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Nikkei says Nintendo about to unveil its approach to mobile development [Update]

Except in three years we'll be playing Zelda on Xbox and it'll look like this!

tumblr_lw8f05gQYT1qjyqixo2_1280.jpg


All he needs now is a gun.

LOL Accept and love it! This is the future of Nintendo!

brb, kickstarting gritty urban zelda
 
I guess Nintendo do need to get theirs a little more when it comes to advertising presence.

They have been preaching to the choir a little too long. I mean really, who apart from press and diehards watch the Nintendo direct?

This plan still rubs me the wrong way however and I can see it going in a way that sucks.
 
Nintendo doesn't understand the mobile market. A lot of the "games" available aren't much more than glorified demos.

This is what will happen:

  1. Nintendo releases polished demo showing off a great game for 3DS
  2. Players love the demo! But are pissed its so short
  3. What Nintendo hopes will happen is for players go buy a 3DS!
  4. What will actually happen is that a legion of shitty copy-cat games will immediatly clone the experience.
  5. Nintendo is thus just providing an instruction demo and free marketing for a type of game that will be cloned to death, but with F2P stuff slapped on. That's how the mobile market works
images


Or they may see how much better their game is selling on mobile and have some hard decisions to make.
 
I'm having a hard time understanding as to how this is suppose to appease investors and help Nintendo's fiscal difficulties. Nintendo unveiling smartphone developments is a start; however, using the smartphone strategy as a form of marketing tool via video or mini-demos does not help their balance sheet in any way or generate positive cash flow.
 
Demos? Lol.

Launch a smartphone Nintendo, do it nooow.

Do you really want Nintendo to make a smartphone? With their current design philosophy it would most likely end up like this:



Except in three years we'll be playing Zelda on Xbox and it'll look like this!

tumblr_lw8f05gQYT1qjyqixo2_1280.jpg


All he needs now is a gun.

LOL Accept and love it! This is the future of Nintendo!

I would play this. Would surely be more enjoyable than Skyward Sword.
 
Nintendo doesn't understand the mobile market. A lot of the "games" available aren't much more than glorified demos.

This is what will happen:

  1. Nintendo releases polished demo showing off a great game for 3DS
  2. Players love the demo! But are pissed its so short
  3. What Nintendo hopes will happen is for players go buy a 3DS!
  4. What will actually happen is that a legion of shitty copy-cat games will immediatly clone the experience.
  5. Nintendo is thus just providing an instruction demo and free marketing for a type of game that will be cloned to death, but with F2P stuff slapped on. That's how the mobile market works

And that's not gonna happen I believe. If anything, the experience will be a very basic one. Just enough to have a nice contrast to the advertised game (in this case one of 3DS).
 
I'm having a hard time understanding as to how this is suppose to appease investors and help Nintendo's fiscal difficulties. Nintendo unveiling smartphone developments is a start; however, using the smartphone strategy as a form of marketing tool via video or mini-demos does not help their balance sheet in any way or generate positive cash flow.

Honestly it feels like a delay. The get a few quarters to get this going, then they get a few more quarters to ask for patience. Please understand.
 
Nintendo doesn't understand the mobile market. A lot of the "games" available aren't much more than glorified demos.

This is what will happen:

  1. Nintendo releases polished demo showing off a great game for 3DS
  2. Players love the demo! But are pissed its so short
  3. What Nintendo hopes will happen is for players go buy a 3DS!
  4. What will actually happen is that a legion of shitty copy-cat games will immediatly clone the experience.
  5. Nintendo is thus just providing an instruction demo and free marketing for a type of game that will be cloned to death, but with F2P stuff slapped on. That's how the mobile market works

Truth bomb right here :(
 
I see Mad man Stump has passed through already. 😀
But yeah, I hope there's more on the plate from Iwata. I seem to recall him mentioning something about pricing structure for their hardware and software too..
 
Nintendo doesn't understand the mobile market. A lot of the "games" available aren't much more than glorified demos.

This is what will happen:

  1. Nintendo releases polished demo showing off a great game for 3DS
  2. Players love the demo! But are pissed its so short
  3. What Nintendo hopes will happen is for players go buy a 3DS!
  4. What will actually happen is that a legion of shitty copy-cat games will immediatly clone the experience.
  5. Nintendo is thus just providing an instruction demo and free marketing for a type of game that will be cloned to death, but with F2P stuff slapped on. That's how the mobile market works

It's a calculated risk. Let's not underestimate the process of making a great game, even with good reference. If it were so easy, other developers would have done it already -- good mobile games already exist, yet cheap imitations hardly ever pick up. Plus, recognizable brands are part of what gets the job done -- and much like making a fun game, creating a successful icon is hard.

See Rovio, for example. It's stupid easy to make an Angry Birds clone, but how come they made so much money and other developers who emulated their basic concept didn't?
 
As I said above, I suspect the demo part was either mistranslation or misinterpretation,.

Simple minigames tied to upcoming retail releases? Sure, but I have a hard time imagining that Nintendo would go to the lengths of porting 3DS or Wii U engines to Wii U purely for promotional purposes. If they're not doing paid apps, and I assume they aren't, it won't be anything you'd mistake for a "real" Wii U or 3DS game.

The App Store reviews should be pretty amusing, though...
 
How is a Nintendo app that has game trailers going to increase Nintendo's profits when the only people that will download it or Nintendo fans. Its pointless and shows that Nintendo doesn't understand what investors want. Its a half passed measure that appeases nobody.
My comment was about your disdain for Nintendo Direct content, which people here have time and time again have similarly lodged complaints against with the same arguments.

But that aside, if the problem you say with this approach is that people who don't follow Nintendo news doesn't get exposure to them, then the solution is to expand their reach to other platforms that have high visibility. Just because IGN and such exist, it doesn't mean that Nintendo shouldn't maintain a good website of their own to advertise their current products or have Facebook and Twitter pages. If people are searching for Mario or whatever on their smart devices, wouldn't it be helpful to bring up actual Nintendo-related content instead of useless apps?
 
This sounds like precisely the sort of flailing attempt at adjusting to a changing mobile landscape that I would expect from Nintendo right now. Demos and videos are not going to convince people to get a dedicated handheld. Demos will play right into what 90% of kids are expecting from their phones (short games, free to download), but I don't imagine that they'll convince anyone to spend money on hardware. If anything, it will give them just enough of the product that they won't feel any need to buy the handheld device.

Who knows though; maybe this will be exactly the thing to convince everyone to go buy hardware, but if demos and videos are all it is, I don't think it will get them anywhere at all.
 
Ridiculously good post

Well, yep, there isn't much more to add on to this. I want to see the current plan as one aspect of a bigger picture but if the last 3 years of Nintendo have taught me anything it's to go with what has been reliably leaked and only that much when it comes to what they're doing.
 
Nintendo doesn't already have any sort mobile app to market their shit? They really live in a bubble, huh.
 
I see Mad man Stump has passed through already. 😀
But yeah, I hope there's more on the plate from Iwata. I seem to recall him mentioning something about pricing structure for their hardware and software too..

Ultra ultra hard Zelda with permanent death, only 8 pounds, want to continue and not restart the whole game ? 2 pounds.
 
How does this make any sense....

The marketting app makes no sense if they're thinking it will get new people into their games. It really only helps us for keeping in touch when we don't have our devices with us.

However, game demos or special sorts of experiences for mobile and tablets might but I'm still sceptical. Take your average phone gaming casual player. Somehow they hear about a new Mario test game on their phone that's free. They go "Oo, cool, I used to like that Mario guy." so they download it and play it, having a nice bit of bite sized phone fun like they do normally. Now what? They go back to Candy Crush I imagine. I don't think it gets them to then go "OK, I need to buy a Wii U".

Now, what Nintendo really need to do is make a really compelling free game like Candy Crush or Puzzle and Dragons, then have one single In App Purchase to proceed - "Buy Wii U". Financial Woes solved.

Can't wait for Friday!
 
The marketting app makes no sense if they're thinking it will get new people into their games. It really only helps us for keeping in touch when we don't have our devices with us.

However, game demos or special sorts of experiences for mobile and tablets might but I'm still sceptical. Take your average phone gaming casual player. Somehow they hear about a new Mario test game on their phone that's free. They go "Oo, cool, I used to like that Mario guy." so they download it and play it, having a nice bit of bite sized phone fun like they do normally. Now what? They go back to Candy Crush I imagine. I don't think it gets them to then go "OK, I need to buy a Wii U".

Now, what Nintendo really need to do is make a really compelling free game like Candy Crush or Puzzle and Dragons, then have one single In App Purchase to proceed - "Buy Wii U". Financial Woes solved.

I would buy a Rhythm Heaven game on iOS for a HIGH price.
 
i would like to see something like a rayman jungle run type thing to help boost their brands, in a timely matter. for example donkey kong wii u is coming out, so why not release a decent touch based spinoff, based maybe around the minecart and rocket barrel levels which are perfectly suited to one input touch control. people buy the game, get a good experience so they don't feel tricked, but also realize that they could get an even better one with the full hd game (or the 3ds one). even if they don't want to splurge it at least keeps the brands in public view.

a pure marketing app would suck.
 
If it's only advertisements and demos it will hardly do anything good for them but it's not bad. Well better than nothing I guess :P.

Yeah, I think free demos on iOS could work well.

But the demos have to be strong.

Dude plays Nintendo game demo on iOS (lol). He than says: Wow I really like the game where can I get the full version. Hmm it's not on iOS, wait what? I have to buy $300 hardware and put another $60 on a game?! Fuck that. This app will do nothing outside of already interested people just like the Directs. Also putting just demos on iOS seems like a waste of resources I'm calling mistranslation or misinterpretation
 
The worst thing that can happen (to hardcore enthusiast Nintendo fans) is if whatever initiative they do and it actually becomes successful, whether its demos, specific games for mobile, ports etc.

Consider that the 3DS will see a overall lower YOY sales this year in comparison to 2013, without Pokemon, Monster Hunter and Animal Crossing its just not going to see those kinds of numbers, not even DQ will offset it. Consider that Wii U is, for all intents and purposes, a console in a casket having the nails being shut as we speak and you can easily imagine a scenario where some ports/demos/games for mobile could really break out and really send a message to management and investors that this is something they should consider investing further in, then you can start to worry, not so much for the company, but for what you perceive(d) Nintendo to be, and what they could potentially become in the future.

It is going to be a interesting year for them, who knows where we are at in 12 months time in regards to Nintendo, Iwata might not even the main man anymore, mobile could potentially give them a boost, which from a business perspective is a positive but from a selfish-fan oriented point of view is scary.
 
Official app, demos and trailers sounds reasonable. I also believe putting a VC app out for ios/android would be clever, and I don't think that would hurt handheld/console sales at all (who buys a handheld/console primarily for vc anyway?)
 
can some tell what this all means for Nintendo
A lot of new threads on NeoGAF ;)

We don't know the full extent of their plans, so I'll just wait. Nintendo Direct and Miiverse apps are my first guesses. Game demo's won't be there, but I still think we'll get compagnion apps.
 
can some tell what this all means for Nintendo

In my view, it is evidence of their will to stay on the hardware business. Nintendo has largely failed to promote their philosophy, singularity and brand in the past years. I think the reason Nintendo hardware isn't selling is largely due to Nintendo's lack of effort in training and informing consumers. If this is played well, interest in IPs such as Mario, Smash Bros., Zelda will be both revived and conveyed to new generations, resulting in better sales of their respective systems.
 
A Nintendo app for Nintendo owners sounds like a good idea. It will not attract any buyers for Nintendo hw though.

Videos or small free games to advertise Nintendo properties is risky. At best kids learn that besides Angry Birds there is also a plumber known as Mario. At worst you get Angry Gamers though, who download a Mario game just to get the disappointment that it is a soulless/short/cheap/whatever advertisement for a full game on a different hardware which will result in plenty of critical reviews on the stores.

A better idea would be to release some old SNES games on mobile (the full versions).
 
So the idea is to reach more potential buyers by advertising and stuff on mobile devices. ok. That's a start I guess. I would like more of a companion app for Nintendo games. We have our phones on us/next to us though out most of the day. They should try to take advantage of that aspect.
 
A lot of new threads on NeoGAF ;)

Nintendo Direct and Miiverse apps are my first guesses. Game demo's won't be there, but I still think we'll get compagnion apps.

All it probably means is Nintendo branded apps where people can learn about all of Nintendo's upcoming games for the entire family.

I think this approach is great actually. It raises awareness without jeopardizing their brand value.

Pretty much. This is the only resonable explanation to their "approach to mobile development".
 
Is Nintendo stock falling after this announcement?
TSE (Nintendo Co.Ltd.) closed at ¥13,260, opened at 13,350. NASDAQ (NTDOY) is currently at $16.1, fell 0.31%. Though it's After-Market Hours there now.
 
I am not too worried as Nintendo is just using the mobile market to promote their hardware and games. They won't put any Virtual console or full blown games up, so you can rule those out.

Except in three years we'll be playing Zelda on Xbox and it'll look like this!

tumblr_lw8f05gQYT1qjyqixo2_1280.jpg


All he needs now is a gun.

LOL Accept and love it! This is the future of Nintendo!

Ha ha ha, no that isn't going to happen and don't show that crap picture in my face again.
 
Sure, but they're likely NOT putting full games on it according to this article.

Yeah, still I think Nintendo should dabble in making a few titles for mobile that are well suited for the platform. Stuff like RT and Kirby Canvas Curse would work well as well as light puzzle games.
 
so game apps and at best games like Knack Quest which only add to your game (like unlocking collectibles)

you know if they wanted to try Dr.Mario could work
Yep, no one cares about Dr. Mario, but it'd still be a good seller without harming the "exclusitivity" of owning a Nintendo console. Not to mention they could make endless runners or "Mushroom Kingdom" where you get to manage a farm ran by Toads or something.
 
Demos would be a bad way to go. They should just make smaller offshoot games using their IP, that are specifically designed for mobile devices. Kinda like what Rayman Jungle Run did, its not the full console experience but works well on the device and helps promote the brand.
 
Nintendo doesn't understand the mobile market. A lot of the "games" available aren't much more than glorified demos.

This is what will happen:

  1. Nintendo releases polished demo showing off a great game for 3DS
  2. Players love the demo! But are pissed its so short
  3. What Nintendo hopes will happen is for players go buy a 3DS!
  4. What will actually happen is that a legion of shitty copy-cat games will immediatly clone the experience.
  5. Nintendo is thus just providing an instruction demo and free marketing for a type of game that will be cloned to death, but with F2P stuff slapped on. That's how the mobile market works

King and Gameloft are waiting lol
 
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