News: Cliff Bleszinski: Nintendo Could Become Software Only Page 1

Cliff Bleszinski: Nintendo Could Become Software Only

26.02.2013

Cliff Bleszinski: Nintendo Could Become Software Only on Nintendo gaming news, videos and discussion

Cliff Bleszinski, creator of the Gears of War franchise, recently commented on the state of the traditional video game industry.

In an interview with GamesIndustry, the former design director for Epic Games feels that "we're in a massive state of turmoil" and that "we're ready to do digital download games all the time."

With the industry shifting towards download releases, social and mobile games he fears that we may see an end to the traditional game-only hardware and that "Nintendo could possibly be faced with the situation of becoming a company that only makes software moving forward".

I think Sony and Microsoft are about to come to major blows. But at the same time, people love playing games on their iPad. The PC is going through a wonderful renaissance right now.

Bleszinski, who worked at Epic for around two decades, is currently taking a break from making games.

I just want to see what happens. In regards to the industry, it's like the Super Smash Bros. of business right now, and I want to see if Peach or Mario wins.

What do you think of Bleszinski's comments? Is there room five, ten years down the line for traditional gaming hardware?

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Conley (guest) 26.02.2013#1

Preposterous. Nintendo is the only company that actually turns a profit consistently with their gaming hardware. If anything, Sony would bow out before the big N does.

crackedthesky 26.02.2013#2

Conley (guest) said:
Preposterous. Nintendo is the only company that actually turns a profit consistently with their gaming hardware. If anything, Sony would bow out before the big N does.

I'd have to disagree for reasons I've explained on here before. Sony and Microsoft both have massive businesses outside of video games. Video games are just one branch of their company trees. Nintendo's entire stake is in the video games industry. The entire industry could fall and Sony and Microsoft would be fine. Nintendo would be dust.

That said, the industry isn't doing well. Nothing is. But video games are consistently the entertainment industry that does the best financially. None of these companies are going anywhere anytime soon, and if one collapses, they'll almost certainly continue to make games for the competition's console.

NNID: crackedthesky
My blog, mostly about writing: http://www.davidjlovato.com

Sonic_13 26.02.2013#3

justonesp00lturn said:
Conley (guest) said:
Preposterous. Nintendo is the only company that actually turns a profit consistently with their gaming hardware. If anything, Sony would bow out before the big N does.
I'd have to disagree for reasons I've explained on here before. Sony and Microsoft both have massive businesses outside of video games. Video games are just one branch of their company trees. Nintendo's entire stake is in the video games industry. The entire industry could fall and Sony and Microsoft would be fine.

Sony overall is doing really poorly. I don't know the exact details of their financial standing, but I'm not so sure the rest of the company is exactly in a shape to massively bail the Playstation division out if it were needed.

If Nintendo fails, everything is going down with the ship. There won't be Mario on Playstation ever.

Darkflame 26.02.2013#4

The 3DS, worldwide, is selling as well as the GBA did, and better then the DS did in some regions.

Theres no sign of a downward trend, despite the 3DS having much more competition then the GBA (which basicly had no competition).

Thats not to say that the 3DS will do as well as the DS did, but that might just be because the DS was the greatest selling hardware of all time, and thus abnormaly successfull. Relative overall, theres no clear post-iPhone downward trend like youd expect if one set of sales effected the other.

OR, put simply, Angry Birds does not replace the need for Pokemon, in the same way that YouTube cat videos doesnt replace the need for Hollywood films.

http://www.fanficmaker.com <-- Tells some truly terrible tales.
Last update; Mice,Plumbers,Animatronics and Airbenders. We also have the socials; Facebook & G+.

ebgeer (guest) 26.02.2013#5

People have been commenting on Nintendo's demise since SNES. They aren't going anywhere any time soon. 3DS is selling well, and when WiiU gets some more titles out it will be doing fine as well(I will be picking one up Mid march for MonHun.) With Sony basically shooting themselves in the foot saying no backward compatibility and no PSN software from created for PS3 will be playable on PS4, and the rumor that 360 will be "watermarking" their software to kill used games...MS and Sony basically shit the bed for me. I have a PS3 and to hear that I can' t take any of the PSN software forward is an instant turnoff. And MS has no exclusives anymore---there is no reason to even buy into their consoles. Long live Nintendo.

Sonic_13 26.02.2013#6

Kotaku just posted this today. Basically they dug up a bunch of old quotes from analysts, magazines, etc. all predicting Nintendo's imminent failure and why they should go third party.

http://kotaku.com/5986942/nintendos-doomed-they-should-go-third+partysaid-everyone-ever

Ljink (guest) 26.02.2013#7

So the company that paved the way for Sony's Playstation and Microsoft's Xbox will go software only... hmmm... I don't think so. This happens all the time, when a new Zelda, Pokemon, Mario, Smash Bros, Mario Kart isn't shown immediately doom starts finding its ways into peoples mouth. We can't count Nintendo out just yet, they just released their console 4 months ago guys. And with only NSMBU and Nintendo Land to boot.

Nobody is going to buy Mario on a Playstation. Nintendo has made great consoles and the Wii U is no exception. It sure is a better idea than beefing up specs. I can understand that not another console will reach the 100million mark after this generation, this will be a fact. Nintendo's Wii U I honestly see gamers buying it because its something that mainly gamers play. With the Wii it was something that took the world by storm because it wasn't the same thing. No longer did geeks, nerds, and the average gamer play videogames: Everybody could do it, and with no gaming skill. I don't think this will be reached again but once again Nintendo is a surprising company.

Just like the crap that Vita is(JK) it's not selling all that well because the games for it absolutely suck. There's not one system seller that I've seen. The 3DS is flourishing for this very reason. Nintendo could survive on it's handheld market alone. You never see "Nintendo's handheld market, in dire trouble" it's the console market. And what's funny is that the 3DS has been selling the most gaming machines for I don't know how long and nobody is making headlines about vita being beaten by 3DS for like the 100millionth time in a row. The Wii U will speak for itself at this year, and next year's E3. PS and Xbox will be more of the same, hate to say it.

crackedthesky 27.02.2013#8

Sonic_13 said:
Kotaku just posted this today. Basically they dug up a bunch of old quotes from analysts, magazines, etc. all predicting Nintendo's imminent failure and why they should go third party.
http://kotaku.com/5986942/nintendos-doomed-they-should-go-third+partysaid-everyone-ever

I knew people had been incorrectly predicting Nintendo's downfall for a while, but some of these quotes are 10 years old. I wonder what it takes to become an "industry analyst"; I think I could make better predictions by coin flip.

NNID: crackedthesky
My blog, mostly about writing: http://www.davidjlovato.com

crackedthesky 27.02.2013#9

Darkflame said:

OR, put simply, Angry Birds does not replace the need for Pokemon, in the same way that YouTube cat videos doesnt replace the need for Hollywood films.

Best analogy of 2013 so far, haha. I mean, I love Angry Birds, but whenever I hear people telling me the iPhone is going to obliterate Nintendo's handhelds I throw up in my mouth a little.

NNID: crackedthesky
My blog, mostly about writing: http://www.davidjlovato.com

Flynnie 27.02.2013#10

Coming from someone who used to work for a company who has never made a game on a Nintendo console to my knowledge...

I wish i could get paid to comment on the games industry...a lot of it is subjective fan-boy-isms half the time. Just a whimiscal comment made out of the blue because they are aligned to hardware developer themselves...

In all seriousness who would have thought in 1995 that SEGA would be where they are now...or maybe even in 2001! They too also lacked EA Games' support and with recent rumours about the true lack of EA Wii U support I am slightly worried about it. FIFA 12 and 13 on Nintendo consoles were abysmal...I mean what is the point of making them at all!

I would say that Nintendo has stronger IP's than that of any company around, it really is a shame that they can't nail down 3rd party support to shut the skeptics up.

I do hate having to defend a corporate company such as Nintendo every day of my life...it's very tiring...

Darkflame 28.02.2013#11

Segas downfull was somewhat predictable - lots of failed consoles in a row. Not just 1, but many.
They released far too many things with far too few games each. Both oversaturated and confused their own fanbase.
PS2 over hype helped kill of the dreamcast, but they had bankrupted their own customers before then.....and it didnt help they were spending far too much on advertising.
They had a football team sponsored till long after they had stopped making hardware, for example.

Its also worth noting Sega was never as well off as Nintendo to start with.
Its a shame though, as game wise Sega was the best competition for Nintendo and they made the best games for their own systems.

http://www.fanficmaker.com <-- Tells some truly terrible tales.
Last update; Mice,Plumbers,Animatronics and Airbenders. We also have the socials; Facebook & G+.

kingdom (guest) 28.02.2013#12

this ^

The fact that I find myself defending a MNC: confusing

Doing so: tiring

Being the only right person surrounding by exclusively wrong people: logically impossible?

Subjective: not objective

Life: Stranger than fiction.

All told: bad for my mental health

Bleszinski: some kid I would probably employ if I could afford (if I even had a job myself)

Pachter: idiot turned troll