Exclusivity is dead, NeoGAF - do you think Nintendo will release games on other hardware in the next 10 years?

Do you see Nintendo releasing games on other hardware within the next 10 years?

  • Yes, older Virtual Console releases on PC/mobile

  • Yes, multiplayer and GaaS games like Splatoon or Mario Maker on other hardware

  • Yes, releases of third party collaborations like Bayonetta 3 on other hardware

  • Yes, releases of older Switch/2 hits like BOTW or Animal Crossing on other hardware

  • Yes, releases of their games on other hardware on Day One

  • Yes, continued minimal support of their mobile games

  • I don't think Nintendo will release games on other hardware in this period

Results are only viewable after voting.
L

LakeOf9

Member
Microsoft signalled the end of exclusivity on their end almost a decade ago, initially committing to every game they do hitting PC, but also eventually expanding to PlayStation and Nintendo for a bunch of their flagships.

Sony has slowly been launching first party games on PC, has launched licensed first party games on Xbox and Switch, has licensed remasters of several legacy IP for PC and Nintendo, and of course, announced Helldivers for Xbox earlier today.

Almost every single third party is also now publishing multiplatform, with the last few bastions upholding exclusivity such as Square having been forced into multiplatform development after poorer sales of their big games than expected.

Which brings us to Nintendo. Nintendo's entire business model is predicated on exclusivity. If you want Nintendo games, you get Nintendo hardware. If you don't get Nintendo hardware, you have no (legal) avenues to get their software. You buy their hardware for their games, and then buy other things on there. That's the basis of Nintendo's entire business model, and philosophically, Nintendo is married to the idea of designing software around the specific requirements of unique hardware.

But game budgets are going up, and while Nintendo has a bigger audience for its games than pretty much any other publisher in the industry except Rockstar, at some point it is possible they consider expanding the reach of their games even further by starting to publish their games on other systems. It can take many forms – older Virtual Console releases on mobile or PC; releases of "GaaS" style Nintendo games such as Splatoon, Mario Maker, or even a Pokemon spin off (like Pokemon Showdown or TCG) coming to PC, mobile, or other consoles; releases of third party collaboration exclusives such as Bayonetta on other consoles or PC; releases of older Switch games like BOTW on PC or other consoles; or outright day one releases on other hardware.

Do you think any of that has any chance of happening within the next ten years? Why or why not?
 
Sony and Xbox are both multimedia business.

The only reason Nintendo would stick to exclusives is because they are a solely video game company.

Microsoft? They are the owners of the biggest OS system in the world, they can release titles anywhere they want.

Sony? Movies, Cars, TVs... they can release their titles on rival platforms if they want to, as long as they don't release stuff day one like Xbox does.
 
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I think this would only happen if their console sales become so abysmal that it severely harms their ability to sell software. And then, only after multiple failed attempts to turn the hardware business around.

I said "no" because I don't think this will happen.

But who knows. Nintendo fans swore up and down that Nintendo would never release smartphone games yet that also happened.
 
"Exclusivity is dead"
MS has been the primary company pushing all platform pushes with 0 reason to buy into their eco system.
Look at how that is working. Massive layoffs. Studios shutting down. Games being canceled.
Nintendo is the only one to stick to a model more traditional. Sell hardware/ ecosystem and release strong exclusives on a regular basis to give people a reason to buy into that eco system. Once there, they are more likely to buy third party software as well, which they also get a cut from.

Nintendo is doing the best out of all 3.
Why would they change anything related to exclusives????? To fail like MS?
Feels more like PC players port begging.
 
No way. Their consoles sell like hot cakes, so why would them?

They even stopped releasing games on mobile, no? Seems like whay they are currently doing works perfectly fine for them.
 
lol no. Nintendo is the only one of the three that can transition directly to their own app and stay business as usual. You will see a IOS/ smart tv/ maybe android Nintendo games app one day though. that's for sure
 
With Nintendo being as successful as they have been with Switch, and already with Switch 2 in terms of sales, they have no reason to stop having console exclusive titles. I don't think it will ever happen, tbh.
 
Nintendo's platform is highly reliant on exclusives, I don't see them doing this.
It is true dev costs have gone up, but their game sales have exploded, so I think that is kind of irrelevant. Look at how much Zelda BotW/TotK have sold compared to previous Zelda titles, for example.
 
Draugoth said:
Sony and Xbox are both multimedia business.

The only reason Nintendo would stick to exclusives is because they are a solely video game company.
Click to expand...

I can't let you saying this nonsense. They also sell hanafudas.

1280x720.jpg
 
They would need a massive shake up for that to happen, but I think they're on to way to that with how they're treating their customers.
 
Baemono said:
I can't let you saying this nonsense. They also sell hanafudas.

1280x720.jpg
Click to expand...

Merchandise? For sure.

Don't forget Pokémon, it's money printing. But they rely heavily on their console and game branding. Sony and Microsoft can live without their console business.
 
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They won't do this, but they should release their games on PC. One of the benefit of consoles is that piracy is more difficult... unless you're Nintendo. Piracy is easy and rampant with Nintendo consoles, so releasing on PC isn't going to open them up to anymore potential losses in sales due to piracy. Yuzu and Ryujinx thrived for a reason: because Nintendo piracy was already easy. Releasing their games on PC would result in them raking in extra money with very little risk.
 
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Everyone thinks of exclusives as the primary income for companies. It's not. Exclusives are the reason for a user to buy your system.
Once you have bought the system, you are way more likely to buy other software (exclusive or not) from that system and every sale made on the eshop is money in the bank for Nintendo, no matter who made it.
The VAST majority of the income NIntendo makes (video game section) is from services (NSO) and 3rd party game sales. The fact that their exclusives sell so well is just icing on the cake.
When a company like MS starts making their exclusives not exclusive, they see an increase in sales for that single title but it's a huge trade off. Short term gain with a long term loss. Any additional sales is a percentage of system sales loss. System sales that would have resulted in additional sales in their eco system that would generate much greater revenue over a longer period of time.
 
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Nintendo have routinely shown they operate much differently from Microsoft or SIE/Sony. They have the longest legacy in gaming and the most beloved IP among the platform holders. Their games also tend to sell the most relative install base out of basically every publisher who isn't Take-Two, and they accomplish that while staying exclusive to their own hardware.

For Nintendo, hardware and software are intricately connected, joined at the hip, and inseparable. In other words, if Nintendo stopped making their own hardware and having their games exclusive to that hardware, they'd just cease being a video game company.

The only likelihood of a Nintendo game on other platforms anytime soon, IMO, is if they make some new GAAS/live service IP farmed out to a 3P studio, and a 3P publisher to publish on non-Nintendo systems. It'd be the equivalent of their mobile strategy but in this case, not even acting as spinoffs of actual franchises Nintendo make for their own hardware. And after 3-4 years, they'd end support for the game since it'd have served their needs.

th4tguy said:
Everyone thinks of exclusives as the primary income for companies. It's not. Exclusives are the reason for a user to buy your system.
Once you have bought the system, you are way more likely to buy other software (exclusive or not) from that system and every sale made on the eshop is money in the bank for Nintendo, no matter who made it.
The VAST majority of the income NIntendo makes (video game section) is from services (NSO) and 3rd party game sales. The fact that their exclusives sell so well is just icing on the cake.
Click to expand...

Have you ever actually looked at, like, ANY Nintendo fiscal statements? They are not like SIE; they aren't reliant on 3P sales revenue because most of their software revenue is in fact from their own 1P titles. Besides, how many 3P AAA publishers really supported the Switch? Not many. Meanwhile, indie games are always going to cost cheaper and make less, and most indie games really don't sell a ton of copies (on any platform), because there are simply so many. The Undertales, Balatros, Among Us, Schedule 1s etc. are like the top 5% or maybe even top 1% of indie releases when it comes to big market sales.

You're also overestimating the money NSO brings in; last I checked, NSO sub counts were roughly in PS+'s ballpark, but NSO is WAY cheaper, at $20 a year for the base tier. NSO+ costs more, and it's had some good adoption, but it'd only be a subset of the primary service's sub rate.

So basically, you've completely misconstrued Nintendo here, because they're the one platform holder where exclusives actually are the main reason to buy their hardware. And it's been that way since the N64 (I'd argue since the SNES, but that system did get tons of mainline 3P support for its day, more than any other 4th-gen console).

RoboFu said:
lol no. Nintendo is the only one of the three that can transition directly to their own app and stay business as usual. You will see a IOS/ smart tv/ maybe android Nintendo games app one day though. that's for sure
Click to expand...

This is a great point actually. Even if by some chance Nintendo stop making hardware, they can easily just switch to an app store of their own on other platforms like iOS, Android or even PC. They'd probably do something like require semi-regular login syncs for games (even single-player ones) to check for piracy or anti-cheat stuff, and tie all access to the account.

But they could easily make that transition if they must. And, it still retains all integration & synergy within their own ecosystem, even if it's technically accessible on other devices. TBH this is what SIE should've done when bringing their games to PC, but they stupidly gave up on that because they wanted that Steam money.

Now, if they tried introducing their own launcher/storefront app on PC, it'll likely do poorly since they've trained so many people to expect those games on Steam, where they will inevitably prefer to buy them since Steam will have magnitudes more games (multiplat & exclusive) than any PS PC launcher could hope to have.

People like to give Nintendo crap sometimes, but they've shown to be very smart and observant about how to value their IP and their brand, and they've retained the integrity & value of their IPs/brand better than any other company in the business. There's a reason they've become so ingrained in the industry & culture as a whole, and part of it is because they didn't whore themselves out to every other platform or service under the Sun just to get make quick money for pleasing greedy shareholders or because "line must go up".
 
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Why would they? Their games and hardware sell just fine, and their budgets probably aren't big enough to require multiplat releases to be profitable.
 
Nintendo did release their game on other platform.



But thanks to the NES, Nintendo learn the power of exclusivity.

So far its been doing great for them.
 
Watching console warriors getting their whole life turned upside down by the latest announcements from both the Sony and Xbox camps is hilarious. Maybe don't base your personality around a plastic box that plays video games and you'll start noticing that all of these announcements will make no difference to you in the long run. Enjoy your games folks on whatever you're playing them!
 
Palworld will welcome you if you ever want to ditch throwing Pokeballs.
How do I submit a request to replace my Surprised Pikachu react with a Palworld substitute?
 
Sooner or later they'll come across bad waters, and when that happens i can easily see them diverting from their current strategy. Their old talent gradually leaves, a lot of their IPs rely on nostalgia with a player-base getting increasingly older, and their current yakuza-like stance won't do them any favors on the long run.

Some will say they're unstoppable because of the switch 1/2 sales. But remember, they were unstoppable with the Wii too.
 
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I don't see them doing this any time soon, it's probably more like a "panic button" option they have available if things ever go truly badly for them.
Unlike Playstation and Xbox, Nintendo consoles aren't primarily seen as third party devices. The average buyer gets a Nintendo console specifically for Nintendo games, with the third party releases being a bonus. The average Ps5/SX buyer gets it for the third party stuff (COD, Madden, Elden Ring, Monster Hunter, etc) with the exclusives being a bonus.
 
I don't seem them releasing old games on PC.

The amount of YouTube/social media nonsense around old games looking and being "better" than the new ones would drown out any marketing they could do.
 
On the one hand, Nintendo has barely embraced the mobile market and otherwise prefers to maintain exclusivity, where people must buy their console to get anything major and so far they're happy with that business model since it's working well enough.

On the other, if Nintendo ever released at least a few key titles on PC, then that would increase profits for sure, because it'd objectively appeal to audiences that aren't interested in buying a Switch 1 or 2 but who do have some tangential interest in their games.

For the time being, it looks like they prefer to not change the status quo. Which is sad, since I'm in no hurry to get a Switch 2, but I'd pick up a Mario game or a Fire Emblem port.
 
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