GamesIndustry: Why do people want Nintendo dead?

It's perhaps odd for me, whose personal tastes veered towards Xbox 360 in the past generation and PS2 in the generation previous, to find myself going to bat for Nintendo - although I do now own a 3DS, and enjoy it hugely - but the motivation I genuinely cannot fathom is that which drives the company's gleeful critics, who seem to dance around with thinly veiled joy at the prospect of this long-standing, hugely creative and entirely game-focused company being in dire straits. To its critics, Nintendo's extraordinary track record of innovation and creativity within the context of its core franchises means nothing, and "ugh, Mario again!" is a rallying cry as commonplace as it is devoid of any meaning or substance.

It's terribly sad, I think, that people who describe themselves as gamers or who work within or around the games business would take such pleasure in imagining the downfall of a company whose products are so squarely focused on the experience and joy of games - even to the extent where they will distort reality and wilfully forget history in order to "prove" the accuracy of their claims. Nintendo and its consoles aren't in the dominant position they enjoyed a few years ago, but they've been here before and they aren't going anywhere; why that fact seems to distress some people so much, I will never quite understand.

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I agree, I genuinely don't understand people- that includes posters on this board, along with some so called journalists and critics- who all seem to want Nintendo dead. This is in spite of the fact that they have accomplished so much. In spite of the fact that Nintendo's games remain incredible, possibly second to none. For whatever reason, Nintendo is everybody's favorite whipping boy. Sad.

@charizard1605:

One simple answer: so that they can play Zelda/Metroid/Mario on the PS4/PC/XB1.

How would those games exist if Nintendo died? Surely people wanting those titles on their gaming platform of choice want Nintendo to make them?

I'll never understand why people would want something to die or fail.

that would be for the better. Nintendo as a hardware maker are irrelevant. They should keep their garbage handheld but go multiplat on console HW.

No one wants Nintendo to close it's doors - they want Nintendo to go 3rd party.

Evolving is not the same thing as dying. Sheep should learn the difference before claiming people want Nintendo to close their doors. That's not aimed at you charizard. :)

Because of the Wii and Wii-u, the only way this ends is with tears

Because fanboys will be fanboys.

I don't want nintendo dead, I'd really love a 3rd party Nintendo however.

Hardware lately has not been their strong suit, whereas we already know they can supply the software when they work at it. Unlike Sega, Nintendo actually has talent.

@charizard1605: Because nothing good comes from them anymore. Last gen consoles, rehashed games, nothing new. Same ole shitty Nintendo

Says the man that does nothing but badmouth even their software.

I dont want them to die but I also dont want a ridiculously underpowered console to be a big success again.

Elsewhere, PC gamers, fighting gamers, and SEGA console fans have just been set off in rage.

Because those same people will buy a $400-500 console with no games and hardware rather than buy a $300 console to play Nintendo games. They will pay the money for their games that are exclusive to their own console, but won't do the same for Nintendo games.

No one wants them dead. People just want them to stop making crap hardware

Fan mentality and peer pressure. Not much more than that.

I'm sure most don't think they should go down, but they like to put on that face for the lovely people of the internet.

dont want them to fail, just to do badly for awhile because i don't like the wiiu and some other stuff about them

"I want Naughty Dog to be third party, because I don't want to spend $400 for a single franchise or two." That is basically what they are saying. If people want MS's exclusives, they will buy the X1. If people want Sony's exclusives, they will buy the PS4. But if people want Nintendo's exclusives, they cheap out and say, "lol I'm not playing it on outdated hardware" and pray they would go third party. Gawd, you people are slaves to hardware and graphics.

Again, Nintendo will go HandHeld only before they would go third party. so keep praying and wishing that they fail, and ruin it for those of us who will actually pay money for their franchises unlike you cheap bastards.

I think this is an exagerated post. I have not seen many people screaming for the death of Nintendo, if anything at all, its the opposite and people seem to recommend the Wii-U ahead of the new consoles or recommend getting a Wii-U as a complimentary console to the other two. In general, the console business has been in constant barrage from media about their irrelevance as opposed to a PC or iPad which in my opinion are just people wanting to assimilate favourite franchises into their own platforms.

Nintendo is in my opinion the best gaming company there ever was and till today their reputation still stands. They focus on games and center their innovation around games, heck even Yoshida acknowledges it. If Nintendo goes belly up, the gaming industry will be in trouble and i do not mean that in a good way. These third party publishers are gaining too much power this current generation and it just sucks to see them crap on the WiiU everytime with little support, a company that has nurtured this industry since the crash of 83 is now a laughing stock among third parties. Sad indeed

Let the wolves come to my door, they will get no scraps. I'm really just speaking of current Sega, Old school Sega was amazing, Dreamcast has some of the greatest titles of any library.

@ReadingRainbow4 said:

@nintendoboy16 said:

@ReadingRainbow4 said:

I don't want nintendo dead, I'd really love a 3rd party Nintendo however.

Hardware lately has not been their strong suit, whereas we already know they can supply the software when they work at it. Unlike Sega, Nintendo actually has talent.

Elsewhere, PC gamers, fighting gamers, and SEGA console fans have just been set off in rage.

Let the wolves come to my door, they will get no scraps. I'm really just speaking of current Sega, Old school Sega was amazing, Dreamcast has some of the greatest titles of any library.

And who's to say Nintendo's talent won't die if they go multiplatform?

@nintendoboy16 said:

@ReadingRainbow4 said:

@nintendoboy16 said:

@ReadingRainbow4 said:

I don't want nintendo dead, I'd really love a 3rd party Nintendo however.

Hardware lately has not been their strong suit, whereas we already know they can supply the software when they work at it. Unlike Sega, Nintendo actually has talent.

Elsewhere, PC gamers, fighting gamers, and SEGA console fans have just been set off in rage.

Let the wolves come to my door, they will get no scraps. I'm really just speaking of current Sega, Old school Sega was amazing, Dreamcast has some of the greatest titles of any library.

And who's to say Nintendo's talent won't die if they go multiplatform?

What leads you to believe they would? Sega's downfall in quality was due to much more than Sony stomping them out.

Nintendo doesn't flourish off weak tech, a gimmicky controller might add a certain charm but it's certainly not a deal breaker if the wiipad went finito.

I'd hardly call it "evolving" if there are too many negatives that force them into the situation, as shown with... the other two.

" they have accomplished so much"

Indeed, they have. That's the problem with nintendo. They live on past successes and don't want to change and thus loose interest of most gamers. The only people interested in their consoles are nostalgic ninty fans and casuals.

(not talking bout the ninty handhelds, but let's be honest, they're great because of the third party support. And that's what they lost for their consoles.)

I'm tired of playing Mario, but I dont want then to "die".

I have this niggling feeling that many who say this haven't played any of their games since OoT. I mean the writing is not on the wall but I do feel that some people just aren't giving them a chance again. Yeah they have shit tech and old franchises, but they always tend to be consistent on their quality and the changes to them albeit usually never deviating from the core gameplay design. It would help to have more franchises for sure, but they still accomplish quite a bit in this day and age at least on the software front.

Also I would like to be in the crowd that says most want it to go third party. Like I said before most are mature enough to not want a company like this one to just up and die one day I would think. Fanboyism or otherwise, most older gents in reality just don't see the point. They can see the benefits of third party though, which is a much stronger argument to hold onto, and is an option that is better than just straight up going bankrupt (unless we got some greedy execs). Regardless of if it works out or not which is the crux of the argument, it is still a much sounder option compared to the former.

Most gamers don't want Nintendo to die. We just want them to a make modern console that doesn't compete with the previous generations consoles.

No one wants Nintendo to die. We want their CONSOLES to die, so they can stop fucking about and just make fantastic games on the best hardware.

My guess is that a lot of people are just uncomfortable and have some insecurities with Nintendo being the industry leader. Most gamers just want their hobby to be viewed as legitimate. You can see this in the backlash against "kiddy" and "casual" games, or when video games are being compared to other art forms. So as a legitimate form of adult entertainment (or art, perhaps), insecurities come out when a company that excels in making colourful, child oriented games about magical plumbers and elfs and pocket monsters becomes the face of the industry. They'd prefer that a more serious, sophisticated, or "adult" game or company is representing their hobby as a whole.

I don't think it's critics or journalist who want Nintendo dead either.

You see a bunch of third parties saying the same thing about WiiU "Oh man no one is making games for it." "Yeah it's a shame."

yet none of those third parties have second thoughts about developing for both Xbox 360 and Xbox One or PS3 and PS4.

With WiiU they look at it and just go "What a shame." and leave it like that.

I doubt anyone wants to see Nintendo die. Some people want to see their console die so Nintendo can go multiplat and they can play their games.

If we're going to that far, then so be it. Gaming could use a reboot.

cuz they are better at making software but suck with hardware. they make reliable systems....but its been a gimmick since the wii. the ds is a second screen for maps and inventory.

but i dont want ninty dead....i just want them to make games I WANT TO PLAY. mario and zelda have never been my thing.

@edidili: so in short, people who want Nintendo to go third party are too cheap to buy their consoles for their exclusives.

Yeah tell me about it... why would any gamer want any games company, whether it be a developer or a manufacturer, to fail?!?! We want more companies in the industry, not less. Makes me mad!!

which I think it's funny.

They only want to play Nintendo games not on a Nintendo Platform. They give out ludicrous reasons for it too saying things like "They won't be held back by hardware!" and "They'll be so much better!"

I would guarantee it that if Nintendo went 3rd Party All of the Games you would have played on a Nintendo Console would still play as if they were on a Nintendo Console. They wouldn't be better or worse.

What's the difference between Donkey Kong on a Wii or a 360? Nothing, just a controller difference.

What about Zelda? It's gotta be different! Nope plays very similar.

I know! The Graphics are different aren't they? Nope, they still look about how they did.

It's just silly to think that if Nintendo suddenly had games on the other systems that they'd magically be "better" in the eyes of some gamers, all because they can play the game on their brand of choice. The Truth is that Nintendo games will not be better or worse if they went 3rd party. They'd still be the same, just on multiple platforms.

And when they do go on Multiple platforms the argument seizes to be "Nintendo should go 3rd Party" and becomes "Nintendo should be 1st Party (to Sony or Microsoft)."

Cheap? Maybe but is not only about that. Like last gen a lot of people bought a Wii, played some games it had and put the console in the magazine for years to gather dust. Get it out once in a blue moon when a new Nintendo game came out.

People prefer to have one main console, where their friends are, where their gaming library is, achievements, other services. Having a stack of boxes, plugging, unplugging, cables everywhere, fragmentation of friends and games is not that appealing for a lot of people.

I guess part of the issue is that several gamers are no less greedy than the many developers they criticize for being greedy.

@LegatoSkyheart: clap clap clap. Well said, legato.

Not wanting/being able to purchase every single gaming system out there doesn't make gamers greedy. So, what they're going to buy. PS4, Xbox, WiiU, PC, handhelds. Whatever they choose they will miss on a lot of other games. Sure you can buy them all but not everyone is that rich.

Don't want them dead, just want them to do... something. Something other then what they've done for the past 30 years. Use all the talent they have for making great games and make something new.

@edidili: that is not the reason why people are wanting them to go third party, they want Nintendo to go third party so that their games will magically become greater because it's on better hardware. The reason why they aren't buying the Wii U is because it doesn't have hardware comparable to the PS4/X1.

SEGA held a lot of incredibly talented internal teams that easily rivaled anything from Nintendo, before they went software only and shortly after (ips and projects meant for the DC got their way on the og xbox early). Wen they quit the hardware business, SEGA went through some serious restructure that either intended certain teams to be dissolved or caused certain teams to just leave.

I think their handhelds are great, although I still haven't picked up a 3DS. But I have absolutely had it with their home consoles. I don't want Nintendo to die in any way shape or form, I don't even want the Wii U to die, but I don't care about it either. Nintendo have so much catching up to do in the way they do things on home consoles in every area.

I've supported their home consoles through the GC and Wii hoping for improvement, and I still didn't like either. I'm done hoping for Nintendo to wake up and start catching up with their home consoles. It's up to them now. I'll be around when they do.

@nintendoboy16: :( But why

I doubt it. There is nothing wrong with their games as they are right now. For example I thing Mario 3D world looks great. I don't give a crap about some ultra high definition realistic textures for that game.

People just don't want to buy a WiiU just so they can play the new Mario. Many don't like the console as much and sure it may have 1 or 2 games in it they want to play but you can say the same for every other gaming device.

Well, there's on-disc DLC, there's online passes, and a ton of BS caused by both gamers and companies alike.