Nintendo President Suggests that It Might Abandon Home Console Development

[Solitario]

This may be the last generation of video games as we know it .....

 

[Taleweaver]

I would welcome this idea.

...and no, I'm not a flamer, hater or trolling. Hear me out for a second.

When the wiiu was announced, it was the most technologically advanced console on the planet. And it remained that way for perhaps one or two weeks, when both microsoft and sony announced their next consoles (xbone, PS4). Not only that, they were released in the same time frame.

Both these consoles are relatively old right now, but these companies have no real reason to announce a follow-up. The switch was somewhat non-threatening as it serves a different audience (yes...the mobile market). However: I feel that once nintendo would announce a (non-hybrid) console, microsoft and/or sony will simply throw a more advanced console on the market, thus burying nintendo once more.

But in the mean time, the landscape is changing. Mobile gaming is steadily maturing while television is somewhat on a decline (not much, but less of a juggernaut than it was). There certainly is still a market for consoles, but why compete in a pretty filled market (you just KNOW that PS5 and xbox<random number> will be popular) when you've got your own part of the market cornered (namely that range between phone quality mobile games and hardcore AAA-titles)?

I'm not sure if the number is still correct (or applied worldwide, for that matter), but I read that about half the users used their switch in mobile form on a regular basis. And with these numbers, you don't tell me that there is no market for quality games on the go. Nintendo obviously doesn't want to compete with itself, but I would think it a good idea if, in the future, they phase out the 3DS and switch for a next-gen mobile device. One that can still be connected to a television as a console, but at best is a console in name only.

i wish someone would do something about his hair.

Unfortunately, this is a trend with nintendo developers.

 

[Clydefrosch]

That's really not what he said.
He said they're a flexible company. Which he has to say to appease stakeholders.
He has to tell them that Nintendo doesn't need to be a one trick pony.

 

[JimmyCall]

I actually thought the Switch was going to be their entry into the Mobile Phone market, but it's still a unique device. In the future they should set minimum standards for Mobile phone abilities, and then release docks with controllers. It's all about the games having smoothness and controllers being quality and standard from player to player.

 

[lordpsycho]

One of the most important home console company, with more than 30 years making them, is going to stop making consoles in order to focus completely on other things, like mobile gaming......yeah I'm not buying that....

His words have been taken out of context in most articles (including ones from my country as well) just because "the Switch will be the last Nintendo console you'll ever see" is more juicy than "we might as well start focusing on other things too, depending on the market needs"

 

[FAST6191]

When the wiiu was announced, it was the most technologically advanced console on the planet. And it remained that way for perhaps one or two weeks, when both microsoft and sony announced their next consoles (xbone, PS4). Not only that, they were released in the same time frame.

Most advanced console. Sure.
Vaguely competitive with a then modern PC? Not even close, and people knew it. Granted PC requirements had largely stagnated (presumably as there was little demand/need/reward to go truly above and beyond what could be done on the PS360) but that is probably a different discussion.
Even before the PC took off as a gaming platform you had the arcades to measure things against.

However: I feel that once nintendo would announce a (non-hybrid) console, microsoft and/or sony will simply throw a more advanced console on the market, thus burying nintendo once more.

I am still going with everything on the non hardware side of things that tanked the Wii U (the lack of middleware, the lack of engines, the lack of concern for third party devs, the weird censorship thing*, the utterly awful online infrastructure) would be the thing that buries it.

*though Sony seems to have taken up the cause of late here as well.

 

[The Catboy]

They already have over 5 very successful mobile titles and 5 more coming soon.

Mobile development costs are much lower, less game designers needed, no hardware development needed, more room to have 'extra revenue from items inside the game', no physical cost, no profit cut to the resellers like retail stores or amazon, no need to court 3rd-party publishers with free costly tools, and sdk's to develop, and support to help them, or even money infront.

Nintendo is basically a 1st-party only company these days, and even tho there is growing library of 3rd-party games on Switch, most are indie, or ports from other platforms, no real exclusives, so moving towards mobile makes sense in long run, when you look at cost needed to development another console, and the last few generations of Nintendo console's, including the Switch itself, they are way behind in terms of graphics or horsepower compared to ps4/xb1 gen.

So for them to step up to the plate and go head to head with PS5 and XB2, with possible 8k graphics, and Dual-VR players, and more, its just not really possible for Nintendo at this stage, it would take 3 to 4 years of costly development to get to that level, and then comes the even hard part getting publishers to support then, while still keeping their loyal fanbase, which is not there like the others, even with Switch at 20 million, and even tho its listed as best-selling console of this generation, its only 'blast of 2 years', come the 3rd year, sales will be at most another 5 or 7 million more, and by then Sony will be at over 100 million, they already at 92 million, so there no way in hell they can catch up or play in pond with other 2 giants.

So President and shareholders are look into the future, and like this title says THEY MIGHT, does not mean THEY WELL, but come 2020 or 2022 at latest, with another update to Switch like Switch XL or Switch Mini (portable only & dockless), you will see them re-visit this in full force, and by then they will have full reports in on over 20 mobile titles, and it all comes down to numbers on bottom line, customers are just tasty treat, its not in their interest to wine and dine the remaining loyal fans, if they can have 150 million on phones generating them more instant Yen per hour in profit compared to the current setup of hardware, resellers, developers, etc. before profit.

I kinda want to know where you plagiarized this from because you didn't type all of that out in 2/3 minutes. Or, if you didn't plagiarize it, why did you have something like this premade?
Also your site still isn't the source and it's almost never the source.

 

[spotanjo3]

Reason: They need money to survive. WHAT A GREEDY!

 

[djnate27]

Probably sick of people finding exploits

I know I am!

 

[VinsCool]

Also your site still isn't the source and it's almost never the source.

It's never the source. The fact that this slips by without any objection is beyond me.

 

[Sakitoshi]

So they finally admit that the switch was a mistake.
I always knew that if they continued being cheap they would never succeed. They need to focus on producing a powerful console again if they want to survive, one that can rival the Playstation 5 and Xbox Two.

 

[FAST6191]

So they finally admit that the switch was a mistake.
I always knew that if they continued being cheap they would never succeed. They need to focus on producing a powerful console again if they want to survive, one that can rival the Playstation 5 and Xbox Two.

I don't think power is necessarily the only way. It might have really helped in the past but we have hit something of a plateau for the time being and your library is the thing that makes you. Let devs do what devs do, and try everything within reason to make their lives reasonably nice; make sure the engines all the kids are using are there (was anybody expecting much after Unreal said poke this Wii U lark?), make sure the hardware resembles things people have been taught to use, give people simple options for common tasks, make sure your OS has some reasonable media capabilities, if you are going to fence people in to a network make it a good one else get out of the way, try not to censor things and if you must then provide an alternative route of sorts, if you are really brave maybe make the thing open...
Power wise you need something that contends but pushing the envelope mainly only serves to make your hardware costs shoot up and devs that insist on playing to it make safe and boring stuff to justify the need to have 5 kinds of skybox artist, or safe and boring games where the devs try to grab everything they can with incidental purchase items that were likely free for decades prior or break the games they are made for.

 

[rickwj324]

I'm fine with the wii-u and switch as far as graphics go. My biggest gripe with Nintendo hardware is their gimmicky controls. The Gamecube controllers always felt (and looked cheap to me). I absolutely hate the wiimote/nunchuk combo, and the wiipad was a gimmick as well. Give me a console with standard controllers (wii-u pro and switch pro were decent, but should have analog shoulder buttons).
In my opinion they also need to do something fresh with their IP's. Rehashing the same games over and over for every system is getting old. Yes, they make them look nicer, but except for Mario Odyssey, I didn't have a real incentive to upgrade from Wii-U to the Switch. Even my 6 and 9 year old kids still prefer to play on their modded Wii-U over the Switch.
Mario Sunshine was great for the Gamecube, as were Mario Galaxy (wii) and Odyssey (switch). Other than those examples, everything to me just seems like a rehash and ultimately do not generate a "have to have it" mentality when their new systems come out.

 

[Bladexdsl]

it actually wouldn't bother me i'm tired of buying nintendo consoles just to play their damn TWO 1st party games per year. time to go multiplat!

 

[KingVamp]

Can we get a title change? Clearly people are posting without looking at anything else. lol

 

[Sakitoshi]

I don't think power is necessarily the only way. It might have really helped in the past but we have hit something of a plateau for the time being and your library is the thing that makes you. Let devs do what devs do, and try everything within reason to make their lives reasonably nice; make sure the engines all the kids are using are there (was anybody expecting much after Unreal said poke this Wii U lark?), make sure the hardware resembles things people have been taught to use, give people simple options for common tasks, make sure your OS has some reasonable media capabilities, if you are going to fence people in to a network make it a good one else get out of the way, try not to censor things and if you must then provide an alternative route of sorts, if you are really brave maybe make the thing open...
Power wise you need something that contends but pushing the envelope mainly only serves to make your hardware costs shoot up and devs that insist on playing to it make safe and boring stuff to justify the need to have 5 kinds of skybox artist, or safe and boring games where the devs try to grab everything they can with incidental purchase items that were likely free for decades prior or break the games they are made for.

Yeah, I mean having better hardware entails all that. It means nothing if you build a car motor that can go up to 1000 km/h if you make it in a way that you can't attach a chasis and wheels.
But I also mean having only competitive hardware, not something that is a step of two above because it gives diminishing returns. Being in the middle of the pack means that you'll get the same benefits as everyone else.

If you have the power to run the engines, devs will be interested and develop for your platform (PS3 at first was the most powerful, it lacked ease of use but devs wanted to tap into that power).
If you have the ease of use for devs, they will develop for you (x360 wasn't as powerful as PS3, but it was extremely familiar to develop for).
Media playback isn't as important now days, with smart tv's being a thing people don't care too much about that but sure is nice and could give you an extra edge (but remember that Xbone didn't won even when it had excellent media capabilities for the start).
User interface sure is something to consider, but you can make a compromise since you can update it over time, as long as it isn't a mess to navigate it should be ok.
Online services are very important now days, so having a solid service is essential, Nintendo is really stubborn but they are trying at least (?). Having a functional chat system and more importantly voice chat is a must, you don't need to reinvent the wheel for this, just offer a good enough service on par with the competition and you'll be fine. Nintendo failed at that offering a joke of a voice chat system requiring an external device (and people joke about the diablo immortal "don't you people have a phone?" thing) while PS4 and Xbone were as convenient as having a headphone jack built in the controller.
Censorship is a complicated subject and kind of out of the way with what we are talking here, I'm anti-censorship no matter what kind of content is. Devs when create their content thinking about a specific audience, but often publishers ask them to tone down or cut certain things to appeal to a wider audience (lower rating at the rating boards) or to be able to publish at all (ESRB, Pegi and Cero are all strict and lenient towards different things) and things are only getting worse because of how Sony has started demanding content changes (due to China if the latest reports are correct).

 

[FAST6191]

Yeah, I mean having better hardware entails all that. It means nothing if you build a car motor that can go up to 1000 km/h if you make it in a way that you can't attach a chasis and wheels.
But I also mean having only competitive hardware, not something that is a step of two above because it gives diminishing returns. Being in the middle of the pack means that you'll get the same benefits as everyone else.

If you have the power to run the engines, devs will be interested and develop for your platform (PS3 at first was the most powerful, it lacked ease of use but devs wanted to tap into that power).
If you have the ease of use for devs, they will develop for you (x360 wasn't as powerful as PS3, but it was extremely familiar to develop for).
Media playback isn't as important now days, with smart tv's being a thing people don't care too much about that but sure is nice and could give you an extra edge (but remember that Xbone didn't won even when it had excellent media capabilities for the start).
User interface sure is something to consider, but you can make a compromise since you can update it over time, as long as it isn't a mess to navigate it should be ok.
Online services are very important now days, so having a solid service is essential, Nintendo is really stubborn but they are trying at least (?). Having a functional chat system and more importantly voice chat is a must, you don't need to reinvent the wheel for this, just offer a good enough service on par with the competition and you'll be fine. Nintendo failed at that offering a joke of a voice chat system requiring an external device (and people joke about the diablo immortal "don't you people have a phone?" thing) while PS4 and Xbone were as convenient as having a headphone jack built in the controller.
Censorship is a complicated subject and kind of out of the way with what we are talking here, I'm anti-censorship no matter what kind of content is. Devs when create their content thinking about a specific audience, but often publishers ask them to tone down or cut certain things to appeal to a wider audience (lower rating at the rating boards) or to be able to publish at all (ESRB, Pegi and Cero are all strict and lenient towards different things) and things are only getting worse because of how Sony has started demanding content changes (due to China if the latest reports are correct).

Nintendo is trying with online? They have had how long now and flubbed it every time. How they are this bad at things I do not know

Media playback isn't as important now days, with smart tv's being a thing people don't care too much about that but sure is nice and could give you an extra edge (but remember that Xbone didn't won even when it had excellent media capabilities for the start).

Do you have a source of decent ones? Every one I have seen or had the misfortune to set up has been awful. There was a half nice attempt with some of the android ones but nothing I can say "like a rasp pi that also does netflix". I am not expecting "like a PC plugged into my TV", despite that probably being easy enough, but I want something that works. Or is it just netflix is enough?

 

[EmanueleBGN]

Nintendo has always diversified its business: in the beginnin it made playing cards; then toys; then videogames; then... who knows?

(hint: products that increase the quality of life)

 

[Xzi]

So they finally admit that the switch was a mistake.
I always knew that if they continued being cheap they would never succeed. They need to focus on producing a powerful console again if they want to survive, one that can rival the Playstation 5 and Xbox Two.

Except they didn't say anything like that, and Switch vastly outsells the garbage that is XB1 on a monthly basis. Power does not matter in consoleland, otherwise XB1X would be outselling everything else. Clearly exclusives are the only things that move consoles any more, and Nintendo attracts a few extra buyers from the uniqueness of their hardware.

Consoles can't win when trying to compete with PC, they just need to stay in their lane. $500 is the absolute ceiling for console launch prices after PS3 failed miserably with a $600 MSRP early on.

 

[Sakitoshi]

Nintendo is trying with online? They have had how long now and flubbed it every time. How they are this bad at things I do not know

oh yeah, they have been doing online things since the ds, and to say the truth is worked pretty well then, but the wii online wasn't as good and voice chat was very limited and you could cheat as much as you wanted meanwhile the dominant platforms had a more reliable service with no hackers and voice chat. the same trend continued with 3ds and wii u just without the hackers (or at least less of them).
with trying I mean they are offering a service that they are maintaining well enough to ban the hackers, I haven't touched a switch so I can't give an opinion about how laggy or not it is, but I have confidence that after two years of free online they got a good sample of how to run the service now that they started to charge for it.

Do you have a source of decent ones? Every one I have seen or had the misfortune to set up has been awful. There was a half nice attempt with some of the android ones but nothing I can say "like a rasp pi that also does netflix". I am not expecting "like a PC plugged into my TV", despite that probably being easy enough, but I want something that works. Or is it just netflix is enough?

I myself don't have a smart tv as I havent changed my tv in a long time I still have an AOC LE22H037 (22 inches lag free 1080p led tv, supports 240p though component and has s-video. I know I won't be able to find anything remotely similar), but I bough a chromecast years ago and is still serving me well, I have my personal Plex server in my house (I download all the anime I watch), so the only online service I use is youtube. My parents, on the other hand, have an LG smart tv with WebOS (LG 43UJ6300 if I recall correctly) and it seems to work well enough, it has the typical services like youtube, netflix and amazon video. Don't know much about it but the couple of times I have used it I found the remote control to be nice and easy to use and the interface easy to navigate.
So my advice is, if you are happy with your tv go and get a chromecast or similar or even an apple tv if you fancy that stuff with a half eaten fruit.