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| Disagreements make interesting conversations by Unbitter 04/30/2012, 11:08am PDT | ||||
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fabio wrote: Wasn't trying to tell you what revenue was, just pointing out that Nintendo, as a single company, has made more money than the entire mobile gaming industry. It's a big, BIG gap. Now, yes, while the mobile market is easier to shit games out for, the majority of those do NOT make money. They are free games. Without an income of some kind, those companies will likely faulter, and those companies who are making money creating shit games for the 3DS (or even still the DS) will remain alive. Much like Blockbuster and Border Books weathering the "internet fad". At this point, I don't think we can compare the two. Give it another 5 years, then we can talk. Honestly, a lot of it is because it's "fresh" and "new" and Apple. Once that calms down, then we'll know the true scope of the "storm." You know that deal also comes with a phone? Yes, these all come with a phone, but NOT a 3DS. You do NOT have to buy a service via Nintendo, just have an internet connection. Given the cost of an iPhone, do you really, REALLY want to let your kids play with it? I wouldn't. At the same time, you know they're responsible enough to deal with the far cheaper 3DS, that doesn't require all the extra fees to support it. Also don't have to worry about missed calls or deletions from your phone as the kids rub their hands across it. Again, Nintendo is marketing their devices as "family friendly" and "toys" which means their target market is very different than the iPhone/Android market, giving them more breathing room. It brings us back to Borders and Blockbuster who were competing directly with Amazon and Netflix for the same service/market, and failed. Nintendo isn't trying to make smartphones that can play rudimentary games, but dedicating gaming devices with some networking abilities. Different markets in the long run. Quality control is more likely on a $40 game since you'll want people to pay for it. With the mobile market, the games are FREE so QC is unnecessary since you don't care if they pick it up for much anyway. As for Zynga, their horse is tied to Facebook, but even then, they're not really generating new PAYING customers, just moving the ones they have around. Their numbers are suspect at best, and while they are doing well now, little is indicating that they will continue to do well in the future. And I don't get the iPhone screen size thing, and really don't care since Androids have about the same size as well. Where in the world are you getting this from. Brand recognition is a key element to Nintendo's strategy. Mario, Metroid, Zelda and Pokemon are just as important as the actual hardware. 3DS sales didn't take off until A) the price dropped and B) A Mario game dropped. Many people bought a Wii just to play Zelda or Metroid, and I suspect the Wii U will have the same thing going for it. The mobile market generates new IP, but because the games are generally lower quality and don't get much beyond the "fad" stage, they can't build on it. Only Rovio has managed to do anything with Angry Birds, but even then, they are over reaching if they think their game will ever be as recognizable as the plumber, let alone their own stated goal of being the "next Disney" (yeah, they really said that, I wish I were lying). Estimated launch price: $300-$400 Whose estimate? I think the Wii U will likely be much cheaper than that (250 - 300), with most of the cash going into the tablet rather than the console itself. Why? Because I don't think the new console will actually be that much more powerful than the PS3 and XBox. Nintendo is a "generation" behind, but only because they were looking to produce a console with off the shelf parts. At this point, the parts in the 360 and PS3 ARE off the shelf, if not obsolete by most standards, so the Wii U will likely end up being cheaper to produce. Aside from the 3DS where they needed to capture the market before the Vita arrived, Nintendo does not like to lose money on hardware, so I doubt they'll sell it for much more than it takes to produce and still make money. This results in a cheaper console with relatively the same power as the "big" consoles, but also have the family friendly Nintendo brand, the various Nintendo IPs and the new, innovative controller system. This combination COULD lead to it being a decently big seller. It generated a huge buzz over the controller possibilities and tennis, yes. When you look prior to the holiday season of 2011, yeah, it probably does (both articles are dated Nov 2011). Again, it brings up the 3.3 billion in revenue for the ENTIRE industry while Nintendo over the same period made 13 billion. Yes, the handhelds are losing ground, but not that much ground. PSP sales dropped off in anticipation for the Vita, which isn't doing very well at all, and the 3DS has only been out, what a year now? At the same time, the issue is that the entire industry is being measured against a single company, and many of the companies in that industry don't report their earnings, or lie about them. This makes it hard to truly gauge the scope of the industry with any reliability. Nintendo has no reason, or desire, to lie about it's state of affairs, and has even been moving to fix these problems. They're planning on releasing the next Mario game as a downloadable game as well as in cart form, (the exact process is a bit up in the air and I don't want to bother looking it up at the moment). I'd say the mobile game market has already taken a chunk out of sales. Considering that it's only really been around for the past 2 or 3 years, those numbers are pretty insane. Very insane, but is it sustainable? I don't think it is because many of the companies in that industry are likely not to be here in 2 or 3 years, hell, many won't last the next 6 months. Nintendo's sales are strong enough that they can support themselves with a little loss (again, on the shoulders of the 3DS price cut which they aim to resolve by the end of the year, probably by reducing production costs). How many of the mobile gaming companies can take the same fraction of loss and keep right on going? I suspect the number is very few. |
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