What can nintendo do to change their current situation?

1. Nintendo needs to dump the gimmicks. The Wii was a fad and it's over. The wiiu is irrelevant to all but the most loyal fanboys. They need to sit back and reset. The first step is just admitting the Wiiu is a giant failure. Mario couldn't even save it. I would be surprised to see it sell over 20 million in it's lifetime. Build a new console with a regular controller and make it powerful enough to be compatible with xboxone/ps4 3rd party software.

2. Nintendo needs a real online network. Include a microphone and build a real online game network. Nintendo has always put network play on the back burner. The truth is it drives most current software. They got the cash and can hire the right people to build them a solid network if Nintendo cares enough to make it a priority.

3. Nintendo has to get the big 3rd party games. This is related to step number 1. If the hardware is powerful enough to be able to port games that are also on the ps4/xboxone it's a win/win situation for both the 3rd party and nintendo. The wiiu is not powerful enough and has that stupid gimicky second screen. 3rd parties have to go out of their way to program games just for the wiiu. On top of that very few 3rd party games are successful on nintendo platforms. It's a losing situations for 3rd parties.

4. Replace Iwata. He got lucky with the wiiu and got the soccer moms and grandpas buy into it. The fad is over. Nintendo fails to evolve with the current trends.

What do you see nintendo could do to change?

I totally agree about the first two points. A solid network is a must have nowadays. But i don't think Nintendo needs third party software. They have been managing quite well without for longer than 15 years.

Quickly phase out the WiiU and get a machine together with some power under it's belt. There's simply too large a power gap to make 3rd party multiplats a viable option. Hence why EA is avoiding them like the plague.

Agreed, that online network is pretty much a joke of theirs. Half the cost of the WiiU came from it's ridiculous controller, I agree it's not much of a game changer, displaying Inventory screens and maps on the pad is nice and all but not necessary in the least.

@eosshelt: Fire the idiots who got them into this shit. Nintendo needs to clean house and get some more open minded people to shake things up.

Just do what they did with the 3DS: abandon the "gimmick" and release a cheaper version. It worked wonders for the 3DS, and could very well do the same for the Wii U.

Join the present day and age.

If they actually geared it towards the hardcore demographic. It's like they're trying to give some who likes oranges an apple and they can't figure out what's wrong.

@freedomfreak:

exactly

they could make a public statement that the wii u gives you AIDS. this would definitely change their current situation, for the worse.

Nintendo needs to go third party , release all their awesome games for other consoles and make easy millions and focus on 3DS which is undeniably the king of handheld gaming.

If this shit with Wii U continues for too long ... i think Nintendo will be in a really bad position next-gen.

Stop being cheap as fck.

The Wii rode that "fad" to win a generation in total unit sales. People need to learn how to use this word correctly. The Wii wasn't a fad. Kinect and Move were.

As far as Nintendo's "situation" goes, they need to keep doing what they are doing (making games people want to play) and lower the price of the hardware and advertise it better.

I think if Nintendo do build a console comparable to ps4/x1, then 3rd party games will follow. Devs will broaden the earning potential of games they make. Lowering the price of the U to 199.99 would move units. Accept that you're not in the same ballpark grhically and sell your offering for half price or less

Nintendo needs to stop acting like their spot in the industry is guaranteed. Once they realize it's not, then they'll start fighting for it.

New leadership. Period. Iwata has to go, and Reggie also has to go too.

Get leaders that have a western perspective and point of view. People that actually get it. There's rumors that people at Nintendo don't play other consoles. Apparently a lot of people at Nintendo have never even tried iPad games. Sorry, that has to change. Nintendo is in last because they are stuck not only in the past, but also stuck with a Japanese perspective.

Get people that understand the global market, the competition, and above all the consumers.

Something like this.

@Samurai_Xavier: I was surprised to recently learn that Howard Lincoln was on the Board of Directors of NCL back in his day. And it showed too.

I can't be bothered outlining a proper response. But I must say that the suggestions I've seen is just trying to make Nintendo like Sony/Microsoft.

Nintendo has more problems than just hardware. They have shown a track record of not properly supporting developers and giving their in house teams advantages when making games for their systems. That is a recipe for disaster for a platform that should be open if you want multi platform games.

They do not have the support from top tier developers, and it shows.

Yes, they have a hardware deficit with the current generation; however that shouldn't hold them back from non hardcore gamers.

Nintendo has one of the best first party teams in the business. That alone will not save them. They need to invest in a competent online infrastructure and make the platform desirable to develop for by third parties.

I do not get the whole it has to be a monster hardware to succeed. Consoles are not powerhouses by design. If you want pure power, nothing but a pc will due.

Hell, when advanced steam machines come out they will make the PS4 look like a toy. That will not immediately equate to a dominate platform. They will basically be consoles, and it doesn't mean that they will own the market.

As far as hardware is concerned, the manufacturers need to play to the systems strengths and give creative developers tools to make great games on them. Experiences on respective platforms will move systems if there are enough great games to actually move them.

Nintendo needs to ditch their nationalistic approach to the console. The world market is just that. Sony realized that and catered to an evolving gaming landscape. You can see that in how they decided to launch first in markets larger than their homeland.

Lower the price some and more advertising.

@trugs26: And that's a bad thing because....?

The wii u can be saved but it's not going to be easy. The main problem is the Japan centric leaders who are out of touch with what the gaming global market wants. The other major issue is that lcd controller. It cost the most out of the whole platform parts. Nintendo could make the wii u much cheaper by using a standard controller. The marketing sucks get a new agency in each market and get real data and use it.

The online is rubbish and the future is digital. Nintendo also has to get 3rd parties on board not just talk about it. Yes I know that Nintendo is a Japanese company but it's a western market. If they can't accept that and get with it their doomed to repeat the same mistakes that got them here. They need to ride out this mess and try to build up their brand for the next gen.

The retailers have lost faith in the brand. The hardcore gamers have lost faith in the brand. 3rd parties have lost faith in the brand. The casuals have lost faith in the brand. The stock market has lost faith in the brand. These things can be changed but not with a gimmick but with the daily grind of good choices. It starts from the top with good leadership and my first major change would be there. It does not matter how powerful the next Nintendo console is with no support it will fail.

Specs are good and features are good but people from retail to gamers to 3rd parties must have faith in your product. The old suits in Japan are very inflexible. They have a long history of doing things one way and that is the real enemy of Nintendo. Nintendo must adapt improvise and overcome.

I like having different options on the market.

Sounds like many people want three consoles that are practically identical. That sounds so exciting.

Listen to consumers

Listen to developers

The idea of the Wii U isn't bad by any means, but it was obviously a poorly developed product. Consumers are confused by it, and developers don't care for it.

@treedoor:

Don't say that, man.

I agree with everything you said. As long as they do 1 and 2, 3 will happen automatically.

Because that totally worked for Sega. Nintendo discontinuing the Wii-U for a new console anytime before five years would be disaster for public relations, retailer relations, developer relations, and consumer trust.

And Nintendo's games aren't enough to distinguish themselves from the competition? Seems to me many Nintendo fans insist that they live in mediocrity and 10 years in the past, offering sub par services behind the competition, because we can't have them *gasp* actually copy the competition.

This notion is nonsense. If Nintendo woke up to the present, got their online up to Sony and MS's speed, kept their hardware specs in the same ballpark, etc, they'd still be unique. It's not like their games would all of a sudden devolve into CoD and ACs if Nintendo was being run competently.

It should be the games...exclusives from each company should be the draw card...gamers who buy Nintendo system solely *JUST FOR* Nintendo games..aren't helping. When 3rd party games don't sell on Nintendo system..of course, 3rd parties will start avoiding it. :P

I use to be a hardcore nintendo nerd. Since the gamecube era I have lost tons of respect for the company. It also seems to time right when Iwata took over. I think they need to replace him immediately.

I agree with online, it really hurts the console. People like playing games with friends and it almost non existent.

Sheep want nintendo consoles to be weak and outdated as sh** because they want nintendo to "stick out" from the crowd.

Easy, they can gently apply the lube.

i still dont think more power would have been better....the console would have been 400$ and the 3rd party support would still be shit....

it would be even worse...theyd be posting a loss every week.

they need every 3rd party on board just like xbox and playstation..the harware is fine...mario looks great in 720p 60fps....3d world in 1080p would look the same...3rd party- thats the main thing they need to change....its been 4 consoles and this is still the same.

I will go into more detail when I have time. For now though, I can just say that the current suggestions are far too generic in terms of making another console that does what someone else is already doing. I do think Nintendo need to make changes, but not in the way TC has suggested. Get rid of the gimmicks? Add in a microphone and make it more like the competition? 3 is okay but took a wrong turn at "make it more powerful". Replace Iwata?

I will go in more detail later.

they're breaking even I believe, and that's with the miserable Wii U sales offsetting the success on the 3DS, given that the tech is going to be cheaper to produce in future I can only see their profits increasing, but we should have an idea what shape their in when they give their quarterly report

1. A new console in 2015 that isn't built around backwards compatibility with Wii or WiiU.

2. 12GB of RAM (500MB embedded) and a GPU with more shaders than PS4 (given it would be launching 2-3 years later, this shouldn't be hard).

3. A case designed around funneling hot air up and out of the top like a termite mound. Enough with the boxes. Design the system in a way that is best for cooling so we can get the best out of the system.

4. Nintendo needs a redesigned remote, with a touchpad, that has 3D 1:1 motion tracking. It would also be helpful if Nintendo introduced a haptic analog stick-- a slider within a slider.

5. An ethernet port and a first party earpiece.

6. Online games at launch, including an exclusive first person shooter.

7. Purchase some Western teams like id Software (which comes with IPs).

8. Establish a new American studio to make sports games.

9. Have the sports studio create an exclusive NCAA football title for launch.

10. Release NES and SNES titles for smartphones and enjoy it while the touch phone trend lasts.

11. Design the next Gameboy to feature no buttons, a multi-touch screen, a single inconspicuous black slider stick, pocket PC/tablet capabilities, fully digital, no physical games, and a $100 price.

Pretty much. Without a doubt, Nintendo needs change and while there are some things Nintendo should do that Sony/MS do (like, kill region encoding), it saddens me that they want Nintendo to be a complete "me too", copy-paste sell-out company. This industry would be boring if they did everything their competition did.

I agree on all counts (sadly).

They need to put some power into their consoles and stop being a gen behind (which consoles already lack). Their gimmicky controls need to burned and never used again and as for a proper online service, come on Nintendo it's 2014 now.

New Console the Wii U is garbage

New IPs: Sony make loads and they helped the consoles have a strong library.

Stop throwing 2D New Mario games out they will never be as good as World or 3.

No more motion controls or Touch Screen a proper Gamepad you can use like the Gamecube

Better Online: It is a required now because there's sucks compared to the other 2. Friend Codes really

nintendo needs to deliver next gen hardware, its their failure

they could start teasing a new gen console to be released within 2 years, building up the hype over the time and bragging about it having gtx 780 equivalent power

even if they dont deliver all this power it would still give them the respect of a real hardware manufacturer, right now they are a joke

Third party support isnt happening, they need to find other ways to be successful, making a gimmicky console makes the most sense, but they should at least try something that would interest people, 3D and double screens are not interesting.

Make an affordable console, make sure your first party games are ready to go day 1, drop your ridiculous anti-consumer tactics and learn from your mistakes.

They need to put out a console/handheld hybrid so they only have to develop games for one system.

@ConanTheStoner: I think they need to listen to the dog at the back.

A simple price drop.

1. Not name it the Wii U. Not only is that just a bad sounding name, it confused me at first as to how it is like the original Wii so it is going to confuse the more casual fanbase.

2. Stop with the whole "we're not in direct competition with MS and Sony" marketing charade, so they can stop delivering sub-par hardware that gets outdated a year later

3. Some new IPs.

The problem is understated I think. People have a notion that if they just changed x the company would be once again on top of the world. Just change the pad, just change the online, just tinker with the price, just release some obscure franchise from 20 years ago, just release a new console...I think the problems run far deeper than that. Nintendo has a major image problem with a lot of the people who drive this industry, the long term, devoted gamers. They could make fixes but it's going to take long term change before any improvement becomes apparent.

Mario and Zelda aren't doing it for a lot of people any more. Sure, both are iconic names, but so what? People are fed up with them in every game, from platforming to football to racing you can't get away from Mario. Even the puzzle games take place in Mushroom Kingdom.

Now, if they had the third party on board, it'd be fine. Because, yes my blu ray player plays Disney classic Blu rays but I can ignore them because they're not for me and my blu ray also plays classic britcoms and star trek. If all my blu ray player played was classic Disney blu rays, if Mickey mouse was shoehorned into every genre from courthouse dramas to sports films, I'd go elsewhere. The trouble is, they have for one reason or another lost faith with the third party, and that wont come back overnight, so they are stuck with this problem until they develop some new IPs, which wont become iconic overnight either. They have to be up to speed with others, and in genres like FPSs, RPGs and many others they have shown zero chance they can do it in recent years. HD has come along and they are off the pace there. Gamers who want the third party don't associate it with Nintendo, so they don't buy the games that do come along. Hence, the third party wont come along overnight even if Nintendo did decide to play ball and convince them so.

But then, they are perceived as being cheap, because they are. Their consoles are, to be frank, out of date, and the thing is, the gimmicks are not often useful to the gamers. Motion controls have not taken off. They were a fad. The screen thing was tried on the Dreamcast, and it was apparent to me then, that unless humanity evolves two sets of eyes, you can only look at one screen at a time. It might be interesting for off-screen play and as a companion but that's it. Sony got this, because they included such functions in the vita, but they are an add on for people. The Wii u is awfully overpriced for what it is. Ditch the controller, you still have a console way off the pace with no third party.

And the online, they have to copy the others, but the people to whom third party is the most important thing or even just important don't currently buy it on Nintendo and don't need to change over. So getting them back will be a massive challenge. One store, one account, achievements, full rooms packed with competitive gamers, one of these isn't as quick a fix as the others.

Then you have this perception that they are for kids. A family friendly console. Not a bad thing in itself but then this doesn't mean you can't be diverse and cater to everyone. The advertising is fluffy and childish, when it actually appears. The games can be complex and intricate as you like but they are cartoony and don't always appeal to everyone. People can argue back and forth about maturity but the fact is a lot of people are turned off by it.

Basically, every major step they need to take is a long process of amassing faith back in them from people who have completely lost it over the years. And it's not simply enough to do as well as the competition, because people are happy with what they have. Nintendo have to outdo the competition. To gain faith and start seeing customers jump ship en masse they need to convince people they can't miss out on Nintendo. Can they do it? I sincerely doubt it. The fanboys may protest but it's not the fanboys Nintendo needs on board. They have them no matter what they do and they will argue vociferously that things don't need to change.