“In ‘Super Mario 3DLand,’ Nintendo Co. will make its iconic Italian plumber battle turtle-like Koopa Troopas on its 3-D player,” Naoko Fujimura and Yoshinori Eki report for Bloomberg. “The company instead should develop titles for Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s iPhone, investors say.”
The rift highlights the dilemma President Satoru Iwata faces as consumers shun Nintendo devices to play games on iPhones, iPads and Facebook Inc.’s website,” Fujimura and Eki report. “The flop of the 3DS debut prompted the company to cut prices 40 percent in Japan and 32 percent in the U.S., the first time the games developer has resorted to such a move within six months of a product’s debut.”
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Fujimura and Eki report, “Iwata, who’s said Nintendo will only make titles for its own products as long as he’s in charge, should scrap that strategy to avoid further alienating investors who’ve driven the stock to six-year lows, fund manager Masamitsu Ohki said… Ohki isn’t alone in saying Iwata should reconsider his strategy… ‘They just don’t get it,” MF Global FXA Securities Ltd. said in a sales note… ‘Sell the stock, because a management once feted for creative out-of-box thinking have just shown how behind the times they are.'”
Read more in the full article here.
Iwata and Nintendo are increasingly being left behind in the sands of time, mired in thinking that made them successful in the last decade but not in the coming decade. Call it the Ballmerization of Nintendo.
No, Iwata and Nintendo aren’t stuck in the past. What they are is clueless. They’ve got no idea how to make an appealing game system these days, so their strategy is to basically just pull gimmicks out of a hat. They hit paydirt with the Wiimote, but 3D?
No. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, you base your whole system around a gimmick then you’d better make damn well sure it actually works. 3D that breaks if you look at it funny, gives you a headache after 15 minutes, and sucks the battery dry does not work. But it’s not a big deal because you can turn off the effect with a slider, say 3DS fans? WRONG. That’s exactly why it’s a big deal. It should never have been so poorly implemented that turning it down or outright off was even an option. Shit never should’ve made it to market in its current form.
Recipe for success? Make a reasonably powerful handheld, give it one D-pad, four face buttons, a backlit screen, and make third party support its central gimmick. Damnit Nintendo, how do you not get this?
COURT DEVELOPERS. FORGET ALL ELSE.
But, just to play devil’s advocate, people said the same about Apple; that they should license the OS to work on other systems. Maybe it’s a different scenario since it’s more about licensed characters, but I don’t know if one can support this idea and rationally stand by Apple’s ideas. It’s nice to have other hardware players in the arena. Maybe nintendo will get some inspiration, like in the form of an Apple buyout 😀
^^ This!
Exactly. I’m not ready to give up on Nintendo yet. Okay, the 3DS was a dud. Even Apple’s had the occasional flop (anyone still rockin’ out to their iPod Hi-Fi?). It doesn’t mean that they can’t regroup and come out with something better. Nintendo’s past record of success shows they know how to innovate. They just need to get their head back in the game and innovate in the right direction.
——RM
What the hell is wrong with the iPod Hi-Fi? I use it everyday. I should take a photo with my QuickTime 200 and upload it withmt Bewton, Beotch!
Yes, but no one is asking Nintendo to license out their proprietary OS, they just want some of the apps. Apple brought iTunes and Safari to Windows.
“But, just to play devil’s advocate, people said the same about Apple; that they should license the OS to work on other systems. Maybe it’s a different scenario ”
It is a VERY different scenario. Look at how much Microsoft looses in China cause everyone steals their software. Go ahead, steal Apples software, it will not work on PC hardware. That is why Apple is so easy going about its software, it drives the hardware but you can control hardware much easier.
And look at Android. Its so great, and wonderful, and with so many copies that are all different, NO ONE is getting free upgrades, you have to buy a new phone.
I say, Apple is getting it the most right of all the others.
Just a thought,
en
Nintendo, the train is leaving, better get onboard while you can, or you will soon be eating dust and be just another footnote in the history of technology.
If Nintendo sells it’s character games on iOS or any other devices, then there’s no reason for anyone to buy a DS. Nintendo has to keep it’s games exclusive to its devices or it will become nothing more than a game developer.
So the 3DS flopped. I’m sure Nintendo has already been working on the next-gen DS, which will move more toward an iPod touch than the past DS style player.
People don’t buy Nintendo for it hardware. They buy it for the games. It could drop the hardware and focus on what it does best: make games.
Nintendo needs to realize that working on the next gen hardware is not the solution. Mobile hardware is advancing at a breakneck speed whereas, Nintendo (and Sony and MS) is used to moving at a glacial pace in hardware.
They need to work on other issues:
1. A modern SDK
2. An SDK anyone can download and play with for very cheaply
3. A modern, digital delivery system which any developer can use to submit games.
4. A 70/30 cut for game developers, or at least 60/40.
5. A basic suite of high quality mobile apps–browser, mail, texting, calendar, to-do.
6. Online backup of all purchases, scores, etc.
They should ask Amazon or HTC to bake them a highly proprietary and locked-up Android fork. Get some standard apps (calendar, music, camera, notes), get a Webkit browser and they’re good to go. Release a phone, a pmp, a tablet. All with d-pads and fire buttons. Drop prices of major titles to $20 and allow smaller titles to start at $1. Continue raking in the cash.
That is kind of the target with the XNA development system.
You can target Windows, WinPhone and Xbox 360.
So far the xBox side has focused on Indie developers but all the pieces are in place to do exactly what you are proposing and 1 and 2 are already satisfied.
I think its a great idea too.
It could always be better, but I think Nintendo already has a solid foundation in the SDK and app store front.
I haven’t used any of Nintendo’s SDK’s personally, but from what I’ve heard, they are consistently rated as better and easier to develop with than Sony’s and Microsoft’s. They have a low learning curve for developers already familiar with C++ or already experienced with previous Nintendo SDK’s.
Nintendo’s online gaming stores are already very nice. Good prices, and lots of content from independent gaming developers, very easy to use.
The 3DS is the next-gen DS…
This reminds me of all the bashers over the past 20 years who perpetrated the canard that Apple must start selling its OS to other computer manufacturers, or be left behind. It seems to me that Apple was able to chart a different course. Maybe there is still an outside chance that Nintendo can still innovate while also protecting their brand?
Funniest story ever. ITSAMEEEEEEE!
@Thindervolt
My feeling is that consumers now expect devices that are multifunction, so that only a single device need be toted. Nintendo would need a DS device that can at least compete with the iPod for functionality, if they want to make a go of it.
Simple economics… They are selling few consoles, and therefore few games. Add software for iOS devices and make literally billions from 40-year-olds like me who will pay $7.99 per game for Mario, Donkey Kong, ZELDA. Sell it for upcoming Apple TV games with iPhones as controllers, and make even more… They would make a billion OVERNIGHT with billions to follow. It would make Angry Birds and Farmville look like… Atari 2600 games!
Apparently you didn’t bother to check Nintendo’s numbers before writing? A typical Super Mario, Mario Kart or Pokemon title is making $500 million to $1 billion in revenues. Nintendo’s total software revenues are $5 to $10 billion per year, not including 3rd party games and hardware sales. Compare that to Apple’s AppStore which made about $2 billion over the last year, across both apps and games.
Nintendo’s game business is still an order of magnitude larger than Apple’s. They are in a slump, right, but they will be much better off fixing their own house than burning it.
The market for portable gaming software is 15-20 Billion???
Are you sure?
I don’t have any real numbers, but I would have guessed at least an order of magnitude (likely less) than that (and would have given Nentendo maybe half of that (50% share) market.)
I think you need to check your numbers.
You could just go to http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/ and look at their reports you know… While I did not say anything about the “portable gaming market” you refer to as a whole, Nintendo is making about $15 bn in company revenues per year, and a large part of that are 1st party games (both portable and home console).
Again, the last 2 Mario Kart titles (Mario Kart DS and Mario Kart Wii) each sold more than 20 Million copies, at full price ($30 to $60), for $1 billion in revenues each. Just 2 titles.
Saying Nintendo should release the next Mario Kart on iPhone is like saying Pixar should release their next blockbuster on iPhone. Saying Nintendo should give up their own platforms and only publish for mobile phones is like saying they should fire 90 % of their employees.
Dude. You are talking sense. Wow. Just imagine if you could download Legend of Zelda: LTTP to iOS for S8? Oh sweet lord that would be AWESOME.
I sure hope Nintendo has a nice snuggly custom UI overlay in their R&D… They could just port the games with a Controller overlay, and touch-enabled menus. Make it happen Nin!
Nintendo relies on vertical integration of hardware and software to create polished and innovative gaming experiences.
Very much like Apple, giving up on hardware is simply not an option for Nintendo, unless they are willing to throw out their entire strategy for great products.
It’s not a big deal that the 3DS flopped. So did the Nintendo Gamecube. When that happened, people were spelling doom for Nintendo, and said they should become a software only company. 5 years later, Nintendo retook the market with the Wii. The Wii delivered a genuinely unique and innovative gaming experience that was only possible because of Nintendo’s unique hardware and software integration.
Nintendo is going to bounce back by either the recent price cuts, revised 3DS hardware, or their next generation portables.
Next gen hardware won’t do squat.
1. Mobile hardware advancing way faster than any new DS
2. Mobile hardware is selling way more units than any DS can even dream about
3. Mobile hardware can now run anything a DS can run, but no one is willing to pay $40 for games anymore.
4. It’s about the ecosystem now, not just the ecosystem for consumers but also developers.
I can already sling 1080p content, including games, from my iDevice to my HDTV. Yet the game is still playable without the HDTV. Nintendo is seriously behind the curve.
I think you missed my point completely. I’m not saying Nintendo’s hardware is going to beat competitors by having better specs, more HD graphics, or a bigger ecosystem. It obviously won’t. I’m saying the specs and ecosystem don’t matter nearly as much as the gaming experience.
You think mobile hardware can now run anything a DS can run? Have you even seen what a DS looks like? Perhaps if you connected two smart phones together, attached some kind of game controller, and put 3D glasses on you could do a very rough approximation of running DS software.
iOS runs on multifunctional devices, and there are plenty of ways hardware designed specifically for gaming can deliver a more fun gaming experience. The most obvious is having directional inputs that are faster and more reliable then touch screen or tilting. As any gamer knows, having to fight the controls will instantly ruin the fun and immersion of any gaming experience.
I think with creative hardware design, focused on gaming and unconstrained by the need to be a multifunctional computer, Nintendo can continue to create innovative gaming experiences through their unique hardware.
Except that they don’t rely on hardware or software… they make profits on both (or at least they did when they were making money). Nintendo consoles are designed to be very profitable, as opposed to high powered loss leaders. They could do iOS apps and still make money off consoles.
Apple should buy Nintendo with the change found in the seat crack on his unused corporate jet. The franchise game brands are worth it.
Why buy? Nintendo will come begging.
Let’s not get too arrogant. Nintendo is quite Applesque and the culture would mix well. Only concern is, does Ninetndo have anything to offer Apple or anyone else in the new world order that’s still being shaped by Apple.
The only reason I can think why Apple might even consider a buy (it’d be a major acquisition), is to keep it off from competition’s hand. Then again, I doubt Google culture can mix well with Nintendo.
Finally, Nintendo price is still quite high on historical bias, I’m not sure it’s priced right for the future. Apple or any other company would do well for some value correction.
They could Mix well? You do know Nintendo is a Japanese company, right?
I will say this about Nintendo. The best customer service I have experience. Rivaling Apple. If you ever have problems with your Nintendo hardware, they will resolve it expeditiously. Personally, I love my wii, and my son and daughter love there DS units. Sure, they could be better, but the games are fun and that is what counts. Now my son spends probably 30% of the time on his DS, 30% on an iPad, and 30% on the wii.
Nintendo has been counted as ‘out of the game’ before and came back to kick some serious butt.
Nintendo is very much like Apple, an innovator and not afraid to take risks or change course. Like Apple you can’t expect Nintendo to shoehorn their software onto a device made by someone else, they do not think or operate in that way.
The 3DS was priced way too high and the earthquakes in Japan def hurt the launch and sales of the device. The initial lineup of games was not that strong either.
Now we have a price drop hitting on the 12th of Aug and a solid line-up of games coming in the holiday season and into next year.
Everyone claimed Nintendo was FINISHED with the gamecube, we heard the same stuff back then, but people were claiming they should just become a software publisher on MS and Sony consoles.
Just a couple of short years later they were riding high on the success of the Wii and MS and Sony were scrambling to bring motion controls to their own consoles.
Underestimating Nintendo is not a smart move imho.
i just don’t see how the 3DS is a flop. It has sold a ton of units even at $250 in a bad global economy. Get over it. It hasn’t even been a year. The price drop is more aggressive towards the Vita and not just be stubborn or complacent. Most iOS games are .99 cents worth of time wasting. No one in app store can sell a game for a reasonable twenty bucks, not to mention the gameplay on most games are mediocre. I don’t consider most iOS games much more than things to pass my time, not really get into.
“i just don’t see how the 3DS is a flop. It has sold a ton of units even at $250 in a bad global economy”
It hasn’t sold a ton and they just slashed the price to perk up sales. Care to re-evaluate?
Has anyone seen the Wii U? If you have , than you know about the new controller.
Now, if anyone has seen an iPad w/ AirPlay streaming the main game onto the tv and info onto the iPad, you’re thinking, “huh, that 15 year old I talked to was right – Apple can do it better already!”
Except the wii u already does it better. It has physical controls and a tuch screen.
I also suspect it will be a lot cheaper to add another controller to the wii u than it will be to buy another ipad.
No amount of software tweaks will make a touchpad nicer than an actual pad or button for gameplay.
“The flop of the 3DS debut prompted the company to cut prices 40 percent in Japan and 32 percent in the U.S., the first time the games developer has resorted to such a move within six months of a product’s debut.”
But was there righteous outrage by the early adopters, followed by some kind of store credit from Nintendo? Or does that only happen when Apple reduces the price of a product like the iPhone?
By the way, Nintendo gaming IP could be very valuable to Apple. What if iOS was the only next generation mobile device to carry Mario games??? That would be a coup. I say, but Nintendo and steer a whole new generation to Mario games on iOS!
typo …buy Nintendo…