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[Version 3.0]

Nintendo's made too many to list, but here's my favorite, I think:

Component cable only available at nintendo.com.

And then removing the component-out port from the Gamecube.

Their reason for removing the port? "Less than 1% of our
customer base was making use of it". Morons. That's because the cord isn't
sold in stores! I'm willing to bet that "less than 1%" of all their accessories' sales
are made online--controllers, memory cards, etc. So of course nobody bought the component cables. If they were in stores, their sales would multipy astronomically. Duh,
Nintendo.

You know what's funny? They sell the broadband adaptor in stores--always
have, and there are exactly 5 games that are capable of using it.
But the component cable is impossible to get, despite the fact that over 100
games support it.

 

[Deku]

Seems like just a list of things where people rub in old wounds about some developer doing this or that and not giving their favorite console certain games.
To be honest, most business decisions this gen are fairly sound. Here's my list.


My list.

- Yamauchi staying long enough to see the GameCube designed but leaving it to someone else to execute. The GC project should have been entirely under new management. I think the shifting of corporate leadership hurt the GC as much as anything.

- The Nintendo on-line service (well its more like no business decision)

- Sony letting MS getting a hold of the US market with 4 billion is subsidies

- Sony dropping the ball with their on-line service / pissing off Squaresoft with FFXI support.

- Microsoft buying RARE.

- No backlight on GBA.

- N-Gage

 

[Frankfurter]

It's Nintendo's fault that they bombed because they did fuck all to promote the games that sold the GC.

If we exclude PN03 (which afaik bombed really hard) than there is no Capcom GC exclusive that even nearly bombed.
RE4 could break 1.5 million on the GC till the end of the year - and that's with a business wise fucking silly announcement of the PS2 version (including bonus material etc.) - which means that it could even be able to sell 2m and perfectly fit Capcoms target!
The other two major Resident Evil games for GC are also both well above a million (RE0 about 1.19m and RE Remake about 1.24m), VJ1 sold really good on GC, but more or less bombed on PS2 (and then VJ2 bombed more or less on Cube and bombed hardly on PS2) so what the fuck was wrong with this deal (that's an overall question at the other ones, that claim this was a dumb decision)?

My favorite three (without an order):
- delay of Zelda: TP (although I'm really happy they didn't release an ... 80% complete game, but business wise it definitely wasn't good)
- 479 Euros launch price for Xbox in Europe
- purple Cube as standard

 

[Version 3.0]

I take it back, here's a list. Being a Nintendo fan is like having a really hot, but stupid girlfriend with a drug addiction--she keeps getting fired, arrested, has all kinds of problems, but you can't get away 'cause the one thing she does right is too damn good.

Stupid things Nintendo has done lately (my list, unfortunately still growing):

1. Repeatedly knocking online gaming--ignoring it would be prudent if they weren't going to do it. Knocking it is stupid.

2. The GBA link cable. Stupid enough by itself, but cramming it down everyone's throat is worse.

3. Publicly stating (repeatedly) that gaming hardware doesn't need to advance. Despite repeated clarification, and true or not, that was dumb.

4. Whoring out Mario for 3rd-party games. It'll only continue to water down his appeal.

5. Making Link uber-ugly. I'm not talking about the cell-shading, it looked great. I'm talking about the nasty character design, which helped dig the Gamecube's "kiddie" grave.

6. Promising LAN play for Gamecube games, then slaughtering it--not to mention not doing it after just 3 games. In LAN mode of Mario Kart, you can't choose your character. None of the 3 LAN-enabled games (all racing games) has any kind of multiplayer Grand Prix mode.

7. Leaving out buttons in the Gamecube controller design. By not having pressable sticks, a select button, or a left-side "Z" button, (a total of 4 fewer buttons than the competition) Nintendo alienated cross-platform developers. I mean, alienated them more than they already were.

8. Not having demo discs in Nintendo Power. Both of Nintendo's competitors have magazines with demos, which is a great way to generate interest and sell games.

9. Not selling Component cables for the Gamecube in stores. Covered already.

10. Removing the component-out port from Gamecubes--also covered.

11. Super Mario Sunshine's ad campaign. Those ads were so appalling, I guarantee they drove away customers--and sunk Nintendo further into the "kiddie" image they're cursed with.

I've got more...

 

[GhaleonEB]

how so?

Bad business decisions this gen

Ahem.

 

[TheQueen'sOwn]

11. Super Mario Sunshine's ad campaign. Those ads were so appalling, I guarantee they drove away customers--and sunk Nintendo further into the "kiddie" image they're cursed with.

Haha.. Clean is better than dirty!

 

[Stinkles]

RE: The Handle on Cube

how was that a bad business decision? that actually came in handy for me. i used to move my consoles all the time from the small tv in my room to the larger one in the living room. its a shame there werent many good Lan games for the cube, because the console was perfectly designed for Lan parties.

Bad business, not bad ergonomics. A purple cube with a handle. It looked like Barney's handbag. That alone kept college kids from buying it by the thousands.

And my two cents on the no-component cable: Nintendo actually justified it by saying it wasn't popular, without copping to the fact that it couldn't POSSIBLY have been popular since you can't buy the motherfucker. Then removed the digital port to add insult to injury. Then rolled all that shit up into a sticky ball of, "Revolution doesn't need HD because teh kids hate it."

 

[[Nintex]]

Nintendo's mistakes :
Gamecube launch without Mario 128

The starfox franchise

Losing factor 5, silicon Knights and RARE

Bringing out the great games to late in gamecube's lifecycle:
DK JB, Pikmin 2, Zelda TP

No Online support

Releasing a smash bros bundle summer 2005

Microsoft's mistake :

Buying the highly overated N64 developer RARE.

 

[bitwise]

gamecube

 

[Sapiens]

 

[Gantz]

Sony wasting and not utilizing the hard drive and online play to the fullest potential.

Sony not pimping the PSP enough with game developers and developing original games.

 

[koam]

Wind Waker over Twilight Princess is the one that pissed me off the most.

 

[LakeEarth]

Not putting any hard effort into Enter The Matrix. Sure they could release any piece of crap (which they did) and it would sell (which it did), but then any sequel you put out there is gonna sell like shit because the last one sucked. Sometimes they gotta think ahead.

 

[Scrow]

Ahem.

heh, good point. i keep thinking of x360 as "this gen" for some reason. probably just because it's the first.

 

[Duderz]

MS purchasing Rare for hundreds of millions of dollars.

In terms of pure business, this was a catastrophe that doesn't look to be made up any time soon, even in the next-gen. Was it $350 million? That's a lot of money.

Sakaguchi's The Spirit's Within. Most of the money they made on the PlayStation lost in one fell swoop in 1999. No wonder Square was stumbling out of the gates this gen.

Nintendo's Connectivity. Just what were they thinking?

Sega's exclusive content to XBox. Of course, this isn't too surprising - a bunch of monkeys run that company.

Sony's release of the PSX in Japan. Ouch.

 

[Schmo Florez]

15 billion Tony Hawk games. C'mon Activision! Give me a break!

 

[cvxfreak]

Purely on business? Xbox never being profitable.

 

[lethial]

No real, good Mario (imo) this gen was a bad move.

 

[TAJ]

>>>Sega exclusives for Xbox...<<<

Money hats FTW.
Guaranteed money > risk.
Not a bad business decision.

 

[genjiZERO]

Nintendo not releasing the Spice Orange GC in NA
Sony only having 2 controller ports
Microsoft for spending 5 billion on nothing

 

[genjiZERO]

>>>Sega exclusives for Xbox...<<<

Money hats FTW.
Guaranteed money > risk.
Not a bad business decision.

Then why not Tecmo too? DOA and Ninja Gaiden would have sold way more if they were released on PS2.

 

[Suikoguy]

Then why not Tecmo too? DOA and Ninja Gaiden would have sold way more if they were released on PS2.

Ninja Gaiden.. maybe
DOA, probably not

 

[The Take Out Bandit]

Sega exclusives for Xbox...

This isn't much of a problem as it was mostly rehashed Dreamcast era rubbish like Jet Shit Radio, House of the Unworthy to Lick the Boots of VC Dead, and uh - some other shit.

I think Sega just needed to learn a lesson and they still had a bit of the Dreamcast era retardation blurring their vision. Now it seems someone is cracking the whip and keeping those bitches in line. More VF on consoles named Playstation; less bullshit. K'thxbye!

Oh and Phantasy Star Online finally. Stupid ass Yuji Naka. Go make out with Itagaki off company time you moron!

Worst business decision?

Releasing Shantae on the GBC around the same time the GBA was launching. Sure the GBA screen was garbage, but the game probably could have sold a bit better on fancypants new hardware.

Meh.

 

[JoDark]

No online in GT4 STILL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sony dropping the ball on the HD. HUGE f-up!

Nintendo and their crazy ass connectivity; and continually fixated on how going online is "hard"...

MS cost of building the Xbox so high that they can't really cost reduce.

SMS, MAKING you get the stars up to the water Mario in every level... meaning you had to get the damn coin chase quests.

The biggest for me? Sony's anal firmware upgrades forcing me to stop buying games. I would easily have bought 4-5 over the last few months but NEVER at the cost of my loving NES collection. NEVER. i will wait for the price to drop to buy a second one before wasting the best hh ever's best function. DUMB ASSES!!!

 

[Suburban Cowboy]

well the biggest mistakes i can think of the top of my head:

1. M$ buying rare (SUCKERS!)
2. Cel Shaded Zelda (Face it, that decision hurt sales more than it not being a complete game)
3. Anything M$ said about any game prior to its release (Whether it be Fable, Blinx, Brute Force...)


Also i heard someone mentioning that not having a back lit GBA was a mistake. This obviously is not true because it helped sell SP's. Thats like saying it was a mistake for Sony to build PS2 like a piece of shit cause it forced owners to buy the console multiple times. Im sure they feel just horrible about that...

 

[DjangoReinhardt]

- Sony's godawful online plan (AKA giftwrapping a niche for MS)

 

[Mashing]

I really love how people say Nintendo make bad business decisions despite the FACT that they make more profit than both Sony and Microsoft. Isn't the goal of any business to make money?

 

[jarrod]

Capcom assfucking themselves by moving the RE franchise to the Gamecube fucking wins this thread.

*que jarrod trying to defend this decision*

No way, it definitely hurt the brand. In fact, almost all Capcom's exclusives ended up limiting brand potential and stunting sales (Resident Evil, Onimusha, Dino Crisis, Steel Batallion, Dragon Quarter, MegaMan X, etc). Capcom should've stuck to their mantra of "all games, all platforms" they were pushing while transitioning from DC to PS2. To be honest though, this is a problem with all the major JP publishers (Konami, SEGA, Square Enix, Namco Bandai). They'd all be better of had they adopted the western attitude of more porting around.

 

[cvxfreak]

No way, it definitely hurt the brand. In fact, almost all Capcom's exclusives ended up limiting brand potential and stunting sales (Resident Evil, Onimusha, Dino Crisis, Steel Batallion, Dragon Quarter, MegaMan X, etc). Capcom should've stuck to their mantra of "all games, all platforms" they were pushing while transitioning from DC to PS2. To be honest though, this is a problem with all the major JP publishers (Konami, SEGA, Square Enix, Namco Bandai). They'd all be better of had they adopted the western attitude of more porting around.

Then everyone would go and buy a GameCube

 

[jarrod]

>>>Sega exclusives for Xbox...<<<

Money hats FTW.
Guaranteed money > risk.
Not a bad business decision.

Too bad the exclusives only netted SEGA a royalty cut deal and free ads for games which never sold. A pretty far cry from "guaranteed money". That's why Smilebit was chopped in half and TJ&E productions shut down.

 

[HomerSimpson-Man]

Resident Evil being moved to GC, seriously WTF?! Than Mikami turning his back and badmouthing practically the machines that had the RE fanbase in the first place!!

 

[jarrod]

I really love how people say Nintendo make bad business decisions despite the FACT that they make more profit than both Sony and Microsoft. Isn't the goal of any business to make money?

Good point. Looking strictly at getting any return on your investment, Xbox easily becomes the worst business decision in gaming aince Atari's ET. Obviously Xbox isn't an outright failure, there's a strategic push there but... people are being a bit unfair to GameCube I think. Business wise, it probably had the safest market strategy out of all the current gen consoles (including Dreamcast), and is the only one to actually turn a tangible profit... without cooking any books at least.

 

[Borys]

This isn't much of a problem as it was mostly rehashed Dreamcast era rubbish like Jet Shit Radio, House of the Unworthy to Lick the Boots of VC Dead, and uh - some other shit.

I think Sega just needed to learn a lesson and they still had a bit of the Dreamcast era retardation blurring their vision. Now it seems someone is cracking the whip and keeping those bitches in line. More VF on consoles named Playstation; less bullshit. K'thxbye!

Oh and Phantasy Star Online finally. Stupid ass Yuji Naka. Go make out with Itagaki off company time you moron!

Worst business decision?

Releasing Shantae on the GBC around the same time the GBA was launching. Sure the GBA screen was garbage, but the game probably could have sold a bit better on fancypants new hardware.

Meh.

Dude, you're a fucking beast, I mean you're fucking the best!

 

[cvxfreak]

Resident Evil being moved to GC, seriously WTF?! Than Mikami turning his back and badmouthing practically the machines that had the RE fanbase in the first place!!

Well, Mikami's decision on what consoles RE goes to is probably out of his hands (as evidenced by RE4 to PS2), even in the days before the GC announcement. In fact, the GC announcement probably had more to do with Iwata (I think) than Mikami. So Mikami had a free reign to criticize anything he didn't like

 

[jj984jj]

-Nintendo letting Silicon Knights get away although I see why when Dennis explained it

-Nintendo having Silicon Knights work on MGS:TTS

-GBA to GCN connectivity and its lack of continued support

-Nintendo switching presidents at the start of this generation (plans collide)
>One thing that was affected by this was Yamauchi's online plan for the GCN which Iwata didn't support

-Miyamoto not making many games him-self, trying out new talent at EAD too much

-Capcom's decision to support the Gamecube

-Capcom trying to abondon the Gamecube now and not at the beginning of next generation (Shows in ported games sales [VJ, K7])

-Sega's exclusive X-Box games (Panzer Dragoon, Jet Set Radio Future, Otogi, etc.)

-Sega building a fairly large fanbase on the Gamecube just to start ignoring it (Phantasy Star Universe, Super Monkey Ball Deluxe, etc.)

-Sony only having 2 controller ports on PS2

-Sony's PSX

-MS making a non-profitable console just to gain market share

-MS overpaying Nintendo/Stamper bros. for Rare

-Team Ninja making Ninja Gaiden exclusive to X-Box

 

[Raw64life]

Xbox

QFT. Microsoft may consider it a success, but they still lost over 4 billion dollars on it.

 

[LakeEarth]

I really love how people say Nintendo make bad business decisions despite the FACT that they make more profit than both Sony and Microsoft. Isn't the goal of any business to make money?

Yes they keep making money but at the cost of their marketshare. Once that drops to too low a level, then there won't be any profit to be had. But I think Nintendo saw this coming, which explains the risk they're taking on the Revolution.

 

[fresquito]

Yep, and that´s why I said this. Maybe in the long run they will get back the money, but this generation, Xbox is the worst decision from a pure business point of view. Period.

 

[jarrod]

Yes they keep making money but at the cost of their marketshare. Once that drops to too low a level, then there won't be any profit to be had. But I think Nintendo saw this coming, which explains the risk they're taking on the Revolution.

Losing marketshare in a rapidly expanding industry is expected. Happens as all industries mature, it'd be insane to expect any company to continually maintain marketshare no matter what. Especially a company like Nintendo, who's competitors are multifaceted gaints by comparison.

Nintendo's problem with GameCube wasn't so much a loss in marketshare as it was a downturn in software sales... which is where this industry really makes it's money. Had software sales been what they were with N64, we might not see them making a machine like Revolution (low cost chipset, unique interface, DVD playback, online thrust).

 

[CoolTrick]

Some undeniable bad business decisions:

- Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

- (Not actually porting it, simply the) Announcement of RE4 coming to PS2 weeks before the GCN one launched. Terrible timing, they could have waited a bit.

- The NGage.

- The design of the GameCube (Why was purple the default GCN color?)

- The Xbox1. (Cost MS billions of dollars. Even if it helps them with the Xbox 360, they were reckless with the original. Only because they could afford to be.)

- Sega's Xbox exclusive titles. (Bomb. Bomb. Bomb. Bomb. Bomb. Bomb.)


I don't consider the Capcom 5 to be a bad business decision. As stated, PN03 bombed, but REmake and RE0 sold very well on a worldwide level. Viewtiful Joe did around 500k combined, and RE4 performed terrifically.

 

[Shikamaru Ninja]

For Nintendo that's easy.

-GameCube-GameBoy Advance Connectivity.
Millions in marketing, R&D and 3 first-party canceled games later.. No one cared and it sucked.

-Losing Perfect Dark & Killer Instinct
I have no problem Nintendo selling RARE. But don't let them take the two most imporant IPs with them. At least let them develop KI3 and PD0 on GCN, canceled the horrid Star Fox Adventures, and then sell RARE but keep those 2 Ips.

-Mario&Zelda&Donkey Kong
What the hell did you do to these franchises. Nintendo takes the most appealing Spaceworld 2000 Demo and turns him into a controversial chibi-comic that undeniably hurt the casual impact of Zelda to older gamers. Then Nintendo decides to over-complicate Mario 64's control scheme, all while making the visual appeal even younger. Again, less people cared and bought the game. Donkey Kong, Nintendo's third biggest original IP, could have been something great. Instead it was once again a game developed with no real appeal to the masses.

-No Online
While DS and Revolution have an awesome online plan. There should have been an attempt on the GameCube.

 

[SonicMegaDrive]

I'll third(or is it fourth?) the nomination for Sega spending too much time on the Xbox. Half of those games would have looked mighty fine on my PS2 or Gamecube.

RIP Toejam and Earl.

 

[Shompola]

I really love how people say Nintendo make bad business decisions despite the FACT that they make more profit than both Sony and Microsoft. Isn't the goal of any business to make money?

Sure.. but business is much more complex than that. It is also about expanding etc.
A good example is SKYPE.. didnt they recently sell the company to ebay? How much did they sell the company for? 3 billion dollars? How much profit had SKYPE made prior to that? less than zero..

 

[SantaC]

FFX-2

 

[HomerSimpson-Man]

FFX-2

They sold millions of it. I don't figure how that's a bad business decision.

 

[SantaC]

They sold millions of it. I don't figure how that's a bad business decision.

my bad, I thought of game quality


though a bad game can hurt your reputation == affect sales.

 

[GaimeGuy]

Capcom assfucking themselves by moving the RE franchise to the Gamecube fucking wins this thread.

*que jarrod trying to defend this decision*

I still fail to see how they're assfucking themselves. The games all sold well over a million copies. Selling 1.5 million as opposed to 1.7 million is not an assfuck.

Selling 500k copies of a game on console A, then porting it to console B and selling 50k copies, then announcing a sequel being exclusively made for console B, THAT'S an assfuck (Godzilla, even if the sequel never was released)

 

[GaimeGuy]

Some undeniable bad business decisions:

- Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

- (Not actually porting it, simply the) Announcement of RE4 coming to PS2 weeks before the GCN one launched. Terrible timing, they could have waited a bit.

- The NGage.

- The design of the GameCube (Why was purple the default GCN color?)

- The Xbox1. (Cost MS billions of dollars. Even if it helps them with the Xbox 360, they were reckless with the original. Only because they could afford to be.)

- Sega's Xbox exclusive titles. (Bomb. Bomb. Bomb. Bomb. Bomb. Bomb.)


I don't consider the Capcom 5 to be a bad business decision. As stated, PN03 bombed, but REmake and RE0 sold very well on a worldwide level. Viewtiful Joe did around 500k combined, and RE4 performed terrifically.

RE0 was not one of the capcom 5.

The Capcom 5 were:

Dead Phoenix (cancelled)

Viewtiful Joe (several hundred-thousand sales on GC, ported to Ps2, one sequel on GC & Ps2, another new sequel on DS, and a fighting game spinoff on GC & PSP)

Killer 7 (highly anticipated game delayed so that a Ps2 port could be simultaneously released. Bomb, but a very unique game with a cult following)

Resident Evil 4 (million seller, probably 1.5-1.7 million on the GC already worldwide, despite missing the holiday season and a Ps2 version being announced weeks before release)

P.N.03 (another bomb, but also a huge cult following. Legacy lives on in the highly-acclaimed Mercenaries minigame in RE4, which is based off of P.N.03, even borrowing its music.)

 

[SonicMegaDrive]

I don't know its been mentioned(It probably has), but the choice to not go multi-console with Soul Calibur III is a piss-poor one.

I'll be surprised if it even duplicates the numbers the last one did on the PS2.

 

[AniHawk]

Well Capcom was all over the place with RE this gen. Dreamcast got its exclusive which was moved to the PS2, and the GC got 2.5 exclusives, and one was moved to the PS2, meanwhile the PS2 was getting subpar non-numerical/proper games like Dead Aim, Outbreak, etc. They did a good job at dilluting the series' sales as a whole.

Onto the thread, the GC was a big ol' bad business decision, too many to list in one day.

And then there's Sega, which is pretty self-explanatory.