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[Tripon]

As anticipated by some (cough cough), the Wii U is a dud. It’s actually much worse than a dud. As of right now, it’s a colossal failure. Maybe some key holiday releases alleviate the issue. But the fact is that it’s a poor concept accentuated by poor hardware. If Nintendo was smart, they’d write it off right now.

But they won’t. They’ll wait. And wait. And wait. They’ll cite history as their guide that their consoles can take a while to become profitable. But they’ll be wrong this time.

Meanwhile, the Nintendo 2DS will come out and will probably sell quite well at first thanks to a well-timed Pokemon release. But all the 2DS really is is an admission that the 3DS is ultimately a failure.

“But! But! But! Profitable!” Sure, a few years after release. Nintendo isn’t releasing the 2DS just for the hell of it. They realize the metrics that really matter: that the 3DS is tracking roughly 20 percent behind its predecessor in terms of sales. That’s not only not a good trend, it’s a devastating one (after a few early price cuts, to boot). A couple more of those and we have a company on the brink.

“But! Long-term thinking!” The concept of “long-term thinking” is what people always cite when something is failing right now. The issue here is that, again, Nintendo doesn’t actually have a lot of time to fix what ails them. Sure, no one likes the knee-jerk reaction, the quick fix. But sitting around and “waiting it out” is far worse in this case.

“But! But! Cash hoard!” Oh. Right. You know who else has a cash hoard? BlackBerry. It’s doing them a lot of good right now. It will help with their sale price, that’s about it. In other news, Steve Ballmer was sitting on his cash hoard when he was kicked out the door…

The excuses go on. The key here is that Nintendo is on the path of failure for a couple very simple reasons:

They have failed to make great products for a number of years now.
The market is rapidly changing around them.

It’s hard to say which is worse. I’ll go with number two because I do think Nintendo could weather number one — as they have in the past — for quite a long time.

http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/04/nintendont/

Okay OP, post an article without saying anything. That'll totally go well. Especially when it's as inflammatory as this and has no backing for it's bashing of the 3DS.

I've been asked by EMTO to add my two sense. Here goes:

I posted this because I figured somebody would have eventually. I feel like MG Sielger (writer) is using the responses that Nintendo offered to previous mistakes (3DS --> 2DS) as further mistakes which I don't agree with.

Nintendo's has a bad product with the Wii U right now, but their death has been greatly exaggerated.

 

[Taurus]

Nintendoomed. Always.

 

[Ban Puncher]

 

[schwabdizzle]

Nintendo is not dead. The 3DS proves that. I just think the Wii U is overpriced even at $299

 

[Nyoro SF]

Reminds me of 3DS doom articles.

 

[Holy Order Sol]

They have failed to make great products for a number of years now.

lol

 

[Aureon]

*sigh*
Closing any console very early is way too much of a confidence loss to be nearly as doable for Nintendo.

 

[Riki]

Since 1889.

 

[G0523]

Yes, let's completely overlook the fact that the Wii put Nintendo in a comfortable financial position for this next generation.

This guy is baiting HARD.

 

[clem84]

Very insightful article... Doesn't sound biased at all.

 

[Snaku]

Yet Nintendo will still be making gaming hardware long after Microsoft and Sony have given up on it.

 

[j0hnny_385]

But all the 2DS really is is an admission that the 3DS is ultimately a failure.

*sigh*

edit:

Nintendo needs to make a case for why stand-alone gaming should still exist

holy shit! this guy keeps on giving.

grabspopcorn.gif

 

[IAmMonodi]

Do they depend on a parent company that will puppet their creative direction?

No?

Then shut it.

 

[redcrayon]

Christ, if Sony's PS3 was only tracking 20% behind what the PS2 managed, they'd be ecstatic.

I also love the way it says 'a couple more of those and they are finished'. It's great predicting what's going to happen a decade out in a technology business as, by the time it rolls around, the website you said it on is probably defunct.

Finally, two data points is not a trend. A trend is looking at the peaks and troughs of their handheld business over the last 24 years and realising that, while the DS is a high point, the 3DS isn't proven to be anything to worry about until it or its successor actually fails.

 

[akidnamededdy]

What else is new.

 

[flippedb]

People get paid to write this shit!

 

[Captain Tuttle]

Saw this earlier, was going to post this. He raises some good points

 

[Kater]

Hehe

 

[cyberheater]

Yes, let's completely overlook the fact that the Wii put Nintendo in a comfortable financial position for this next generation.

Which they have managed to fuck up.

 

[Gamerloid]

Thank you OP for quoting a lot from the article. They aren't getting a click from me with such nonsense. No great products in a number of years? Whatever you say...

 

[G0523]

Saw this earlier, was going to post this. He raises some good points

...for a...?

 

[Fox318]

Nintendo is the Blackberry of the gaming world?

Good comparison.

 

[Sendou]

But they still make good products. In my opinion their games are the best this industry has to offer and I know I'm not alone with that opinion. Their hardware isn't all that amazing when compared to competition but it's still called video games industry for a reason. I don't really understand the BlackBerry comparision at all.

Comparing 3DS to DS is always little shaky. DS was one in a lifetime product. Nintendo can't replicate that until there's some major revolutions in video game hardware. It's still outselling the closest thing to it there is and that's Vita. Not a great achievement but still we don't have much to go here.

 

[alterego]

It's a shame but Nintendo is no longer relevant. The world has moved on.

 

[abstract alien]

People get paid to write this shit!

We have obviously been grinding in the wrong field. This is EASY money right here.

 

[EMT0]

Okay OP, post an article without saying anything. That'll totally go well. Especially when it's as inflammatory as this and has no backing for it's bashing of the 3DS.

 

[Sophia]

Five minutes of editing on MG Siegler's part would have been the difference between a reasonably informed article about Nintendo's situation, and one that sounds like fanboy drivel.

 

[Tuck]

"Nintendo does not have a lot of time"

Uhh... what? Yes they do. They have a boatload of cash to fall back on.

 

[Riki]

Which they have managed to fuck up.

Not even close. The loses they've incurred so far aren't even close to the profits they made the last generation.

 

[Taurus]

Nintendo isn’t just failing because their hardware is sub-par. They’re failing because they continue to try to re-tool the Model T while the competition is building Ferraris. Meanwhile, those they don’t yet perceieve as competition are building Teslas. And others still are out there building rocketships. All the while, Nintendo is sleeping at night on their pillow of profits dreaming like Mario at the end of Super Mario Brothers 2.

Holy fucking shit this guy! Sony and Microsoft to a some point have lost billions of dollars building these fucking Ferraris and Teslas.

The difference is Nintendo can't do it the same way Sony and Microsoft do. Sony and MS have other sources of income while Nintendo has only gaming. There's multiple ways to be succesful in game industry and although hardcore gamers usually don't understand why Nintendo does things the way it does doesn't mean it can't be succesful.

What a piece of shit article.

 

[chaosblade]

Yeah, having no home console market presence at all for 3 years is better than having an under-performing product, right?

It never ceases to amaze me how many people think Nintendo can just magically launch a new console within a matter of months and go on like the WiiU never happened. Or that cutting it and not having any presence in the market won't massively damage their image to the point of likely forcing them out of the market altogether.


Also, the 3DS part of the article is pretty hilarious. Did anyone legitimately expect the 3DS to become the best selling game system of all time? I.e., what it would effectively have to do in order to outsell the DS. The 3DS is doing pretty damn well.

 

[flippedb]

By the way, thanks for copying the article here, OP. There's no way I'm giving clicks to that lol

 

[Vintage_Creep]

Worst case scenario they go all portable next gen. I can live with that.

 

[G0523]

Which they have managed to fuck up.

Anything after the colossal success of the Wii would have been seen as a failure. People need to get over that and move on.

 

[Daedardus]

Techcrunch desperate for clicks confirmed. Who's actually doomed?

 

[Kai Dracon]

"Nintendo does not have a lot of time"

Uhh... what? Yes they do. They have a boatload of cash to fall back on.

The article addresses that. The cash they have doesn't matter at all! Why? Because it says so.

 

[borghe]

Think that about covers it.

 

[GulAtiCa]

What a horrible article. And 3DS is a failure? What? Lol

 

[daninthemix]

People get paid to write this shit!

That's the problem with a lot of journalism - web pages/print pages need to be filled.

The motivation is often that something - anything - needs to be written, rather than there being something worthy of writing.

 

[SmokyDave]

Nintendo definitely don't have as rosy a future as many would have you believe, but I think 'on the path to failure' is an exaggeration. They do need to step their game up though.

Meanwhile, the Nintendo 2DS will come out and will probably sell quite well at first thanks to a well-timed Pokemon release. But all the 2DS really is is an admission that the 3DS is ultimately a failure.

I totally can't jive with this bit. The 2DS is a sign that Nintendo still 'get it'. It's a really good move and will go some way to getting their handhelds back on track.

 

[Vinnk]

Definition of failure:

20% behind the most successful product in the history of your industry.

 

[Captain Tuttle]

...for a...?

A decent discussion?

 

[Daedardus]

That's the problem with a lot of journalism - web pages/print pages need to be filled.

The motivation is often that something - anything - needs to be written, rather than there being something worthy of writing.

Journalism isn't about quality anymore, it's about quantity.

 

[Taurus]

What a horrible article. And 3DS is a failure? What? Lol

I would like to hear this guy's definition of Vita if 3DS is a failure.

 

[eznark]

MG Seigler is a "phone gaming is the future" guy. I am shocked by this article.

 

[Bkey]

What do they expect Nintendo to do? Release a new machine in under a year or two and some how magically have games for this new system in that time? If the Wii U was just as powerful as the PS4 and was released last year the third party support would be about the same as it is now. Everyone thinks they can run a multi billion dollar company these days.

 

[DaBoss]

2DS is an admission that the 3DS is a failure, what? It admits that 3D shouldn't have been the main selling point of the 3DS, it should be the games, which is why it was selling, not 3D.

 

[Coxy]

Anything after the colossal success of the Wii would have been seen as a failure. People need to get over that and move on.

people really need to stop making this shitty argument, it's not performing poorly in comparison to wii, it's performing poorly in comparison to dreamcast

 

[glaurung]

I want my new Zelda and that Monolith's X game. After I have played my fill of those, my Wii U can self destruct for all I care.

 

[Axass]

Is this guy for real?

They have failed to make great products for a number of years now.

*facepalm*

Meanwhile, the Nintendo 2DS will come out and will probably sell quite well at first thanks to a well-timed Pokemon release.

It will sell millions and millions. It's aimed at kids and costs way less than the 3DS.

But all the 2DS really is is an admission that the 3DS is ultimately a failure

No, it's just diferrentiating your product to please different customers. There will be still plenty of people buying the 3DS because they consider it a higher quality product.

Steve Ballmer was sitting on his cash hoard when he was kicked out the door

How has this something to do with anything? By the way, Ballmer actually made lots more money WHEN he was fired, due to Microsoft's stocks skyrocketing.