GameCentral readers offer their advice on how to turnaround Nintendo’s fortunes and what to do about the failure of the Wii U.
Nintendo has never been in a worse position than they are right now, with their recent sales results showing that the Wii U is still a flop and the 3DS has endured a considerable drop in sales from the DS. So for this weekend’s Hot Topic we asked how you would fix things, if you were in charge.
Love them or hate them no subject fills our inbox faster than Nintendo and we had a flood of emails for this week’s Hot Topic, and so many Reader’s Features we’ve had to organise a Nintendo-only weekend of them. There was even some consensus amongst the various suggestions, not necessarily about the fate of the Wii U but that Nintendo needs to diversify its games line-up and get third parties back on board – even if it has to buy them outright to do so.
Free the Mario
If I got to be in charge of Nintendo there is one thing I would do straight away. Go on the record and say that 2014, and maybe 2015, would be Mario-free. I don’t think I’m alone in thinking that I am utterly sick of the constant, repetitive Mario games being churned out while all the other IPs languish. Yes, I know that all of Nintendo’s games follow formulas and have some sort of repetition (Zelda, for instance), but if there’s a varied range of formulas around they at least become a bit less stale when put along side each other.
As it stands, Metroid’s seen very little action since Other M, to say nothing of the games that have been crying out for sequels (F-Zero, anyone?), but are being pushed aside for another Mario game. I’m not saying Nintendo have to innovate much here, or do anything radical like launch a new IP (though that’d be quite nice), just… give us some variety so that we can at least vaguely look forward to Mario games rather than see them as the things running Nintendo into the ground.
DarkSapphire
The glory days
If I were in charge of Nintendo, my first action would be to scrap motion controls. All three companies have tried it and none have had long term success. It may look good on futuristic films such as Minority Report, but in real life it just doesn’t work. Randomly waving your arms around doesn’t add enough depth to gameplay to keep most gamers occupied. It’s also doesn’t work if your gaming set-up is in a cramped space like mine.
Nintendo have the best first party exclusives (and I’m a PlayStation 3 owner by the way). I would release more of these, and have them easy to pick and play with a normal controller like the SNES, N64 or GameCube controller. (Not the Wii remote). And no more mini-game compilations!
This is why the NES and SNES were so successful. These ideas would definitely bring back the glory years of the ’80s and ’90s.
Joe Roberts
The good and the bad
The Wii U is inferior hardware, plain and simple. The GamePad is an almost totally un-utilised peripheral that, while having potential to be a fun and innovative, is off-putting for a lot of people. I own a Wii U and am relatively happy with it, despite the system’s shortcomings. However, I can’t believe Nintendo didn’t consider that the GamePad, while it may actually be perfectly useable for them, is possibly too big for a child’s hands. The size of the GamePad is one the first things people notice about the Wii U.
So while, in this owner’s opinion, the hardware is inferior, the firstparty games most certainly are not. All the usual Nintendo franchises, this time around, either are excellent or look excellent. I do think that some sections of the media have a bit of a bias against the machine. The most clear case in point is one very high-profile website’s review of Wii U exclusive launch title ZombiU.
The reviewer decided the game, evidently, was almost completely without merit and awarded the game a score of 4.5 out of 10. I played this game to its end very recently and found it be and very enjoyable, polished and fun zombie-killing adventure: a game so very far away from awful. (Has a publisher every successfully sued a magazine or website because of a negative review?)
I do think Nintendo will get back on track eventually, if not with the Wii U, then with their following machine. I have a great deal of game to look forward to from this year (I own several systems), but the addition of the Wii U line-up is one I think holds a great deal of promise. Not just for the Wii U, but games in general.
Arguably Nintendo make the best games of all, a fact which first-person-shooter-chasing fanboys and mature-theme-centric journos seem to forget when it’s all too fashionable… Games are the key to Nintendo’s future and also a far more tangible marketing presence.
struthyfizz
Hate to love
I have a love-hate relationship with Nintendo. I always buy their consoles, but barring the 3DS I always feel let down by a lack of games. If I were Nintendo’s president, I would firstly buy out Sega. With Sega’s massive backlog of characters, they could excite older gamers once more. I would also try to get Square Enix to release games on the Wii U as well as trying to patch things up with EA.
I wouldn’t go third party, or release a new console in the next four years at least, or risk upsetting loyal fans. Finally, I would start a huge advertising campaign for the Wii U featuring some of TV’s biggest celeb names.
Dark Anima X (gamertag/PSN ID/NN ID)
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Symbiotic titan
Nintendo have dodged more bullets than an agent in the Matrix, they’ve averted being crushed by numerous disastrous ventures in their long history: the Radar Scope arcade debacle, the potentially crippling lawsuit by Universal over Donkey Kong, the Virtual Boy catastrophe, the N64 DD fiasco. Heck, they could have faced death on arrival in the US with the NES had it not been for their ingenious R.O.B. toy marketing angle to sell the console to the recently burned masses. Nintendo have been written off more times than the prospects of a relative addicted to meth! Yet they’re still here, still defying convention and innovating, still ignoring trends and still developing the best games in the business (in my opinion)!
But the Wii U is host to last-ish gen tech, which is a problem for many technophiles – and quite shallow if you ask me. It’s online infrastructure is still lagging behind Sony’s and Microsoft’s, its marketing and branding are quite abysmally communicated and its third party support near non-existent. Yeah that may be all true, but there’s another side to this saddening story; a lot of gamers’ tastes are even more unadventurous and conservative than ever before!
No where is this more apparent than with Knack outselling Super Mario 3D World by so much in the UK, Pikmin 3 all but being ignored and The Wonderful 101 being deemed as too esoteric to be enjoyed! This general attitude is a cancerous element that blights originality and quality in the industry!
I strongly believe that if Nintendo were to forfeit the hardware race and become solely a third party developer their products’ quality, over time, would suffer as a result. Ninty’s software and hardware are symbiotic, to phase out the console part of the equation would be akin to them losing a limb or an organ. Like their heart for instance. I just think they’d lose some of their mojo, some of that Nintendo magic in the process. You see the undeniable atrophy in Sega’s internal output since the death of the Dreamcast and their console business, who’s to say the same won’t happen to Nintendo?
And what guarantee is there that their games would sell on rival consoles? We all know that platformers, and other cutesy games for that matter, on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 sell quite badly compared to dudebro shooter 365 anyway. Just look at the recent dismal sales of the amazing Rayman Legends and Puppeteer on the consoles for further proof of this.
I for one hope Nintendo stick with the Wii U for at least a couple of years yet, the GameCube should be a deterrent reminder to all those who clamour for Ninty to create a console on the same spec sheet as their rivals. No, what I hope they do is start spending their vast fortunes to market the Wii U more effectively and enlist a battalion of devs – from the East and the West – to create more unique exclusive ammunition to lend the Wii U a fighting chance in the battle, creating its own mini industry revolution in the process.
I reckon this a necessity at this point because – call me a conspiracy nut – but the majority of the biggest Western developers just have no interest in the Wii U, or the 3DS for that matter. Is it the inability to think outside box to utilise unique hardware in novel ways or just plain indifference?
Most of the Western devs out there are quite the graphics harlots and prioritise advancing storytelling, bigger game worlds, characterisation and hollow cinematics over creativity, innovative gameplay mechanics and fun in my opinion.
So in essence I truly believe Nintendo’s gaming philosophy represents the antithesis of the Western AAA ethos, and this gap is widening more then ever. I hope Nintendo continue to strive in what it does best and master their niche, a world without Nintendo would be like a cat without fur – a little bit scarier!
Galvanized Gamer
PS: Please just hurry up and buy Platinum, Grasshoper and Treasure Nintendo!
The next 12 months
I’ve had a SNES, N64, GameCube, and Wii. I love Nintendo. I love their games, philosophy towards gaming, and they have nearly always produced the best game controllers.
But I don’t have a Wii U. I already have a PlayStation 4 sitting under my TV, but I still don’t have a Wii U, even though I want one.
The main reason is that it’s simply too expensive. For a start, I have been seriously burnt by Nintendo in a way that I never have been by Sony. I was an early adopter of the N64, GameCube, and 3DS, and then saw a massive drop in price within a few months or release.
Also, the Wii is probably the most underused console the I have had. It just gathered dust. Very few games were released on that console that I had any interest, and I hated the motion controls.
Simply put, there are too few games available for the Wii U, and it is simply too expensive.
If Nintendo could get the Zelda bundle down to £199 I would consider it, but to be honest, they have now delayed the price drop too long. There has been too much bad press over the past week or so that makes me worried that if I buy one, it won’t have a long life as a console.
Nintendo need to look at their competition, and what is being charged. With the PlayStation 4 on the market starting at £330, the Wii U is underpowered and over-priced. Even the games are overpriced. £45 for Zelda: The Wind Waker? Are they having a laugh? When Sony released a HD update of Shadow Of The Colossus and Ico, they bundled them together and charged £30.
What can Nintendo do to save their console? Reduce the price immediately to £199 with a decent bundle, and couple this with a strong advertising campaign.
Try to position the Wii U as a game player’s ‘second console’ by giving a different gameplay experience to the Xbox One or PlayStation 4. I’ve nearly always had two consoles each generation; a SNES and a Mega Drive; a PS one and an N64; a PlayStation 2 and a GameCube; a PlayStation 3 and a Wii.
Nintendo can do this by using their controller in a way that you couldn’t on their rivals. They can’t hope to compete in terms of graphic horsepower, but they can offer radically different gameplay. I can think of hundreds of ways that a second screen touchpad can be used to expand gameplay.
Ports of other systems games should be avoided. Also, Nintendo have a killer back catalogue, so they should capitalise on it. Get as many HD remakes out as possible, but at a reasonable price. Play on consumers’ nostalgia.
Super Mario All-Stars was one of the biggest sellers on the SNES, so how about something similar for the Wii U featuring other Nintendo Classic franchises? Metroid Collection volume 1 featuring HD remakes of Metroid: Zero Mission, Metroid II, Super Metroid, and Metroid Fusion?
In the end I don’t think that Nintendo will go away, they will survive. But if the Wii U can survive the next 12 months is anther question. Nintendo need to act now to save the Wii U.
Nintendo as a company have been the most innovative in the games market. Having a generation without a successful Nintendo console would leave us all the poorer.
DrVictorVonDoom9 (PSN ID)
Day one problems
I was going to give this one a miss but a letter to a recent Inbox made me think again. I’m not arrogant enough to think I have all the answers to Nintendo’s current woes, but I can say what put me off buying a Wii U for so long.
The lack of a hard drive was a big concern right from day one. I was also dubious about the GamePad controller, my biggest worry though was the lack of any must play Wii U games in the GC release schedule in the months following the console’s release.
I think one key issue for Nintendo that they haven’t mentioned in the recent media briefings is the need for them to understand how tastes have changed, the Mario and Zelda games have served them well but games like Red Dead Redemption, Skyrim, and GTA V have taken gaming to new levels, which it can be argued Nintendo haven’t managed to do since Super Mario Galaxy.
Personally speaking I’m much more interested in Red Dead Redemption 2 than the next Zelda or Mario Kart, especially after seeing what Rockstar just did with GTA V.
I don’t think it’s just me who thinks like this either, I’m sure many people would say the same about Dark Souls II or Destiny or Titanfall. I don’t want to see them go the same way as Sega but I have no idea what they can do to turn things around.
mitchell
PS: I know I’ll get stick for this but I’m not really loving the GamePad.
Good call
Firstly I’d like to blow my own trumpet and refer back to my reader’s feature from last year. In addendum, spending hundreds of millions on a new R&D building is not the logical action of a company pulling out of the hardware market.
The main issue is that they’ve never shaken off the ‘for kids only’ tag from their battles with Sega, which has lead to stigmatisation from not only customers but publishers too, especially Western. They’ve never really bothered to counter this image, seeming to believe that their games output should do the talking. In an ideal world that would do the trick but Microsoft have shown with Xbone that an advertising blitz (along with other such schemes) can overcome a seemingly endless parade of incompetence to bring sales success.
This perception has fed into the general sentiments expressed by critics and fans alike. Thus you get commentators demanding new entries for F-Zero, Star Fox, and Eternal Darkness despite no-one buying the previous games, as well as complaints about a lack of new franchises whilst similarly ignoring Xenoblade Chronicles, The Last Story, The Wonderful 101, and so on.
I don’t think anyone will argue that their marketing has been awful. You’d have thought the lessons from the confusion over the 3DS name would have been learnt only to go with the even more muddled Wii U. Considering the Wii U has a decent 2014 first party line-up (assuming everything announced except Zelda comes out this year) I’d say their best option is to do a re-branding campaign along with actually advertising their games. I also imagine we’ll see more collaborations along the lines of Bayonetta 2 and Hyrule Warriors, although they definitely need to bolster their Western output which currently just consists of Retro and Next Level.
Long-term plans such as the aforementioned R&D studio and the increase in their workforce (in contrast to almost every other major publisher) are positive steps. I can see a convergence of home and handheld consoles in some way, plus taking on any publishers/developers that run into trouble.
Ultimately, the industry is in such a state of flux at present it’s hard to know what will and won’t work until it actually happens. However, considering Nintendo is the only Japanese publisher whose games sell in appreciable numbers (not including the odd franchise like Final Fantasy and Monster Hunter), if they’re having problems then it doesn’t point to a promising outlook for the industry as a whole, as I believe we’re about to find out with a few of the other upcoming financials.
Frogs Bowser
PS: After the fall earlier in the week it seems Nintendo’s stock price is just about back to where it was just before the loss was announced. It’s almost as if the stock market makes no sense…
Super Mario Touchscreen
My plan for Nintendo would be a Nintendo app for Smart TVs and also tablets. They would invest in streaming services so you could run any of there games through your TV, you would buy each game but they would have to be at least £10 less than a physical copy. If they say no to that because they have to pay this person and that person a certain amount then they would draw up a new contract and tell them they would get what they were getting for a physical copy but for a streaming version they would get less, some money is better than no money.
They could still sell you the peripherals to play the game but you could also access the game through any tablet instead of the Wii U one (like iOS and Android)
That’s the future of gaming anyway – this could be the last major console release with technology getting better and better all the time and Nintendo could get in early (along with Sony and Gaikai)
It would give them more access to people who may not want to fork out for a console but would pay just to play a quality Nintendo game.
Tenseconder
The listening publisher
Over the last few weeks I’ve written in quite a bit about the Wii U and its troubles at the moment. Only the blindest hardcore Nintendo fan could deny otherwise. There are a few things I’d do which could help the situation…
Firstly, I’d read fans comment to see what they felt. Ultimately, it is down to them whether or not a game or console is successful. I’d note ideas down and discuss them seriously. Fans want a new Star Fox game? I’d go back through past sale records and see if it would be worth a go, then see if it could be remade to appeal to a bigger audience, like Kid Icarus was. Same with other franchises which are well loved.
Next I’d bring the Virtual Console up to date by releasing all those gems which seem to take forever to come out. GBA games are massively overdue and the Wii’s Virtual Console should all be on the Wii U and 3DS. In fact, I’d make it so that Cross Play was a standard feature. Why should someone pay twice for the same game? Fans are prepared to pay for these games, why not make it so? (Smartphones may not be looked at as these games are meant to have buttons, maybe a controller could be made to fit multiple moblies?)
Then I’d make an account system, plus if any download games are registered on your Club Nintendo account, you could re-download them even if you’ve got a new console or eShop account. That would be the first thing I’d publicly announce to regain some confidence from fans.
I’d then organise a meeting with as many third party developers as I could and ask them what they wanted from my company. While I wouldn’t say yes to everything, I’d make sure I’d help all I could and change what I needed. Some would not come but the door would be open. After all, if you look the bigger person, people will be better towards you.
I would do a Nintendo direct and address the situation. The worst thing to do is keep people in the dark. It wouldn’t be pretty but fans would know the truth. Then i’d carry on the usual Nintendo direct (with added account news) plus a few promos and updates. I’d make it clear that games take time but offer demos to show what’s to come.
Finally, I’d make sure that adverts were actually seen, promos were shown on TV and have real families with different structures (adult family, family mixed with kids, and teenagers) plus friends and single players to get real reactions (have a statement on the screen saying that people had not been paid to be fair). Celebrity families can put buyers off. Real reactions could help a lot. A proper tour would also help too, with a small talk about the Wii U and some competitions and money off vouchers.
But these are just ideas. Truth is, this is Nintendo and no one knows what they will do. Whatever we predict will be nowhere near what is actually done. They are a hard company to love but when they get it right, they really hit the mark! When they get hit the hardest, they come back with a bang, just as they have before. Sacking Iwata will not do much and it’s good he’s staying as he needs to do what it takes to fix the mess Nintendo are in. All we can do is hope they do listen to fans and change aspects which are really out of date.
Damage has been done and if the Wii U does fail to achieve it’s goal, Nintendo won’t die but it’ll be a very different future. We all know a new console is already in the works (Nintendo have themselves said once one has been released they begin working on the next console in that line), the question is if the Wii U still underperforms, how long will a new console take to appear?
I still have faith that by the end of this year it’ll be back in the game as it has much on the horizon, but I just can’t get rid of those niggling doubts in the back of my mind. Please put those doubts to rest Nintendo, pretty please?
bouncer0304 (NN ID)
It’s just resting
The Wii U hasn’t failed, Nintendo just got overconfident with the success of the Wii which has led to them annoying the shareholders now reality has set in, so Wii U has sold about 5 million units in a year, so what? Based on those sales it’s still set to overtake the overall sales of both the GameCube and N64 in their lifetimes if it lasts a similar amount of time.
If I was the head of Nintendo I would work to appease the shareholders by the following actions:
1. Announce games in development earlier, currently the cat is left in the bag for far longer then others who announce games years away from release to build expectation and excitement.
2. Get X out ASAP, or at least announce its release date. That game could do for the Wii U what Monster Hunter did for the PSP.
3. Complete overhaul of the online and customer service system, the account locking to system is stupid, the support painfully poor, websites generally lacking, half of it doesn’t work properly or is so devoid of information it’s reminiscent of a Chinglish instruction manual for a low grade product.
Their website doesn’t even work on the 3DS browser.
4. Resurrect old IPs like F-Zero, Eternal Darkness, Star Fox, Metroid, Advance Wars, and so on while also adding new IPs in keeping with the pure gaming image.
5. New exclusive games based on existing characters for mobile devices, tailored to the strengths of the format, such as a multiplayer Electroplankton spin-off where you can create beautiful music with your friends and share it.
Nintendo need to do what they do best, they should never try to be mainstream like Sony and Microsoft, the day they do that will be the day they loose me as a customer.
RyokoSparda
GC: Wii U sales are currently tracking lower than the Dreamcast, let alone the GameCube or Nintendo 64.
Investor driven
I think Nintendo’s biggest problem is that they are a publicly listed company. This means that everything they do is benchmarked against other similar companies and comparisons are made for financial purposes.
Nintendo would be far better to delist from the Tokyo Stock Exchange and be fully able to be the niche creator with total control over game and console that they clearly wish to be. It’s as if McLaren are being forced to pretend to act like Ford. This would explain the failure to invest and build on the success of the DS and Wii – bigger successes than they ever envisaged and not part of any long term plan.
If they carry on with the current approach, the share price will eventually drop and they’ll become vulnerable to take over. Better to manage their own future than have change forced on them.
PaulVW (PSN ID/NN ID)
Wait and see
First of all I’d get rid of Saturo Iwata. It’s not that he’s done a particularly bad job, he did oversee Nintendo’s best ever period after all, but he’s damaged goods as far as investors are concerned. As for who should replace him it’s difficult to say. Certainly not Reggie Fils-Aime as he suffers from the same problem as Iwata, so a respected executive in the technology market from outside Nintendo.
Then I’d set about diversifying Nintendo’s stock and holding investments, probably going into mining, fracking and commodities. Anything other than buying games companies basically. The important thing is transferring the excessive cash reserves into stable investments with relatively good returns so that Nintendo wouldn’t be as susceptible to fluctuations in currency exchange rates.
I’d make vague hints about researching new technology such as smart devices and partnering/merging with successful businesses in the smart device sector. I’d find out how much Microsoft want for the Xbox part of their devices division. I’d make sure everyone knows about these enquires for the good publicity but never follow up on them. Then I’d keep doing what Nintendo are doing now and play the waiting game for twelve to eighteen months.
The important thing for Nintendo is not to panic too much. The same thing is going to happen to Sony and Microsoft shortly, they’re just a year further down the line than either of them. Because while the new consoles are riding a wave at the minute due to stock shortages, come July they’ll be little demand. Will the usual mix of Call Of Duty, FIFA, Madden, Assassin’s Creed and the like convince casual gamers to upgrade at Christmas? Unlikely.
Whether the console manufacturers (and even Valve to extent) want to admit it or not, mobile phones have altered the landscape. While it might seem baffling to most core gamers, I genuinely believe most casual gamers are happy with cheap and easy smart device games. There’s very little financial risk and, to people who probably don’t really care what they’re playing, little difference between something that costs 69p and something that costs £50. That’s before you factor in the cost of the console.
The games industry has been building up these problems for years, just look at the disturbing drop-off in software sales. Nintendo’s problems aren’t unique to them, they’re a combination of investors not understanding the sector, analysts who are paid to paint a rosy picture being less than honest, and a market that is dangerously overcrowded.
Nintendo’s best bet is to steady the ship by releasing Mario Kart 8 and back it with a massive advertising campaign. Then do the same for all their other games and give more realistic sales forecasts. Do whatever it takes to buy some time with customers and investors. Any company that has $5 billion in cash can afford to wait. Soon their problems won’t seem nearly so bad as everyone else’s.
andy_b720 (PSN ID)
Games power
I am sure many will write in about the lack of Wii U games, lack of new IP, poor marketing and a failure to transfer the casual popularity of the Wii.
I personally think Nintendo made a serious judgement with the power and specs of the machine, assuming they could repeat the success of the Wii. I also find their failure to embrace the online side of the business in the same way as their rivals as bizarre.
Power and specs do matter! I know, great games are not solely dependent on it, as has been proved many times, but no home console, bar the Wii, has dominated a generation and been substantially underpowered. All previous Nintendo home consoles have been very close to or even more powerful than their rivals same gen machines.
Cutting edge hardware and specs give a wow factor and gather momentum in an ever more gadget savvy society. You can even see this with the mobile phone market, tablets, TVs and more.
PlayStation 4 and Xbone having a very similar hardware set up is obviously easier for third parties in terms of making applications/games for these different machines, a distinctly lower powered format with different control set up will require more justification for third parties to support.
If people think third party support does not matter, read up about the Dreamcast – that was one of the biggest nails in its coffin. It took Sega about a decade to go from arcade kings and Mega Drive success to barely recognisable third party publisher/developer.
More grunt in a console is not just about looks, it offers the possibility of more advanced AI, bigger more detailed worlds and an all round faster slicker experience – a current (last?) gen technical equivalent would be like trying to justify getting GTA IV or V running on the Wii. Even with the huge userbase they did not bother.
I am not convinced Nintendo can carry a home console alone any more, the Wii U will not get the support it needs form third parties and as the PlayStation 4 and Xbone hit their stride it will not have any wow factor to woo many gamers, so they will need new hardware within 2-3 years or a totally new approach… who knows a gaming tablet that can be plugged in/streamed to a TV or used on the go…
Albavar (PSN ID)
GC: Almost every generation has been dominated by a less powerful console. In fact the trend only becomes more obvious in the modern era, with the PS one and PlayStation 2. The latter in particular was the least powerful of its rivals but the most successful home console ever, purely because of is games.
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The long game
Firstly, I have found the reporting on Wii U’s sales to be a little over the top in the last couple of weeks. From the items in the main BBC/ITV news bulletins and the Radio 1 coverage I’ve seen/heard you’d be forgiven for assuming that Nintendo was absolutely on the brink of winding up. Of course that couldn’t be further from the truth and I found it interesting that barely a ripple was caused by the earlier news story earlier that Nintendo was a more valuable company than Sony as a whole.
At the present time Nintendo is shielded from immediate significant change by their billions in the bank so rather than rush out a more powerful console quickly, I think Nintendo should use the remaining time of the Wii U’s life as a testing ground for the next generation in 2019/20.
For example:
- Produce some accompanying free-of-charge smartphone apps or games to act as adverts for the console. If this has any beneficial impact on sales then the principles can be carried over to the next generation.
- Try to find out whether there is still an appetite for certain types of games. The relative sucess Wii U editions of dormant franchises such as F-Zero, StarFox, Pilotwings, Wave Race, 1080 Snowboarding etc. would give an indicator of what sort of software still sells in the modern era
- Invest in indie developers on the eShop. A halfway house between full AAA retail games and 69p apps could become a sizeable market so Nintendo can use this as an opportunity to monitor attach rates proportionally against the install base of the console.
Even if the Wii U then does not ultimately break-even at least some valuable information will have been garnered to help the decision making on the next generation console. With so much money in the bank a failure would not be disastrous, assuming Nintendo are well positioned to offer a more viable gaming experience in five years time.
I personally love the Wii U and feel like Nintendo is on to something amazing with the GamePad. I really hope a similar sort of controller/hardware set-up is part of their next home console’s design. Essentially the message would be don’t panic and play the long game.
i.e.mcr (NN ID)
PS: I’ve seen the rumours about the Fusion console but I personally can’t see that making sense. Since the NES/Game Boy era Nintendo has always had dual streams of income from portable and home console hardware. Surely combining this offer into one multi-purpose device would seriously limit the potential income available?
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