Sony UK: Nintendo failing could be BAD news for the industry

GoNintendo, Trusted Reviews

"[The decline of Nintendo] could be detrimental to the market, unless people like us raise our game and help tap into the younger consumer group that they serve rather well. That is the challenge to us. We need to bring maybe more family-friendly, more casual experiences into the market. I think there’s a big market segment there that we should take the challenge to engage and I see lots of potential to do that.”

Well, good to see it's not just Yoshida who wants them alive.

I mean, it's true. Nintendo does have an irreplaceable place in the market, where they introduce newer customers to games (mostly by tapping into the younger demographic), who go on to 'graduate' to Sony and Microsoft's consoles.

Nintendo's decline in this case would be pretty detrimental to the industry at large; glad to see Sony recognizes and understands that.

Agreed. It'd be sad to see Nintendo go. Not as sad as it was to see Sega go, but still very sad.

Good luck convincing this to some cows, especially "that guy" (if you know who I mean).

Disagree.. I had already 'graduated' to PlayStation since I was like 6 or 7 years old.. Children even at a young age want Xbox and PlayStation. This is just more proof that Nintendo is for children, but even children don't want Nintendo

Eh, I still play Nintendo games even now. I've actually been playing on Sony consoles longer than I have Nintendo consoles. I don't think I played a Nintendo game until I was six years old and first tried out either Ocarina of Time or GoldenEye (I can't remember which it was, as both of them were the first two N64 games I had), whereas I first played Crash Bandicoot and Tekken when I was, like, four or five.

I disagree. Nintendo needs to learn a lesson. First of all, they should be punished for the Wii U. How dare they release a console with 7 year old hardware, a worthless tablet controller, with no games. The Wii had outdated hardware too but had the Wiimote and awesome games to compensate for it. The Wii U is an INSULT to gamers and Nintendo needs punishment for it. I mean:

- Nintendo was ill prepared for HD development. WTF? Come on Nintendo, hire people who know what they are doing!

- Nintendo Network STILL sucks. It's 2014 and Nintendo still believes "Gamers do not want online." Bye bye Nintendo, you won't be missed.

- They keep releasing the same games over and over again. Nothing new. Since the SNES, they have had very few new flagship console franchises: Animal Crossing, Pikmin, and Wii Series. The problem is Nintendo games don't get the hype they used to.

- The naming of the console was just.... dumb. Period.

Nintendo needs to just focus on handhelds now. The Wii was great from 2006-2010 but after that just no.

Way to go ruining a good thread with your idiotic generalizations and personal fanboy bias. There are no Sony fans who don't understand and or appreciate Nintendo's presence in the gaming market.

People bashed nintendo because they got the big head with the wii and wanted to keep cheaping their way through generations when they had more than enough ability to produce something more competitive.

gaming tastes have changes. wait i just got a new thread idea

I don't mean to imply that people stop playing Nintendo games once they start playing PlayStation, I mean Nintendo serves as a gateway drug to gaming.

Yes, and this would explain why you want them to go third party so badly. No wait, it wouldn't. If no one wants Nintendo games, then why the **** do you want them to go third party so bad?

What? What about those over 100 million vtech and lepforg product owners? and the fact most of the slightly older kid demographic have PS3's and Xbox 360's and Ouyas anyway?

If they fall it will be pretty much identical to Sega. Just more suicides.

Honestly, I just think nintendo got lazy.

This all happened when Sega stopped being a console provider in the gaming market. When Sega was a console provider Nintendo was a much more competitive and aggressive competitor.

They need something to kick them in the ass so they actually try. Nintendo could be the number one gaming company if they stopped thinking people supporting them and buying their games was privilege instead of a reward for producing the best products.

I am reminded of when Sega came out with Genesis16bit "blast processing" then Nintendo hit back with SNES, a more powerful system and an unstoppable amazing catalog of exclusive games (not just for kids).

It sounds like fanboy drivel, but I'm seeing it unfold in real life. 10 year olds don't want Mario, all they want is watch_dogs, GTA or Minecraft.
Mario used to be cool at age 12, but then I grew up and started liking games like Deus ex (original), stuff Nintendo always feared to venture in, adult themes and narratives (not to be confused with violence). Nintendo must evolve or die.

My point was to their consoles. I have stated many times their games would sell 10-20 millions as multiplatform. it's just not worth buying their console for 1-2 IPs with the occasional new one. Not to mention they can't market for shit. Their main demographic is children, they market towards children but most of their sales are to teens and adults

Their best exposure would be as a multiplatform developer. I don't know why it's so hard for you sheep to understand that

I do agree, Nintendo has the potential to bring great things to the industry but with Iwata running the show and his "I don't give a crap about competition." attitude. It doesn't look like a very bright future for them.

You don't even know what your talking about

I know plenty of kids who didn't grow up on Nintendo, they grew up on PlayStation or Xbox. In fact I hear them all the time in game lobbies. Spoiled little kids who began swearing at the age of 5.

Nintendo leaving the industry would be bad, Microsoft or Sony leaving would be bad. I'd rather have all three in the game. 3 sounds better than 2.

I gotta agree with Couth on this one. I grew up in the 80's and had an NES like every other kid. Hell, I was loyal enough to Nintendo for so many years I even bought a N64. After that I jumped on the PS1 boat and never looked back.

The PS1 had plenty of kid friendly titles and even games mature enough to keep adults interested. That tradition to keeping a decidedly kid friendly approach mixed in with more mature games for adults has been kept alive today, though I doubt it's as kid friendly as the PS1 was.

I love Nintendo, but they've been out of touch for so long..............

I kinda feel guilty saying this, but how many people that grew up in the late 70's and early 80's had similar strong feelings about Atari? We didn't have the internet back then so we'll never know.

Says the guy with his head permanently lodged in his ass. I don't know that I was playing PlayStation since 6-7?.. Or that Children don't want xbox or playstation??

Sony would have no one to steal from.

I think this is wrong, and why Nintendo is having such problems. This used to be true, it isn't anymore.

These days every cell phone company subsidizes a hand held gaming device. Give a kid a cell phone and they can play angry birds. It really is just that easy. Besides, at the end of the day it wasn't Mario that got me into gaming, it was extremely hard core strategy games like the first X-com. Before X-com I thought video games were better then TV but ultimately kind of dumb. When I was eleven and first watched my dad play X-com my mind was blown, and I became a life long gamer.

Cell phone companies introduced the bulk of society to the concept of playing games every day as an entertaining distraction. Larger and more in death games, everything from Xcom to your hallway shooter of choice, turn those people into gamers. Nintendo no longer bridges any gaps in that transition.

Finally, I work in customer support in gaming. You would be astonished about how many calls I get from parents of pre-teens who's kids spent money buying GTA in game cash. Current perception of gaming is so immature that CoD, BF, GTA, and so forth are viewed as kid games, and I haven't run across an eleven year old who would rather be playing Mario.

Nintendo is the kid's console for helicopter moms in suburbia. For most of the rest of America at least, all games are kid games. Nintendo is obsolete, and only beloved IP even keeps us talking about them.

I'm referring to your childrens claim dipshit, also stick to weightlifting

Sounds like Sony is making a play for Nintendo's market share and or getting Nintendo games on the ps5 in the future.

Actually it seems like Sony is saying they wana take a shot at Nintendos demograph. Which is cool, so long as they add Local Features (Splitscreen, two controllers as Standard, bro fist leather gloves etc) you know, things more valuable to the person sitting next to you instead of the disembodied voice in your headset. Ofcourse its wishfull thinking, Sony doesn't value people who prefer human interaction. Thats just post 6th Generation gaming 101.

Nintendo dug their own grave when they didn't bother making any games for the Wii despite it's success. Hope they die in it soon...

Yourself =/= other kids.

You mean games that don't appeal to YOU?

More casual experiences? hahaha

yes,Sony really blew Nintendo out the water. They found a new competitor in MS.

Does this mean we will get another Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon?

That doesn't make what I said invalid. I didn't say he was wrong either, I said I disagree. And I think the evidence would be in my favor

Since you didn't get it....speak for yourself....not others. I know plenty of parents that have Nintendo products for their children...and no Xbox nor Playstation.

No, I think Activision still owns both franchises, unfortunately.

Speak for yourself...not others. I know plenty of parents that have Xbox and PlayStation products for their children, and no nintendo

Well this is an already established notion that Nintendo has been the incubator for new age of home video gamers, however that is not to say they are not replaceable. Just maybe it would be difficult for any of the present incumbents to fit in the role that they occupied

I dont see why Playstation and Xbox couldn't fill the void especially if Nintendo makes games for them. Make a marketing campaign that PS/Xbox are family friendly as well, i think PS/XBox have a reputation of being shooter consoles and that scares alot of parents away.

With that being said, i would rather Nintendo stick around, There's to much that could go wrong if they stop making hardware.

Like what ??

at worst they'll make a shit load of money on making third party titles for MS and Sony consoles, and PC

I really don't believe that due to some of the stuff I've seen and read around. Also, in that last post I said "SOME". Meaning, I acknowledge that there are fans of rival systems that honor Nintendo's presence in gaming, but I also acknowledge that there are those who DON'T.

What I got from this, is bad for Nintendo only, we will get their userbase.

nintendo needs to reinvent themselfs, or they will die off in the console market.. I dont see how even if they released another console on how that thing is going to sell...

The real reason nintendo consoles arent selling, Isnt because they arent any games.. Thats b.s. Lots of big title wii u games have came out.. The reason people arent buying nintendo consoles is two fold.

1) Bad experience from the first wii. The Wii was an awful console, I dont care what anyone says,, the gimmick lasted all but 1 hour .. The wii was a dust collector.. It was only purchased because it was cheap.. So many people had wii's and never played them.

2) So many years of nintendo just rehasing the same old games with slightly new additions and calling it new.. I dont care for another smash bros, I dont care for another zelda, I dont care for another donkey kong, I dont care for another mario... I do not care for another mario kart

To much junk , ..Mainly for kiddies.. The kiddies that they once served have grown up, moved onto a more "m" rated platform...

Overall nintendo needs to get a new image or they will die.

My suggestions.. Just accept wii u is a failure, Put out some games to not disappoint the wii u customers . Start focusing on the next console cause this one is a flop.

Call it Super Nintendo 2... Super nintendo was their best.. Super Nintendo 2 would mean nintendo means business and not screwing around this time.

Start releasing lots of games, Make sure the hardware is powerful, Focus on online and get the 3rd parties to at least multiplat..

Bring back classics like Battletoads, Double Dragon. Create a new mascott for the franchise... Do a 3d world donkey kong instead of a platformer version. What nintendo really needs is a hit FPS to draw the U.S.A crowd.. Chances of that happening is slim to none.

Good post. Someone on another forum summed up my feelings quite nicely:

"I also see this transition as yet another coward attitude from Nintendo -> which translates into weakness from their management, no matter how we look at it. Looking at the past 10 years, I get the feeling they're unable to stand their own whenever they find competition, whatever the market is. They find competition in the high-end console business, they run away and create a low-end console business (Wii). They keep going at the low-end console business hoping it might work forever (Wii U, 3DS) but they find competition from smartphones/tablets and it fails. Then they run away and create a health console business. Where will they run away to, when they find competition there? They're showing that they're incapable of standing their ground, again and again."

Sad. Nintendo was competitive (viciously so) back in the Sega days because of Yamauchi. Say what people will about his harsh monopolistic actions, that guy was a hard ass with a serious fighting spirit and drive. Iwata lacks this, and that's a terrible thing to lack if you're a CEO. He's completely phobic of competition, which sucks for us, as a company is at their best when they're fighting to be #1. Look at this recent quote of his:

"[Nintendo] will actively expand our character licensing business, including proactively finding appropriate partners. Also, we will be flexible about forming licensing relationships in areas we did not license in the past, such as digital fields, provided we are not in direct competitionand we can form win-win relationships.

I mean, Heaven forbid you may actually have to COMPETE when running a business, Iwata.

The X-COM comparison makes no sense. It may have sold well on consoles & PC, but it certainly doesn't seem like the kind of game that would appeal to casual mobile phone users. Also, if your dad was a hardcore PC strategy gamer, then that kind of makes you more of an exception rather than the norm.

Anyway, an important point I think you may have missed is that Sony and Microsoft are console manufacturers, and much of their audiences are gamers who grew up playing on Nintendo or Sega consoles. And the Wii's success helped introduce even more gamers to consoles for Sony and Microsoft to capitalize on.

If kids prefer playing kid-friendly casual games on mobile phones instead of kid-friendly core games on consoles, then that would be bad news for console manufacturers like Sony and Microsoft. They need Nintendo to introduce kids to core console gaming. Casual mobile games like Angry Birds and Candy Crush are no replacements for kid-friendly hardcore console games like Mario and Zelda, and won't benefit Sony or Microsoft in the long run... unless, of course, one of them decides to fill that void themselves (which Sony seems to be hinting at above).

Wow......did you even bother reading my posts? I wasn't speaking for myself. And I never said parents don't have the other two systems. YOU said children don't play Nintendo anymore....and that is wrong. Your post did nothing to address that. But I'm sure in your mind the fact that you didn't respond to what I actually said doesn't matter....you think you had a point. El Oh El.

Iwata lacks the ruthlessness of Yamauchi. Instead of taking the competition head on, Iwata instead prefers to shy away from the competition and look for a "blue ocean" where there's no competition. And this worked wonders last gen, but that blue ocean he found has already been filled. And now, once again, he's going after another "blue ocean" with the healthcare market...

Yamauchi, on the other hand, always took the competition head-on, even if it meant eliminating the competition by any means necessary (not too surprising considering Ninendo's former Yakuza connections). Even though Yamauchi never played a video game in his life up until the day he died, what mattered was that he knew how to do business, and did it well enough to establish a multi-billion dollar corporation.

Iwata seems like a nice guy, but if he's always going to be so timid, then maybe he isn't the right man to lead a multi-billion dollar corporation...

Sony has said this twice publicly at this point. I agree.

This statement coming from the company that stabbed Nintendo in the back and wanting their demise? Typical Sony.

Actually, Nintendo did that. But they had a reason.

That's a little backwards dude......other way around.

Not sure if I agree with this because I'm a bit disconnected from what kids play. But I think it makes some good points.

And, I love the term 'helicopter moms'.