So What Does Nintendo Do Next?
Wii

So the Wii has won this generation. Pretty much done and dusted. But what can Nintendo do next generation to keep the same level of interest? The crowd they cater to is a fickle group that will abandon them in a moment's notice. Can Nintendo really replicate the massive awareness that the Wii experienced?

And they really can't turn to their base for support either. They've turned away a great deal of their most loyal customers by failing to offer a compelling online service, and delivering an underpowered console.


So where can they possibly go from here? The Wii will fill the bank for the next few years, continuing to fuel Nintendo's resurgence. But I can't help but wonder how they can capture lighting again. The casual crowd in many ways is harder to please than even we are. Its more challenging to grab their attention than ours. If Nintendo releases a great game, we know it, we buy it -- for the most part. It has to have some kind of marketable gimmick to attract our less interested parents and relatives though.

Nintendo won't have the only casual friendly system either next time around, that's a guarantee. Sony and Microsoft are already working on their own stuff to grab a piece of the pie. Nintendo will have to come up with something that's both new and catchy, while at the same time trying to show it as providing a "more fun and family friendly experience"(tm) than its competitors.


Do you see Nintendo's next generation system catering a bit more strongly to traditional gamers, or do you see them taking more strides to try to hold onto their casual market?

Hmm I think Nintendo will do fine next gen, I disagree with the casuals leaving them since the casuals now know the Nintendo Brand, and Nintendo titles sell heaps. Even their Hardcore titles sell ~1-3m except NSMBWii which has sold just under 10m so far. Nintendo's hardcore fan base is still there, look at how well hardcore games (big franchises) sell on the DS.

Microsoft and Sony don't appeal to the same casuals because of a number of factors:
1: Interface. Not just the Wiimote etc, but the interface of the Wii and the DS is easy to navigate and get where you want to no problems. the X360 has pages which you flick with buttons/analog stick which are filled with options and info. They should compact the info and options into sections, makes it more eye pleasing. the PS3 looks like a complex DVD menu, small letters with no button layout makes it seem harder than it is and we all know casuals will get their neighbour's son to plug the Antenna into their TV so you figure it out.

2- Games. Lips, Singstar, are not enough for what casuals want/need. Even if they make a sports game they need to know how to advertise that to the consumer they're aiming for, it's like rule number 1 in graphic design. They fail to do so because Nintendo promotes those games as activites, they get stars to show it off, they show family fun, not a bunch of teenagers singing Hannah Montana. Plus the iconic Miis (iconic to the casuals that is). So Nintendo did everything right, hence why their success, note that they've estabilished franchises for the casuals, casuals actually look for the title now, see Wii sports and Wii sports resort.

3- Hardware looks. Nintendo has been successful with the small box that fits anywhere in most positions that looks smart but simple. the 360 falls way behind in this and even if the PS3 looks sleek, it's not slim or simple (yet). Casuals notice this difference and Multi entertainment/multimedia to these people means close to nothing. If they want to buy a Wii, it's because they want a console not a Blu ray player, people need to understand this. The PS2 was different, a DVD player back then was quite pricey and Sony used that feature to sell more units, but these days, people get Blu ray players cheaper than the PS3, everyone has a DVD player at home and those things are so slim, slimmer than some LCD tvs- again the looks.
Sony and Microsoft need to understand this because even though it works on paper having a multi media system which does all you want, it's not what these people are after.

They know the Wii does nothing more than play games, they buy it for the sole purpose of buying a console. The Mindset behind this is simple, it you buy a multi media system which is expensive and does a lot of stuff, you imagine something you have to fiddle around with and specially with the kids they'd have a hard time figuring it out before they can play.
Whereas the Wii is plug in, press A and select what you want to do off the main screen. Simple, kids do it no problem.

4- The Brand. Nintendo now is more estabilished than Playstation or the Xbox, Nintendo Ads with massive Nintendo Logo's, Nintendo logos everywhere on the street, on the system's box, it's out there in your face, shows in your games, they live with it daily. If Nintendo makes up another quirky name like the Wii, easy to pronounce, easy to spot, they're done. Wii is so spoken amongst so many people it's just out there. What's this? Another Perfect design decision, which again was successful.

5- Image. Here Nintendo is lightyears ahead from the competition, they have a family image with the consumer, Mario is again a pop icon in society, everyone again knows who Mario is and what he does. If they buy a Playstation or an Xbox and realise there's no Mario, they'd want to change for a Nintendo Console. Plus Nintendo always uses Mario or other iconic franchises to promote their hardware, they'll know where to get Mario.

Now as for the Hardcore, Nitendo's fan base is always there, even if now they've abandoned Nintendo, as soon as there's a HD wii they'll be running back. Plus, Nintendo Gamers in gerneral stick with Nintendo because of Mario, Zelda, Metroid, and other famouse franchises Nintendo owns. They know that Nintendo made those franchises famous because they do it better than anyone else with those.

Another point for the hardcore, they'll come back to Nintendo as Nintendo pumps out their best games. How many Hardcore have bought a Wii during the first yr or 2 then sold it after the Nintendo Titles have passed? They they go and Buy another one when more of those games come out. It's stupid but people do that.

So, do I think Nintendo will fail next gen? Nope, they'll most likely bring out a console their fanbase really wants while still pleasing the casuals with all of what I've stated above. Just my 2cents.

I think Nintendo may strive to expand the market further, become a brand with there home console thats as big as Apple with their iPod, with the DS, they're already achieving that, and the Wii's getting there, all it needs is more developer's making more good games and it'll have almost total domination, the old type of gamer market (known as the "Hardcore" for some stupid reason) is quite niche, and since there's over 6 billion people in the world, with almost 300 million people in the US alone, and there being only about 120 million home consoles sold all together this generation,giv or take, you'd think there's a massive market that's left untapped, and that's what the companies should be aiming for, and that's what Nintendo's trying at the moment.

For the next Generation, Nintendo have already stated that they'll be going HD, since there's no reason not to, yes they should have a better online system with names instead of friend codes, and I think they've got an achievement system that's perfect that they just need to implement it in all there games, and that's the Wii Sports Resort Stamp system. Simple and easy, and should please anyone who plays it.

I completely agree with Jacob. Nintendo are going to need to really up their game for next gen, as their dominant audience is one that will go for the cheapest and most family fun option. Right now Natal looks like it's going to have that "image" up and down, and it's a safe bet that all next gen competitors will have Natal clones and more.


Knowing the Nintendo brand hasn't stopped casuals from buying hugely inferior 3rd party titles about dogs and fitness. They will buy whatever is advertised and looks fun. Next gen all systems will be offering the same high quality casual titles, so we could either see another video game crash (doubt it...) or many casuals will be leaving Nintendo to go for nicer looking options.

And the hardcore franchises on DS do sell; but that's because Nintendo is also appealing them to casuals. Look at the Wii's sales, there are lots of hardcore games on it that are crying for sales, sales that they would get if they were on another system.

There are also many things you're forgetting completely Andrezao...

1) We're not talking about this gen. Yes, it's obvious that Microsoft or Sony won't be able to win the casuals over before their current gen consoles die, but when the next sleuth of consoles come out; ALL the competitors will be wanting to appeal to that audience as best as they can, including image, interface, games, everything. You can't deny that MS and Sony will try this, and they'll do it well too.


Do you have any idea why the PS2 was so popular? It was a multimedia device. It played music and it let people watch DVDs. It was last gen's casual console because it was a multimedia device. Casuals LIKE the "all in one" machine, which is why things like the iPhone have been so popular.

If Nintendo leave DVD and music and such out of their next console, they lose a huge chunk of the market to their opponents, who will have all these things for around the same price.


Nintendo did this in less than a generation. Don't you remember last gen when everyone called every home console "a playstation"? Now they're calling it "the Wii". Nintendo have done nothing but prove once again that popularity can change dramatically through simple choices. Next gen Nintendo could be forgotten in the same way that Sony is almost forgotten right now.


You mean you think Microsoft and Sony won't try to do the same thing?

Personally I think next gen's going to be very interesting. Microsoft are going to grab the casual market by the reigns; they're far more in touch with all kinds of gamers than Nintendo are. Being a western company they also have more guaranteed success with the market over here.

Sony will be trying to make an affordable console and regain what they lost, as well as dabbling in the casual on the side.

And Nintendo... well as usual they'll fall behind on something. Last gen it was DVD, this gen it's online (and DVD), and next gen it'll be something else that the others have (and DVD).

However since they'll no longer have the casuals wrapped around their little fingers, they'll have to put out more oomph, they'll have to beg for third party support, they'll have to pump out more hardcore games. They're going to need a new hook.

I'm not sure they can do it.

Heh We'll see. You forget the casuals buy teh pet simulators and such because they're copies of what Nintendo makes and still sells a lot less than any of what Nintendo made themselves. Do the casuals know Nintendo as a brand better now? Yes.

Last gen a lot of people bought the PS2 as a dvd player yeah, but, today a Blu ray DVD player is much cheaper than a PS3. Example, I saw at a shop here in Aus a Panasonic Blu ray Player selling for Au$138, Samsung for Au$150. Who would buy a PS3 for Au$400, when a Blu ray player is much cheaper? It's a matter of timing, Sony released Blu ray Prematurely and wasn't able to sell that many PS3's because of that.
Hence why I said "The PS2 was different, a DVD player back then was quite pricey and Sony used that feature to sell more units, but these days, people get Blu ray players cheaper than the PS3, everyone has a DVD player at home and those things are so slim"

I know why the PS2 sold so well, I stated it in my post, maybe you didn't see it?

How come so many things I'm forgetting completely? If I was forgetting that many things Sony and MS would be making more money than they do. So who's forgetting what? If they knew what they're trying to do they would know that simply implementing a device into their consoles which copy the Wii will add so little to their success. Watch.

Microsoft tries to capture the Wii's audience but it's like the Zune and iPod. It's an established popular Icon, as long as the conusmers keep getting new things under the brand they already took their pic they're satisfied. Hence why you see more iPods then Zunes or more Wii's then Xbox's or Playstations.

Why don't you go to a shop, ask and see for yourself, the casual consumer mind works like that. I've seen so much of that working at Eb games and JB hifi, man these customers know what they want. I've noticed that many customers now ask if games are made by Nintendo. This lady came in the other day asking if Harvest Moon was a Nintendo game and I said no, she told me she was skeptical because she bought a game thinking it was Nintendo but it wasn't and her family didn't enjoy it. It was about this dog country game I think it's called Dog Island from what she said.

Problem here is Microsoft and SOny have to really bend over this time around, and appeal a lot more to the casual market if they want a bite, but it would alienate their Hardcore consumers. Casuals know that the PS3 and Xbox has excessive violent games, they see it on TV, whereas the violent Wii games hardly get advertised. Hence the image problem.

About naming, nah won't work like that. Why? Because if they did it, they'd have to do a completely new line of consoles. You see Playstation never changed name, tendency is for them to continue to do so. Same with Microsoft, cause if they change create a completely new brand they'd lose consumer awareness. Why wouldn't it happen to Nintendo? Because the Word Nintendo, the Logo is as famous as the names Wii and DS. You rarely see on a Xbox or Ps3 ad saying "SONY" or "Microsoft". That is another clever design decision, which you also learn in the principles of design which is fame your product but above all fame your company.

Because product name changes, but not the company, that's what the consumers need to know, and a lot of companies died because they failed to do so. Nintendo inclusive during the N64 and GC era where they didn't use the Word Nintendo stamped ontop of their console's logo.

I'm not saying MS or Sony has a chance, just saying I reckon Nintendo Will most likely not lose it's ground, because they'll most likely come up with something new along with a more powerful console which would cost a lot less in comparison to the competitors. Don't forget the PS3's 10 yr lifespan, meaning they won't shift machines anytime soon.

Like you said about making their Hardcore games appeal to the casuals, you highlighted another point. You prob won't see Halo with cartoony graphics or GoW with a big silly smile on his face.
The thing is appealing to children is something Nintendo does naturally because they've always done it.
That's why you have Wiifit, Wii Sports, WiiPlay, as multi million selling software, more than any software released on the PS2. Sony will have to come up with new IP to compete against those Nintendo Titles, which consumers are already starting to prefer being made by Nintendo.

My Point sums up that I think that Nintendo Won't lose grip of what it's achieved. It's new console will most likely come out way before the next Xbox or PS, giving it more of an advantage over the competition. I think MS or Sony won't steal this market off Nintendo unless Nintendo really messes up, which given their new Philosophy won't happen.

Edit: Natal will just be another Eye toy, and I'm not sure if consumers will prefer that over a Wiimote or the Sony wand. Specially as in how the camera will function exactly, how does it respond, because professional cameras that can find say 11 focus points for example are of really high quality and cost a lot of money. software isn't just the anser to this, a camera needs to have a mechanism function in order to do this. Is there already a price for the Natal?
I'll wait and see how will they do this and manage the tracking of even multiple objects at the same time. Don't give me tech demoes, I want to see software do this to showcase, like how will devs embrace this and how much more work will this give the devs ontop of their 15million+ 360 game budget. I personally don't see this getting the consumer as they wish it will just like how Lips didn't quite get what singstar achieved.

( Edited 19.01.2010 17:02 by Andrezao )

I wonder how Natal will work in small rooms? I've only seen it demoed in massive rooms with loads of space..

Hmmm - I question the power of the Nintendo name. The Wii name has power, but Nintendo actually worked pretty hard to remove their name from the product. Remember, they wanted the system to register in people's minds without them thinking about gaming. Case in point:

1) Look at your Wii system. Does it say Nintendo on the front? No. It says Wii. It also says Wii on the side. It does not say Nintendo.

2) Take a look at a Wii mote. Nintendo isn't to be found.

3) Advertising for Wii:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7rxlTNfj90

You see the Nintendo logo transparently on the screen shoved to the bottom right corner for all of 3 seconds. The rest of that video doesn't mention "Nintendo" once. Its just Wii.


Nintendo didn't want the Wii to be associated with them because they didn't want casual gamers to see it as a system just for gamers. It worked, but it does hurt their recognizability going forward -- unless they stick with the Wii name. And that's probably pretty likely because the name is there in people's mind, and again without the stigma of being too hard core.

I wouldn't be surprised to see 2 consoles from Nintendo next-gen; Wii 2 for the casuals, and another more traditional approach for the rest of us.

If they announce 'Wii 2', the hardcores will sigh and avert their gaze towards what Sony and Microsoft offer (after all, I'm sure MANY Nintendo fans, including myself, were hardcore Nintendo fanboys before the Wii and only got a 360 and PS3 because the Wii can't quite provide for us as well as they can). If they ditch the Wii name, the casuals that have been reared to recognise it will be lost.

The only way I can see around this is to release two separate consoles for each market. I think just releasing the 'Wii 2' is more likely though to be honest.

I'm one of those they told Animal Crossing was hardcore to.

If Mario Galaxy 2 and Zelda don't succeed with me, I will remember Nintendo for every console up to the GameCube. I know they won't abandon the stupid minds..ok casuals next gen so they can fuck right off.
Haven't played Wii since No More Heroes.

I really think Nintendo's next console has to be on a par with the competition graphically. It's not the same as being successful with a hand held console. They think because it's worked for them with Gameboy and DS it's going to work with a home console. It's just not! People expect stunning visuals and something that pushes things forward technically in a home console. I certainly don't think graphics are everything. But the majority of the public will look at two consoles and pick the one that looks the best.

If you said gaming public, then yes, I'd totally agree, but as I said in my comment above, the Gaming public is incredibly niche compared to the rest of the world, they will go for whatever they think has the most entertainment value, not just games that look good but they can't get a hold of because it "looks too complicated". That's why Nintendo's going for the people that don't usually get games consoles, because they are in the majority, not the average gamer. Next gen, they will have visuals that are going to be far superior to the Wii's no doubt about it, but to appeal to the market, they'll use the best quality product they can produce, but in the cheapest way of producing it to make profit straight away. I'm sure Apple do the same things with their iPods, what people think is the latest Tech, may be tech produced years ago, but has only just become cheap enough to mass produce and sell at a reasonable price.

When The PS2 came out, it was very cheap for a DVD player, and it also played games, as well as having the 70 million people that by then, brought a PS1/One to help along. It was something that no other console had done before, play DVD's. It also had a contract with Rockstar for Grand Theft auto which for the first time was in 3D, and it was a really big hit, it also had Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, which must have helped it in Japan. The PS2 had alot going for it normal gamewise, then came the "Casual" games like Singstar and Buzz, these were new, and fun for people who wanted their friends and family to come over, but didn't want your average board games or Kareoke (Singstar).

So practically, developers on the Wii took the opportunity to just expand on what those people wanted, just because Wii Sports was selling the Wii to those people, and because Wii Fit was selling in the Masses, they wanted Nintendo's success, which they'll never get. No matter how crappy Wii Play or Wii Fit seems to the average gamer, they are made with quality and it actually shows, unlike other Devs, who make a clone that isn't fun, and most of the time, doesn't work, and people hear about this through word of mouth rather than going by the advertising, which is probably why alot of them don't buy the normal video games, because they don't hear much about it, and because developers have made poor games with little value in fun, like Big Beach Sports.

Also, I've noticed alot of games that people were finding hard to find like Zack and Wiki are resurfacing and being put up for sale, are retailers to blame for the lack of sales? Do they hide these games on purpose? I found two copies of Zack & Wiki, 1 copy of Okami, and Little kings story on a 2 for £30 sale in HMV, I asked for those games everywhere, and they said they'd come off of sale because they "weren't selling enough", why sell them again if they won't sell huh ?

But anyway, sorry about the long post, just thought I'd share my thoughts.

The posts in this thread are too long Jacob they're gonna get the TLR treatment, it's an interesting topics but I'd say copy paste your OP and start again homeslice.

@ Jacob, true the logo isn't on the system but if you notice the games, the Wii box, they do have the Nintendo Logo on it. If we talk about casuals, they're the type that they might not be aware of what they're buying but damn straght they know who makes it, like they do read the info at the back of the box, they ask us what the game is for, what it does, who makes it, etc.

They're well aware, and like I've stated before the cansumers now ask for Nintendo products, they know Mario is a Nintendo Character, they buy it because they know who makes it. They think Nintendo Licensed games like Okami is a Nintendo made game, then I explain it and they get skeptical so we have to tell them that it's a perfectly good game and made by an excellent company.

Here in Australia, on the Wii and DS ad's you see the Nintendo Logo come up on the screen after teh Wii/DS logo show up. You can even say some customers think Nintendo makes all consoles lol. I've had a lot of people come in and ask if the Xbox was made by Nintendo or if it has Mario, then I just say no, it's made by microsoft completely different company so they buy the Wii instead. I'm actually surprised on how many people are aware of Wii's online capabilities, they ask us how to set it up, without asking or us saying it can use the net. More and more customers are also buying Wiipoints, like Mothers and older people, it's normal for the average teenager/young adult to come in and ask for it but casuals?

But then again, over here there's sometimes features on newspapers about the Wii and how does it work and what it does obv an ad paid by Nintendo but smart way to do it. I've even see TV shows showing the Wii's features, like popular programs, my mum knows the Wii has internet and tells me when a game is coming out because I barely watch TV. Don't know how it works over there in the UK or US but over here the Wii @ shops is always advertised as the Nintendo Wii, and it's asked by Nintendo over here to do so, it's why our boss tells us to put it up like that.

It's prob like I said these people are the same that do shopping, they research best price, brand name stuff like that so for them to Know it's Nintendo made it's prob because of that habit.

Ah, also about Nintendo sticking with the Wii name, I'm not sure, unless they do like the DS, like different versions or simple upgrades, I don't really think they'll keep the same name, it's not their business model to do so.
Same way I don't think Sony or MS will change their product name because they've estabilished a product line, it's a huge risk to kill a product like or rename it.

If that was an alternative the Zune and the Walkman series for example would've been renamed for them to go after those iPod customers, it doesn't work that way. As you see the Zune and the Sony Mp3 is still called what they are, in the walkman case that product line has been out for years! Since the portable tape player. They won't kill it, they end up making it worse lol cause it's just Walkman XHAV13 names they give their players, it puts the customer off.

You know I think for next gen Nintendo can still have a small but powerful system, like for example, storage, the apple iPod uses a tiny HDD which you can swap out and put another one in, I've seen them selling on ebay, so small but look at the capacity! Laptops these days use Core i7, Quad Core CPUs with excellent cooling, powerful GTX2" series graphics card are also being used. That is really powerful stuff there, Nintendo can keep up with the Wii Formfactor and make it a beast if they want to. The tech is there and now it's really cheap, their wait on HD console was prob worth it since they can get as powerful or more than the competition for a much cheaper price these days. Just some food for thought.

( Edited 19.01.2010 23:42 by Andrezao )

Make another console.

With better organs.

And regenerating cells...

Don't mention Cell in a Wii thread, it is not accurate.

I know...

They could have a Stemcell though, with that Zii rumour...

Or just a quad core IBM 64 bit processor, with a graphics card equal to the ATi Radeon HD5870.... If we're lucky...

( Edited 20.01.2010 01:29 by Stulaw )

IBM? I'd rather if they went the Intel + Nvidia Combo, wouldn't that be nicer maybe?

Well ATI did a stunning job with the 360's GPU. It doesn't matter that much with consoles anyway, because they're far removed from PC GPUs, often with extra features that you simply can't do on PC for breaking compatability (if anyone is interested, check out EDRAM, Hierachical Z buffering, Mem export and the Tesselator for the 360. Very much DX10+ features augmented to DX9).

( Edited 20.01.2010 01:57 by knighty )

I've said it once and I'll say it again: New Power Glove.

Very true Knighty, however I'd like to have a look at the Tegra Chips and since laptops have been getting more and more out of Intel's Core i7, it would be a pretty powerful beast wouldn't you think so? About the ram: fucking awesome. makes me wonder how long til DDR4-5 since some Gpu's already use DDR5.

DX10 features are available to PC users who have DX10-compatible hardware? I'm sure you're right, you know all about that guff.



Wasn't there some new form of RAM a few years back called XDR that kicked all other types of RAM straight in the balls?

( Edited 20.01.2010 03:01 by Martin_ )

Will Nintendo announce a next-gen DS successor sometime this year?

They should reboot the Game Boy line like crappy studios do with old films. Game Boy: Begins

( Edited 20.01.2010 06:37 by Martin_ )