does not know what this system was.  The next issue was the 3DS’s poor launch.  The DS is the best selling system of all time.  The software line-up for it is without a doubt one of the best, but looking at the 3DS line-up right now I, as well as many others, are scared.  Nintendo without a doubt released the 3DS before it was ready.  The large 3rd party support seen on the DS is nowhere on the 3DS right now and even Nintendo has kind of let the 3DS down.  All we are seeing are hordes of remakes on top of what looks like a bleak future for the system.  If Nintendo would have waited a year for the launch, even a couple months, I am convinced it would have gone much better.  Nintendo definitely has games in the work, and we have a few cool ones coming this year.  I know the 3rd party support seen on the DS will transfer over to the 3DS eventually, it just takes time to develop games.  However, Nintendo’s weak launch really hurt them.   Right now, they are not looking good, and launching a portable, against what looks like pretty decent competition (the Vita), makes Nintendo look weak as a company.  The Wii is currently in it’s death, the DS is currently going towards it’s death, and the 3DS had a weak launch.  These are the main reason the company is currently having troubles.  I am convinced though that give the 3DS a year or two, it will be the DS successor we truly wanted.  It all lies in the software.

The other scary thing the 3DS has to face, besides the coming competition of the Vita, is mobile gaming.  I am a firm believer in the idea that dedicated portable gaming devices will not fall to mobile gaming devices due to the sheer fact of differing game markets.  I believe both will survive together.  Right now though, with a growing mobile gaming market, investors are thinking that that means development studios should start going into the social gaming and mobile gaming market.  There is definitively a market for the mainstream developers out there, however the main gaming platforms are also important.  With the 3DS not doing well, the Nintendo investors are saying that Nintendo should start going into iOS game development.  I believe that would help do major damage to the console/portable gaming market and would only contribute to harming hardcore gaming in the long run.  More into the iOS threat at a later time.

Finally, the Wii U has a lot of doubt with people right now.  Listen, I bet Nintendo will easily recapture the casual markets heart with this system.  Sony and Microsoft are not moving any competition in against it, Kinect and Move are not going to be able to chip into Wii U market, and Nintendo can easily make an updated Wii Fit U with some cool tablet functionality and they are set.  The real challenge is creating a core system again, one that will be able to challenge the next generation.  We have already seen them trying to get a solid third party support (and surprisingly no first party, but we know that is coming), they need to convince the core gamers, that they lost with the Wii, that this system will work.  They also need to start making their motion controls something that really advances the way we play games. I believe the Wii U will be fine however, as long as they do not make the mistakes that they made with the 3DS.

I think it can be seen that Nintendo is going to come out fine.  As long as they have their systems come out with proper launch titles and find a way to balance in between the casual and core markets, I think they will definitely be fine.  Nintendo knows what they are doing, and maybe they will not live up to the DS and Wii, two of their biggest successes in a while, but I have a feeling that Nintendo is here to stay.