There’s no denying it,
Nintendo is struggling. Although posting a loss for the first time would hardly
seem like a company on the slide there are more issues at work here than meets
the eye. Please note this is an analysis from someone who loves games, and
reads news both gaming and business and world related, it is not intended as an
insider view at all and it certainly is based upon my assumptions and
observations, so take them as you will.
This ‘next’ gen of Nintendo’s
is built soely on gimmicks, namely the obvious 3D capability of the 3DS and the
slightly less obvious tablet controller of the WiiU. Both of these smack of
desperation in the concept, look at the 3DS and it’s announcement at the peak
of the 3D fad, everything was in 3D, movies, games, TV all being marketed as
this massive selling point and for a time it was and I must admit that I was
excited for the glassesless 3D tech and
yes it works as advertised does it make for a more compelling gaming
experience? I’d answer no. Every game I’ve played on the 3DS the feeling of
depth sure has been there but not one has needed it, you could have chucked any
of Kid Icarus or Tales of the Abyss onto the DS and they still would have been
successful (maybe a revision that included the circle pad). It seemed like
Nintendo was shouting, ‘hey guys you like 3D, right?’
Truth was we saw it as a
novelty, nice in patches but we still not how we want to consume a majority of
the content. Even Sony who was championing the 3D angle with the PS3 and their
TV lines have relegated games with stereoscopic 3D as nothing more than a
bullet point. Even with movies, it’s the big dumb ‘blockbusters’ that get 3D,
and people put up with it because they must, it seems not because they want to.
Nintendo took a gamble that
3D was what consumers want, they lost that one. In the end you get the
evolution of the DS that gives you games that look better but unfortunately the
average smart phone now can produce far better looking games. Now I’m not
saying the Smart Phone market is going to destroy the hand held market that
Nintendo has dominated for 20+ years, but already it’s teetering on the edge,
the metaphorical boulder just hanging over the head of mobile gaming. I’m not going
to say for a second this is a Nintendo only problem, Sony looks like it has
tried for the second time with the Vita and it seems like it is burning, I
suspect Sony has tread these waters too often now and unless something dramatic
occurs this will be their last hand held. I digress, though.
Think about it you have in
your pocket (or bag) a device which makes calls, has a near constant data
connection, has a massive library of games that cost between nothing and around
$20 as a maximum as well as playing music, video and almost anything you can
think of through the expansion of apps and it does it better than the 3DS does
these things natively. Admittedly a lot of games on iOS or Android don’t click
with me because on-screen controls are, to put it plainly, ineffective, lack
feedback etc, etc (everything that has been said 100 times before is true). The thing is that even with these issues they will satisfy
some 90% of smart phone owners, and despite the shortcomings of the platform in
comparison to the 3DS, it sure does suit me on the go.
Now let’s turn our attention
to the Wii’s tablet controller, oh I’m sorry, the WiiU. Yes that’s right
Nintendo can’t get the message across this is a whole new console. It hasn’t
helped that in all promotional material that white box appears alarmingly
similar to the Wii (even though we have no idea what it will look like at all).
I’m not saying that the core will be confused, the core know the ins and outs
of the industry follows news with fanatical passion, the problem here is those
just on the edge those that know games a little maybe buy 2 to 3 games a year
that find out technology news from the BBC or CNN. This console and campaign
just hasn’t been doing enough to differentiate itself to those consumers on the
fringe and that’s a worry.
A new console or a new peripheral?
The next problem is the
controller. Now think for a second, just one will do, what made the Wii wildly
popular? That’s right the ability to appeal to a wider audience, now good or
bad and whatever your thoughts on appealing to the ‘casuals’ it sure as hell
made a lot of money. Now think on this the attach rate of software was poor,
yes Wii Fit and Wii Sports sufficed for a large portion of the community but balance
out the fact that Nintendo never loses on hardware (until recently). How many
Wii’s were sold? Yeah that’s a fair chunk of change. Now think on this what
made that console so ridiculously popular with the casual market? I’d bet it’s
the fact that you had a controller that would work using basically 2 buttons
and motions that while not exactly 1 to 1, translated what you did in the real
world into the game world.
Now as a parallel think on
the tablet market, what has made this product explode in popularity? Without
fully studying consumer habits and marketing research I would wager that some
of the top answers would come back as portability, simplicity of use, vibrant
display. Now this is speculation but the touch resistive displays in the DS and
3DS have tended to be pretty lacklustre, looking dull and only useful for menu
selections and very limited gameplay options. Don’t get me wrong, there is a
lot you can do with a touch interface but I am sceptical about how many
compelling experiences you can create and add to that there is still the option
to use Wii-motes and that 360 styled controller. To me it seems like an each
way bet, in that they have no idea how compelling the tablet will be as a
controller so they can bin it and transfer across to another scheme when it
doesn’t work as planned. Also think about your tablet, or any tablet you’ve used
ever how many buttons did it have? 2 or 3 perhaps? Now look at the tablet above, yeah it's not as simple and frankly it looks a bit cumbersome.
I sure hope as a gamer this comes off but to be perfectly honest I can't see it happening Nintendo has been producing fantastic games and consoles for 30 years, I hope it all doesn't come crumbling down with the WiiU, here's hoping Nintendo know what they're doing.