EAs lack of support does have some foundation in caution/austerity, they're looking at their engine investments and where to exploit those, and they're watching more and more of their revenue come through IOS etc.
That Nintendo could sit on numbers coming in - that are THIS BAD - for an entire quarter... and not do anything about it? That says to me that they're trying to be austere themselves. Maybe spent marketing dollars or price cuts now would have meant no Q1 profit, which 3DS and more favourable exchange rates have managed to give them. And a fact of this is, you can't ship more consoles to retailers who already have excess stock. 10k new shipments over three months in the whole of Europe? How is Nintendo Grossostheim in Germany not in fucking flames of panic?
For me, the big miscalculations are not so much the gamepad (which I love), the price or the drought from January until now -- but
- Thinking they don't need the media. Nintendo Direct is not enough to get positive messaging out to everyone. It's preaching to the choir.
- Forgetting that Wii was about differentiation. It wasn't just different to other consoles, it was different to Nintendo consoles that had come before as well. Wii U is only different in that its again a lower price-of-entry and lower graphical tier. Physically it looks like a Wii and there is a lot of software that looks too similar to Wii and 3DS titles.
- Not responding to missteps with their warchest of billions
Part of me is wondering if they're actually also caught in some nexus of ill fortune that is related to their demographic too.
The NES faithful like myself will have started playing from around the early 80s and 90s. When PlayStation came along, Sony were ideally placed to capture an audience entering their teens and twenties by offering something different / 'cooler' and more specifically targeted to that age group. Kids and teens who opted for Gamecube and Wii in recent years are that bit older now, and perhaps have more spending power than before, spending more time with smart devices. Gamers of the NES generation are now turning 30-40, and that's quite a significant age for people beginning to settle down and start families of their own. Budgets being what they are (in this economy), people are having to find money for umpteen devices in their lives now -- handhelds, smartphones, tablets, home consoles, gadgets for the car etc. I think there are more options now (more competition) than ever before, so part of me really thinks $350 and $299 (a price escalation) was a serious mistake. The bro-gamer is sitting here thinking Nintendo should have went and done something MORE expensive, but I actually think they should have focussed even harder on being cheap, affordable and unique.
I bought this system because I knew it would have good games and experiences. For me, it's already delivered on that. I've thoroughly enjoyed NSMB, ZombiU, Lego City, and Pikmin so far - as well as lots of other games like Batman AC:AE (I've triple dipped on Arkham City on different platforms and its good), Sonic Racing Transformed, eShop titles like Mighty Switch Force, Bit Trip Runner 2, The Cave etc. Miiverse is excellent and always improving.
What it DOES lack is that exciting sizzle reel of the future... a proper glimpse at what their best teams are cooking up for it, a proper look at HD Metroid and Zelda. Some idea of what they'll do for the next Wii Sports. Nintendo don't seem to have understood that their silence and bi-monthly Nintendo Directs are counter intuitive to hype. They do not exist in a vacuum. There are still good titles coming out for PS3 and 360, and we have just seen plenty of exciting titles shown for the next gen systems too. If Nintendo weren't ready with games (and that seems to have been the case) then they should have taken a leaf from Sony's book and put together some achievable CG.
It should have some games with better use of the gamepad. Why are there no console games that are a bit more like Ace Attorney, Ouendan, Art Academy etc? One of the most dumb-founding things about this console is that there were loads of great ideas on the original Nintendo DS, and few if any of them have been iterated or improved upon on the superior 3DS and Wii U. Maybe some of those experiences are coming, but it just seems like poor management / planning to me.
In a sense, its probably good that it has only sold 3m+ WW, because if it does pick up and they start marketing it, new buyers won't have experienced this 6 month drought or the early OS problems.
I absolutely expect -
- Significant price drop and SKU changes before November
- Real improvements in the OS
- Significant news of something to look forward to, to drive excitement towards Christmas
If none of those things come and they just carry on, on this present course, thinking that Mario 3D World or other games will come along and gradually lift their fortunes, then they are as good as admitting defeat.
