Non-wearable health monitoring devices are Nintendo's future

Iwata thinks that better advertising and two upcoming Mario games will turn the Wii U's fortunes around. Also, he has big plans for devices you don't wear which monitor your health (bathroom scales and cameras?).

I can see why Nintendo is keeping him. How can one say no to a man who bows for three seconds?

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=760076

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/01/29/live-nintendos-strategy-briefing-to-address-future-direction/

President Iwata apologizes for the big cut in its full-year guidance, bows for three seconds. But he says he’s not pessimistic about the game console outlook. And there is no change to game console being the center of its strategy. He insists the company will not be abandoning its hardware business.

----------------------

What’s Mr. Iwata going to focus on for the next 10 years? The main theme: enhancing the quality of life through entertainment. The key word is health, Mr. Iwata says. Citing a flood of wearable devices already on the market, he says Nintendo is trying out something completely new: non-wearables to monitor your health.

-----------------

Answering another analyst’s question on how the company plans to return to profitability, Mr. Iwata says the DS will be the main driver for profit for the next fiscal year and the firm will focus on more efficient marketing. Expectations also high for two popular games lined up: Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros.

As long as they keep it seperate from their console business I'm alright with this

Well done, Iwata! This sounds like all that's needed!

It's a wrap folks.....

(....and Nintendo further takes another step towards complete irrelevancy.....)

clearly the problem is that they aren't releasing enough mario games. if they could just convince other developers to make mario games while they do the same, there will be a lot more mario games.

Ive been claming for a decade now Nintendo is only about making gimmicks now, this just further proves my statement.

They don't care about good customer service, they don't care about making great games, they don't care about making good hardware, they don't care about online gaming for consummers, or care about anything except shitting out a constant stream of franchise sequels and of trying to find a new gimmick.

The ONLY TIME Nintendo ever does something different is when they try and find a cheap gimmick. Everything else hardware and software wise is just more of the same old shit.

Nintendo is a company that has no vision. It has no idea what it's doing. It's grasping at straws, desperately attempting to regain that blue-ocean taste. **** Iwata and his ship. I suppose my mistake was hoping that Nintendo would be able to identify their problems that have caused their financial trouble and implement solutions.....nope......instead,........HEALTH MONITORS!!

Hmmmm, I wonder what Miyamoto's new IP's going to be? A new, exciting, Zelda-esque RPG? Something innovative? Nah, some "touch-less" health Mario themed health monitor software! How exciting. You and your management are pathetic Iwata. Truly pathetic and I'm past my rope's end.

"But Iwata's the gamer's CEO!!" He'lll never sellout to mobile! He cares for games!! Best CEO"

****, I'd take mobile over health B.S. any day of the week. I'm at the doctors office all too oftern.Yea, now we'll soon be seeing Nintendo band-aids in the store next the CVS products.

Goddamn I'm so frustrated with this loser company. Iwata and co. are ruining everything that once made Nintendo great. PATHETIC.

Smash Brothers and Mario Kart.

Grrrrrrrrr!!!!!! I'm about to explode!

*breath, breathe*

It's not a bad plan, the QOL stuff has sold phenomenally well for them in the past.

And on the Wii U side he did mention bringing DS games to the Wii U's Virtual console, focusing on games that'll show how useful the GamePad is as a peripheral, tightening up the TVii functionality and allowing a quick start menu to be run from the GamePad itself to allow people to get into games quicker. On the whole ecosystem side he also said he wants to unify Nintendo's account structure so they aren't tied to devices any more and possibly introduce a loyalty scheme where games would get progressively cheaper the more you buy.

All of that is good, I don't really see how you could have a problem with it.

One good thing that could come from this is now they have a seperate platform to put wiifit type games, leaving their core offerings for their consoles

The problem is none of those things begin to address the increasing alienation between Nintendo and third parties/core gamers indifferent to Mario. If you ignore the Wii (whose sales were primarily to casuals) Nintendo's consoles have claimed an ever shrinking number of core gamers every year.

It makes no sense that Nintendo in the 8 bit era had a wider range of developers (including Westerners making original games) than modern Nintendo. Western games are a lot more popular now than they were back then. If Iwata were more practical, he let NoA and NoE hire or make alliances with local talent and develop whatever games they wanted. Instead Nintendo of Japan is going to keep cranking out Mario games but just advertise them better.

As for the QOL stuff, the dual screen's DS and the Wii's wiimote coupled with original games like Wii Sports, Brain Training and Nintendogs really resonated with people who had little prior interest in gaming, but the last time Nintendo released hardware which was a big hit with casuals was in 2006. Nintendo followed up those highly successful offerings with the Wiimote Plus (which gave casuals precision they didn't ask for or care about), the 3D graphics of the 3DS (3D doesn't impact gameplay at all) and the incredibly pricey and complex tablet/controller hybrid of the Wii U (which no one has figured out how to use). Maybe lighting will strike twice for Nintendo, but the casual market is a lot more crowded than it was when the DS or even the Wii became megahits among casuals.

"Reggie and Iwata have not killed this company" - dvader :P

Actually, I think it makes sense that they were more dominant back then when most development was happening in Japan, where Nintendo understood the market. I think as gaming has westernized more, Nintendo's relevancy has diminished. And that would tie in to Iwata admitting that he didn't understand foreign markets.

The realm of Japan is different than here in the West because of the people. Perhaps living there for a while will help people understand the decisions leaders there make.

Iwata makes it a point not to understand. He does everything in his power to neglect the Western market:

From 1990-2000. Nintendo of America had production and management autonomy from Japan. NOA basically culminated its own production team, along a few co-designers, and started funding and producing games with developers.

DMA Design: Uni Racers, Body Harvest (Nintendo dropped it in 1997, Midway took it)

Angel Studios: Ken Griffey Baseball, Buggie Boogie (canceled)

Bits Studios: Warlocked, Riqa (canceled)

Rare: Donkey Kong Country, Killer Instinct, Goldeneye 007, Perfect Dark

Software Creations: Ken Griffey Baseball, Tin Star

Silicon Knights: Eternal Darkness (N64 version)

Left Field Productions: Kobey Bryant in NBA Courtside, Excitebike 64

Looking Glass Studio: Mini Racers (canceled)

Mass Media: Star Craft 64

H20: Tetrisphere

Saffire Corp: Nester's Funky Bowling, James Bond 007

Midway: Cruisn Series

Nintendo of America also procured the Ken Griffey and MLBPA license, NHL License, Kobe Bryant and NBA license, PGA license, Disney license, James Bond license, StarCraft license. Star Wars Episode I license. They were producing their own first-party games separate from Nintendo of Japan.

That all changed when Iwata transitioned from Global Marketing Chief to President. NOA Production was killed, and Nintendo of Japan's SPD Department took over all Western development (Star Fox Adventures, Geist, Eternal Darkness GC). Henry Sterchi, Brian Ullrich, Ken Lobb, Ed Ridgeway, Jeff Hutt, Faran Thomason, and the whole crew left NOA to Microsoft and other developers. Since then, we've seen the Western model we have today. Western developers reporting directly to Japanese management, and pretty much making B/C sequels to Nintendo IPs.

I've never lived in Japan, but I get that Japan is a distinct culture. What I don't get is why Nintendo's management is no longer willing to give any creative freedom to non-Japanese. As Mirko's post shows, that wasn't always the case.

Why did it take Iwata until 2014 to realize that Japan is culturally distinct and why is his answer not some measure of autonomy for Nintendo's Western divisions, but pinning his hopes on non-wearable health monitoring devices?