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Sessler says Nintendos presence in console race is in serious jeopardy

How long did it take for Wii software sales to stagnate? How many core gamers let their Wii collect dust in a corner of a closet? If it wasnt for Project Rainfall, the Wii wouldn't have had a decent swan song. The Wii outsold the competition but there are other factors to consider when considering if the console succeeded with audiences. I wonder how much good faith they lost with the Wii, that ended up hurting the sales of the WiiU

Not in terms of discussing financial providence, not at all. The masses of people who bought a Wii wouldn't give a shit if Pandora's Tower was localized or not.
 
It's probably the most well reasoned logic I've heard as to how Wii U could be doomed

But I still don't buy it. I don't think PS4 or Nextbox will be nearly as successful as some people seem to think, and Nintendo should have the advantage of having the cheapest console on the market.

PS3 and 360 won't let Nintendo have that advantage. Those aren't going nowhere and will have a price drop to undercut the Wii-U, count on it.
 
Oh hey, another one of these threads. I'm pretty sure we exhausted the reasons why the Wii U isn't doing well right now. Can't we wait until more games exist for it?
 
I can't believe Nintendo thinks people don't care about graphical fidelity.

You underestimate the consumer wow factor that comes from seeing next gen graphics.

You underestimate the effect the start of the HD era with the talk of Bluray, HD DVD, 1080p and HD TVs had in helping that. The wow factor is going to do jack shit for anyone other then gaming fanatics and people who visit sites like gaf this time around outside of launch rush and a small segment of consumers.
 
Nintendo's made the decision that since they don't have the other revenue streams that Sony/Microsoft do, competiting on pure hardware alone (and losing as much money on hardware per unit as Microsoft/Sony do at launch) is unsustainable for them in the long term.
 
How long did it take for Wii software sales to stagnate? How many core gamers let their Wii collect dust in a corner of a closet? If it wasnt for Project Rainfall, the Wii wouldn't have had a decent swan song. The Wii outsold the competition but there are other factors to consider when considering if the console succeeded with audiences. I wonder how much good faith they lost with the Wii, that ended up hurting the sales of the WiiU

It did well out of the gate, then stagnated. It made Nintendo a ridiculous amount of money... Just imagine the Wii-U 'stagnates' in the same fashion over time. This is Nintendo's time to push consoles as it's the only 'next-gen' console out on the market. It's been almost a decade since we've had a new console and it STILL didn't sell. And Project Rainfall is inconsequential in the overall scheme of things. Bottom line: Did the Wii sell or didn't it?

The Wii was targeted to an audience that doesn't play a lot of games. They should have stuck with that demographic because now they're in some weird in-between area which doesn't really appeal to anyone.
 
I wonder if a powerful Portable will be ideal tho. Without a console Third parties would ignore them even more than they do now. Then you have the sweet spot price to worry about as handhelds have diminished in the states somewhat. I dont see the portable only route being a great one.

Its the only route available to Nintendo at this point, so they'd have to make it a good one. Theyve proven they cant support 2 platforms competently at once, so one platform will at least let them blast out constant streams of games, and you're not fracturing a userbase that only afford one Mario game box; all those customers will be on one. And thats when it becomes a lot more interesting and lucrative to third parties to be on that shit and fighting for money.
 
Who is this guy and why shoud his opinion matters that much? Yeah he is apparently optimistic usually, but so what?
 
PS3 and 360 won't let Nintendo have that advantage. Those aren't going nowhere and will have a price drop to undercut the Wii-U, count on it.

But who's going to continue making games for the PS3 and 360 once Sony's and Microsoft's next efforts are out? According to GAF, if there are no games coming out on the system then it is nothing more than a dust collector.
 
Realese last gen hardware in 2012 to cut costs and make day 1 profit, Reggie said the deluxe needed one extra game sake to be profitable

Gamers wanted new tech and don't care about Nintendo profit margin, sales are shit
 
I expected more of Sessler. It's way too early to call. Nintendo still has time to right the wrongs and the next Playstation/Xbox cycle hasn't even started yet... maybe wait on that before dooming Nintendo?
 
Personally I think many of us in here have said all we need to say over the past couple months in regards to prognosticating Nintendo's immediate future.

From my perspective, it's time to just watch how it all lays out. That is, until they do something that will otherwise change my previous position.
 
You underestimate the effect the start of the HD era with the talk of Bluray, HD DVD, 1080p and HD TVs had in helping that. The wow factor is going to do jack shit for anyone other then gaming fanatics and people who visit sites like gaf this time around outside of launch rush and a small segment of consumers.

Exactly.

To the general consumer, there's very little difference between Killzone 3 and Killzone Shadow Fall's graphics. While the internet and other fans are going ga-ga over the PS4's graphical capability, the general populace won't be so impressed to get an expensive new console just for better graphics.
 
The only thing Nintendo has to worry about is how many generations it can last while making only losses. Iwata probably stays up some nights deciding whether it's 4 or 5 or in the region of 10 or more.

tldr, Nintendo is fine. They will probably prosper on the Wii U or its successor.
 
Nintendo's made the decision that since they don't have the other revenue streams that Sony/Microsoft do, competiting on pure hardware alone (and losing as much money on hardware per unit as Microsoft/Sony do at launch) is unsustainable for them in the long term.

So, they invest on a costly feature that forces them to raise the price of their console in spite of the weaker hardware? That kind of argument isn't sustainable when they included a costly brick with it (even if not "within" it).
 
Nintendo's financial muscle is too large. Do these commentators understand the real money involved, or are they nothing more than knee-jerk stock amateurs? The only thing that will make Nintendo leave the console sphere is if consoles themselves become the dinosaurs they truly are.

Their war chest of money will keep their head afloat, but another Gamecube-like performance is going to seriously make them reconsider the console market. I think they're at the point right now where a price cut and typical Nintendo first party fare will only produce meager results.
 
Nintendo will flounder and everyone will spout doom until all the following happen:

Mario Kart comes out
A new 3D Mario platformer comes out
Wii Fit U comes out
Price cut happens

After that, the Wii U will putter along at Gamecube levels and Nintendo will be "fine."
 
We'll see how it really does once they start shipping their top games...after that we can't talk whether the Wii U has failed or not but for the moment being I'd say it's not wrong to say it is doing really bad.
 
Nintendo will flounder and everyone will spout doom until all the following happen:

Mario Kart comes out
A new 3D Mario platformer comes out
Wii Fit U comes out
Price cut happens

After that, the Wii U will putter along at Gamecube levels and Nintendo will be "fine."

Basically all of this.
 
Its the only route available to Nintendo at this point, so they'd have to make it a good one. Theyve proven they cant support 2 platforms competently at once, so one platform will at least let them blast out constant streams of games, and you're not fracturing a userbase that only afford one Mario game box; all those customers will be on one. And thats when it becomes a lot more interesting and lucrative to third parties to be on that shit and fighting for money.

I suppose I ment western third parties. For all the power they can throw and muscle behind one platform it still wouldnt get things people expect from Sony and MS. I mean yeah it would have the entire Nintendo focus behind it and that would be exciting but I just wonder if it will totally help or just alienate them even more.
 
Nintendo always cared about visuals, it's just not their main priority.

Lack of games is why the system is struggling, not specs.

No one knows the power of the system anyway, E3 will shed some light on it.


Of course games are a factor but you must consider the scenario of a consumer walking up to a WiiU kiosk at Best Buy, playing a demo of New Super Mario Bros U, and then walking away disappointed because they don't see anything that different not just in gameplay speaking but graphics as well.


It's important not to discount that fact.

I don't want the Wii U to fail but my heart sank when they announced the specs and I feel like I saw this coming.

You underestimate the effect the start of the HD era with the talk of Bluray, HD DVD, 1080p and HD TVs had in helping that. The wow factor is going to do jack shit for anyone other then gaming fanatics and people who visit sites like gaf this time around outside of launch rush and a small segment of consumers.


Wow. You underestimate the average consumer's ability to be graphically wow'ed. You don't need to be a connoisseur of video games to tell if there's been a graphical leap or not.
 
The only thing Nintendo has to worry about is how many generations it can last while making only losses. Iwata probably stays up some nights deciding whether it's 4 or 5 or in the region of 10 or more.

tldr, Nintendo is fine. They will probably prosper on the Wii U or its successor.

Their last financials indicated they're back in profitability. While the yen helped, their operating losses were severely reduced on the previous year's quarter. People seem to continue to ignore this and just assume they haven't returned to profit yet
 
Exactly.

To the general consumer, there's very little difference between Killzone 3 and Killzone Shadow Fall's graphics. While the internet and other fans are going ga-ga over the PS4's graphical capability, the general populace won't be so impressed to get an expensive new console just for better graphics.

And theres clearly not enough of a leap between X360 and WiiU to make the leap there.

We can all make sweeping statements about mass market not seeing the difference between PS3 Dragon's Dogma and PS4 DEEP DOWN, but I know plenty of "mass market" people that were wowed.

Their last financials indicated they're back in profitability. While the yen helped, their operating losses were severely reduced on the previous year's quarter. People seem to continue to ignore this and just assume they haven't returned to profit yet

They were back in profit thanks to a one time only mark-down of some other lumps of cash. The next set of financials aint gonna be pretty, and possibly the end of Iwata. Also as of February NPD your "doing better than 360/PS3 launch" diatribe will come to a definitive end. Especially when it ignores the dire straits the WiiU is in Europe.
 
I tend to relate to Sessler when he talks about games but he sometimes comes across as clueless when he talks about the hardware and marketting side of things.

I don't remember the exact wording but I do remember him thinking the original Epic Mickey didn't have voice-acting because the Wii couldn't handle it.
 
If there is going to be another crash, it would be only for consoles. PCs and iOS would still thrive.
PCs? On a significantly lower level. iOS? Nope. It isn't even "thriving" now. Five companies get 85% of the revenue, more than ten thousand companies fight over the remaining 15%. 15% of a cake that is much smaller than the hype would make you believe.
 
WiiU is not the Wii, but i think it's possible it sell well enough to keep Nintendo from beeing third party (if that's what they want).
 
I don't know what these guys are thinking, it is like they are impervious to facts. As annoying as Pachter is sometimes, he seems to be pretty spot on with Nintendo and I totally agree with him.

Nintendo's day 1 profit business model plus their war chest accumulated from the DS/Wii has given them a lot of room for error with the Wii-U. Even if it is only a niche console a la Gamecube, it still won't cause them to sink. They can always reboot in 4 years and try again. Losing relevance is a definite risk, but things move so fast these days and people have little loyalty to brands. If you have the special product like the Wii was, irrelevance is a small hurdle.

I still think it is ridiculously early to be jumping onto the "Nintendoom" bandwagon. The console has been out 3.5 months and there hasn't been a major 1st party release this year. If things don't pick up during the next holiday period, likely after a price cut and major 1st party titles like Kart and 3D Mario, and possibly a more robust Wii Sports, then sure, Nintendo needs to start planning their next console in earnest and really evaluate who their audience is going to be for that console, something I'm not sure they did with the Wii-U.

That said, I am enjoying mine. I will be buying plenty of games for it this year.
 
I wonder if a powerful Portable will be ideal tho. Without a console Third parties would ignore them even more than they do now. Then you have the sweet spot price to worry about as handhelds have diminished in the states somewhat. I dont see the portable only route being a great one.

I agree, a handheld focus is probably their best bet at this point. By adding a tv-out they can make it a hybrid console/handheld.

So, they invest on a costly feature that forces them to raise the price of their console in spite of the weaker hardware? That kind of argument isn't sustainable when they included a costly brick with it (even if not "within" it).

The gamepad is a huge miscalculation on their part, nobody cares about it and it effects the price of the console immensely.
 
I think it's sad how many of these uninformed and lurid comments get attention, I never saw a good analysis, just bold statements.


Noone ever mentions that the most important part for them is to get the Wii U profitable in the production, after this point, they earn money no matter what they do.

Furthermore, noone considers that the Yen plays an important role, that they're concentrating on the second part of the year (short-term effect), finished their restructure (long-term effect), 3DS should pick up, etc.

Just adding these points since everyone knows the negative sites.


This whole discussion is nothing more than schoolyard-journalism.
 
Nintendo will flounder and everyone will spout doom until all the following happen:

Mario Kart comes out
A new 3D Mario platformer comes out
Wii Fit U comes out
Price cut happens

After that, the Wii U will putter along at Gamecube levels and Nintendo will be "fine."

I don't know why people always say that Mario 3D is a system seller. It has always sold far far less than the NSMB series. And the Wii U started with one of those, which makes the Wii U situation seem really dire to me.
 
The "small amount of shareholders and inward looking" thing is dull.

If they were inward looking, the Wii and the DS would never had existed.

If they were inward looking, they would have released a more powerful DS and a more powerful Wii and that's it. No messing round with new innovations / gimmicks (take your pick)

The are 2 machines out there that are interested in having a graphical arms race.
I'm amazed people can criticize Nintendo for not being one of them, especially after the GC and the Wii.
 
isn't this the same guy who said that the vita would crush the 3DS in one of those Bonus Rounds in GTTV??
 
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