I did start this site at the end of the Gamecube lifecycle. I was there for the gloom and doom. But what is going on today is very different. Nintendo fans are complaining it is ‘doom and gloom’, but I don’t think that is it. There are insane Apple fanboys who thinks it is a Manifest Destiny that all entertainment revolve around Apple, but there has always been insane Apple fanboys.
The difference is a lack of respect for Nintendo.
Nintendo has always been highly respected since Donkey Kong and, especially, since they burst onto the scene with the NES. To children who grew up with Nintendo products, Nintendo was revered. To businessmen, Nintendo’s strong financial statements with no debt always got their attention. To entertainers, they were in awe how Nintendo entered a third of American households with their console. Computer companies held Nintendo in respect with how they used simple computer technology to incredible profit.
During the Gamecube days, during the time of doom and gloom, there was still that respect for Nintendo. The doom and gloom came about due to ignorance on how the gaming console market worked. People like our friends, the analysts, confused the issue by hyping up a huge ‘living room war’ between Sony and Microsoft. But even the biggest person who spouted gloom and doom had nothing but respect for Nintendo.
This is no longer the case.
Everyone senses that the 3DS and Wii U are not successors to the DS and Wii. They are not continuing that direction of gaming. Even people who hate everything I say (of course, they still read this site because they know I am the most interesting gamer in the world!) would agree that Nintendo is dumping the Blue Ocean Strategy. The strategy for the 3DS and Wii U is nothing like the DS and Wii.
With the DS and Wii, Nintendo’s mission statement was to bring gaming to the masses, to expand the market. In many ways, they were successful. Instead of continuing this, Nintendo is putting out consoles that cannot and will not expand the market. How can a handheld costing $250 with $40 games expand the market? Just the drastic price increase, alone, ensures there will be no market expansion. Then, there is the 3d output which many people cannot use including children. This is creating an exclusionary console, not an inclusionary console. This is building walls between the non-gamer and gamer, not tearing down those walls.
There is nothing about Eighth Generation Nintendo that is respectable in people’s eyes. Look at the ‘brilliant’ marketing. No one respects this.
Slow sales? Nintendo’s response is to drastic price cut of around $80. This type of reaction isn’t looked on with respect. It smells like desperation. “But Apple cut the price of the iPhone when it launched, Malstrom!” The purpose of the iPhone is to sell service plans. That is where the money is. And that was not cut.
When it was learned that the DS had two screens, analysts remarked that Nintendo was replicaing the ‘Virtual Boy’ and that this was a ‘Crazy Ivan’ response to the PSP. It appears now that these analysts were correct but were out of sync in time. The 3DS has far more in common with the Virtual Boy and Nintendo’s reactions do appear to be a ‘Crazy Ivan’ response.
What has Nintendo done in the 8th Generation that you find highly respectable? Can you name anything? I can’t.
It isn’t doom and gloom coloring Nintendo, it is the collapse of respect for a once great company. I don’t see anyone happy to be saying this. There is no giddiness out there. People want their console companies to be brilliant, to be smarter than they are. But everyone is looking at Nintendo’s behavior lately and just shaking their heads.