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1/21/2014 1:28:00 AM
14
Nintendo: no games for smartphones
I think we're all aware of some of the issues Nintendo has been having recently. Nintendo president Saturo Iwata said that, as part of a rethinking of business structure, the company would be looking at ways to use smart devices to grow the gaming business. [url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/01/20/nintendo-has-no-plans-for-mario-on-smartphones]On Friday, he clarified that this incorporation of smart devices would not mean releasing games for them.[/url]
Nintendo's hardware has generally been profitable, but the Wii U has been struggling lately. Sales are weak and Nintendo is already taking a loss on the console. The 3DS, on the other hand, is projected to sell 13 million units. Some have called for Nintendo to abandon hardware altogether and focus on developing its IP's for other consoles and platforms. It seems like the company will not be making that move anytime soon.
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Edited by CND AAA Beef: 1/21/2014 10:11:00 PMWhen big name multiplatform developers like Bethesda and EA publicly abandon your console, it's pretty obvious that you need to rethink your strategy. I respect Nintendo for doing their own thing, but they were two generations late on the three biggest gaming trends of the decade: online gaming, high definition, and the shift to PC architectures. Microsoft jumped in the boat first with these three, and it let them carve out a piece of the market with the Xbox Original, which they grew with the Xbox 360. Sony followed within the next generation and caught up very quickly. The X1 and PS4 are both 4K ready and have very mature and very highly monetized online services. But the Wii U just finally supports HD in a world where everyone's waiting for 4K. Their online service is pretty much where Live and PSN were at the start of the last generation. The shift to PC architectures is the biggest reason why multiplatform developers have abandoned the console, more so even then the power gap. Right now, multiplat studios can build games for the PC, X1, and PS4 all at the same time. It doesn't even count as "porting" anymore since the hardware is so similar, the only real hurdle is optimization. The Wii U is still behind the curve on this, and so it costs much more time and money to bring a game over to it. And with such a small user base, publishers are saying "why bother?".
