they're going to miss their 12m estimates pretty widely.
either:
-a substantial price drop is coming
-the 2ds is coming to japan
-new hardware is on its way (maybe to also coincide with a price drop because it will be made with cheaper parts)
or nintendo's going to ride this handheld gen out because they have new hardware ready for late next year, with new console hardware hitting the year after.
for some reason, i'm getting the feeling the 3ds won't be replaced until 2016.
it will either need to be that (i think the tablet idea came from the intro to tablets and not where they are now- which is what makes the gamepad particularly outdated), or it will have to be some sort of crazy machine no one sees coming. and the gamepad wasn't really that, at least not the same way the ds and wii were.
yeah, knowing Nintendo it might be the latter, and if they're lucky they'll strike lightning in a bottle for a second time. if not, well, things will start to look dire
yeah, knowing Nintendo it might be the latter, and if they're lucky they'll strike lightning in a bottle for a second time. if not, well, things will start to look dire
i don't think it's a matter of luck as much as reading the market and understanding what people want. for them it also means people who will want to buy their games.
Thanks. Ubisoft originally said 5/30 was a worldwide date and it says available now on Amazon Japan. I see now that Amazon just has an import version available now.
Home consoles are dead in Japan. And western 3rd party devs outside of the indie community are done with Nintendo.
With numbers trending like this for Nintendo I highly doubt they make another home console. Can't sell in Japan, can't get western games. Lose lose proposition.
Home consoles are dead in Japan. And western 3rd party devs outside of the indie community are done with Nintendo.
With numbers trending like this for Nintendo I highly doubt they make another home console. Can't sell in Japan, can't get western games. Lose lose proposition.
That would be a massive shame considering how beautiful and well made Nintendo's home console titles are. No ridiculously sized day 1 patches, very very few glitches. Glorious graphics. Just great games.
With numbers trending like this for Nintendo I highly doubt they make another home console. Can't sell in Japan, can't get western games. Lose lose proposition.
They'll make another home console, but I really doubt they'll make the amateur mistake of suddenly upping the price $100 over the previous generation without any of the must-have software to back it up.
Wait so during Mario Kart 8's release week, Wii U sold better in France then in Japan? That's not a good sign for the Japanese market. Not that we need anymore mind you
they're going to miss their 12m estimates pretty widely.
either:
-a substantial price drop is coming
-the 2ds is coming to japan
-new hardware is on its way (maybe to also coincide with a price drop because it will be made with cheaper parts)
or nintendo's going to ride this handheld gen out because they have new hardware ready for late next year, with new console hardware hitting the year after.
for some reason, i'm getting the feeling the 3ds won't be replaced until 2016.
Yes, the hardware bump sucks in Japan for Nintendo but I'm willing to bet we see a much better bump for the Wii-U in the USA and other regions. Consoles are just dying in Japan, all of them really. Not even MK8 can change that.
Terrible HW bump for Wii U but good numbers for Mario Kart, played some local MP with friends yesterday and it's as fun as always, friendships will cease due to the constant complaining, just like old times.
Yes, the hardware bump sucks in Japan for Nintendo but I'm willing to bet we see a much better bump for the Wii-U in the USA and other regions. Consoles are just dying in Japan, all of them really. Not even MK8 can change that.
That would be a massive shame considering how beautiful and well made Nintendo's home console titles are. No ridiculously sized day 1 patches, very very few glitches. Glorious graphics. Just great games.
They'll make another home console, but I really doubt they'll make the amateur mistake of suddenly upping the price $100 over the previous generation without any of the must-have software to back it up.
But that's just it; the "must have" software consoles can muster these days can be done on cheaper, smaller portable gaming devices which Japan clearly favors now. That's not to say there's no difference between a Vita and PS4 obviously, but outside of the dedicated gamer it's not that noticable. It's not like the PS2/GC days where the popular handheld of choice was the GBA which couldn't produce anything CLOSE to what a home console could do. Now that gap is significantly closer. Close enough that a friend of mine who is Japanese told me he doesn't need a PS4 because he has a Vita. He says he can't tell the difference unless he puts the two side by side and even then he feels Vita is "beautiful enough" to satisfy his gaming needs for now. Plus it's half the price of a PS4.
Honestly I think many people in Japan simply don't see the value of spending more money on a home console when portables are close enough, cheaper and smaller. Again, in the PS2/GC days the value was apparent; the GBA couldn't produce anything CLOSE to those two. But times have changed, home consoles are the new Arcade; they have their niche but they'll likely never be mass-market again unless Nintendo or Sony come up with a new gimmick that is appealing like the Wii Remote was.
Wii U just had the biggest exclusive it'll ever have (well outside of a mainline mario game) and it couldn't even cross 20k.
The good thing the PS4 has going for it is that big 3rd party games are basically de facto exclusives in Japan, the bad thing for them is none of them are coming out any time soon. And just a few at most would be bigger than Mario kart so...
I wasn't expecting such big numbers for MK8. I expect that kind of debut for a big 1st patty 3ds title but not for a WiiU game. Too bad about hardware though. Japan is looking like game over for traditional gaming.
they're going to miss their 12m estimates pretty widely.
either:
-a substantial price drop is coming
-the 2ds is coming to japan
-new hardware is on its way (maybe to also coincide with a price drop because it will be made with cheaper parts)
or nintendo's going to ride this handheld gen out because they have new hardware ready for late next year, with new console hardware hitting the year after.
for some reason, i'm getting the feeling the 3ds won't be replaced until 2016.
so japan has pretty much devolved into a one device market(3ds) which puts them around the ps2 in terms of technology. If this keeps up they might as well not bother next cycle. Sony now has the ps3 as a millstone around it's neck, profits aren't that great but it's taking games away from the ps4. Maybe they should axe it as well.
It should depend more on what they have to launch with said successor at this point. I doubt getting new hardware out without software will do anything.
It should depend more on what they have to launch with said successor at this point. I doubt getting new hardware out without software will do anything.
Having software for said launch goes unspoken. They should be readying a holiday 2015 at the very latest, while having the software to back it up. If they mess this transition up, and you consider their severely declined console sales, then they're in big trouble.
I wasn't expecting such big numbers for MK8. I expect that kind of debut for a big 1st patty 3ds title but not for a WiiU game. Too bad about hardware though. Japan is looking like game over for traditional gaming.
Am I interpreting this right when I say, Mario Kart is definately not an effective or the needed system seller believed? And furthermore that the majority of people wanting to play the big exclusives (Mario, Zelda, Metroid) are mostly already owners, since the game figure is very high but the console number is only a small rise?
Could we further extrapolate that since some of the biggest games expected to ever release on the WiiU (Mario Kart/Mario 3D/WW) could not sway the masses, future big-hitters (Zelda, Mario Galaxy, Metroid) will probably end dissapointing regarding console sale figures hikes? Because those who want to play those games, already own a WiiU before the release of the actual game
This is only a guess based on previous sales; console/game
. Extrapolating here is wonky though so maybe it'll turn out drastically different.
Also, does anyone know whether big, hyped games on sony/ms managed to increase console sale figures with a closer aprpoximation to the game sale figure?
Hmm, I hope I am wrong and WiiU becomes a success, since I would love all future consoles to adopt the WiiU design of stationary console + portable gaming as a standard.
It's possible that the reason why WiiU sales are so low is because there's probably a large stock of used consoles since there was such a drought of good games for the system. Not saying that's definitely what happened, but I can see it contributing to the low sales.
Having software for said launch goes unspoken. They should be readying a holiday 2015 at the very latest, while having the software to back it up. If they mess this transition up, and you consider their severely declined console sales, then they're in big trouble.
It really should, with any console or handheld, but it doesn't usually seem to actually happen. I don't think Nintendo is really in too much trouble if they miss 2015, especially if it means they can have less software gaps by launching in 2016.
It really depends on how the market shifts though, right now mobile seems to be eating away at the traditional market to the point where no console or handheld can make any headway.
PS4 really a deadweight and it seems also PSV will follow suit.
Despite all the doom and gloom in this thread I still see potential in the Japanese market for dedicated videogame hardware, right now it suffers a severe lack of constant software releases for any system, which is due to the software support beeing very fragmented because of too many systems and the strengthened mobile market. PSP and PS3 are on their way out and PSV is heading towards its former abysmal sales trajectory something that likely will lead to less fragmentation in future.
I am hopeful that Mario Kart will at least rise the base line above 8k weekly. I only see more hardcore orientated games (X, Bayo...maybe Smash & Hyrule warrios) giving Wii U a substantial one week bump.