But that’s the wrong title, you protest, surely you mean Sony! ‘Where Sony is going wrong’. Can’t be that hard to mix up the two names, can it? Well no, and I have in fact typed the correct one, for, whilst Nintendo are proving to be very successful at the moment, and Sony have had what the very generous would call a ‘difficult year’, that does not exclude them from the mistakes and pratfalls that befall all big companies. In fact were the DS and the Wii not proving to be so popular there may be some serious questions being asked of the Kyoto giant, rather than rapturous praise. However don’t get me wrong, I think Nintendo have been very clever and made a lot of good and wise decisions in the past few years, they have somehow turned around a flagging business into the model of success and done so without seemingly breaking a sweat. Through this they have remained humble and true to their core values, backing away from the proverbial slagging match that becomes technological warfare amongst the cutting edge.
The fact still remains though that the console race, as many dub it, is far from over and there are several areas that Nintendo have been slow to correct or act on, that could hurt them in the future. Once the Wii is no longer new and exciting it will need a strong foundation, Nintendo’s job is to build that now for when the inevitable come-down occurs. In this article I will look at some of the questionable decisions of the past year or so, but also at action the company should be taking, but is not, remember a mistake can be one of omission as well as perpetration.
1. Attracting 3rd Parties
Nintendo have always struggled in their relationship with third party developers. The reason for this is that historically Nintendo gamers have tended to buy Nintendo products over those from other companies. This trend was obvious back in the days of the N64 and continued throughout the life of the Gamecube despite many exclusive and top quality titles being released. However it must be noted that amongst these were an awful lot of rubbish games as well. Still the fact was that for whatever reason multiplatform games sell better on other systems, which led many third parties to discredit the Wii early on.
When you are next in town take a look at the Wii games shelf. See all those party games, ports of older games and rubbish looking film tie ins? That is the result of this discredit. As soon as the Wii was proving to be a massive success third parties wanted in, unfortunately because they were late to the game, and making games takes quite a long time, many rushed ports and half finished games to shelves, desperate for some of the success. However it hasn’t exactly worked out for them, being that consumers can be more wary than some think. Charging full price for a port of a PS2 game is beyond cheeky and Wii has been sullied by these bad games.
Still Nintendo should have been more vocal from the start in attracting these developers. While it is true that some companies only started developing for the Wii when it was launched others were on board beforehand, but Nintendo were slow releasing development kits and licenses and offered little help. Recently they have been improving third party relations but it’s a two sided coin. Third parties need to ensure they release quality products on the Wii, but Nintendo need to support them, advertise them and the public need to buy them. Once third party games starts to sell more will come, if the dearth of multiplatform releases with badly implanted control remains, then Nintendo, despite the huge console sales, could still be struggling software-wise.
2. Growing the attach rate
So how does a console that has outsold everything consistently all year, struggle to sell games? Well it comes down to attach-rate. This is the number of games per console that is sold. This is a good figure to be able to see whether people, after buying a console, are keeping up by actually buying games for it.
The Xbox 360 leads the way in this field with its more hardcore user base buying between 5 and 10 games each, Sony has struggled but bundles and such have meant more game sales. Nintendo however have always struggled, with the Wii it is a slightly different matter, with such a wide reaching console those elderly grandma’s who love playing Wii Sports are unlikely to rush out for the new Madden football game, but it is still a problem if, with a such a big user base your games are being outsold. Using Madden as an example, even though it was released on all three next gen systems at the same time the Wii version got trounced in sales – the message was clear, the Wii has a vastly different user base.
Developers are cottoning onto this though and with original games such as My Sims and Zach and Wiki as well as EA’s upcoming Wii Playground developers are, more and more trying to connect with the Wii’s audience to create the next ‘big hit’. I only hope this happens soon before developers get tired of trying, there seems no logical reason why, with so many more units in homes, games can’t be huge sellers on the Wii, especially those games that offer something other consoles can’t, it’s just a case of finding the right formula.
3. Advertising
One reason game sales may be down is advertising, or lack of it. Many posts have been made recently in online communities about Nintendo’s lack of aggression when it comes to marketing their titles, for example Metroid Prime 3 is released in Europe on Friday but I have yet to see a single advert or announcement relating to this. Nintendo have said that they are trying a new strategy of advertising games in the few weeks before launch so as not to jump the gun, but they seem unwilling to pay for the big advertising that may push games such as this into people’s hands. Nintendo are making a killing from console sales at the moment yet need to be more aggressive in selling the games, third party games as well. The introduction of the Metroid 3 channel you can download to the Wii is good start, but it needed more fanfare and more to back it up with. Nintendo may hope such games will sell on name alone, but until they get out of these bad habits (advertising has never been a strong point) sales will continue to be disappointing.
Case in point is Guitar Hero 3. This will be a huge game, the first two were amazingly popular, this is the first time the game has been on a Nintendo system, with the guitar accessory that fits the Wii-remote neatly inside and online options the Wii version could be a massive hit, moreso than the PS3 and Xbox versions, but people need to know about it. There need to be ads highlighting the differences and getting the message out there, to miss something like this is to miss a trick and customers Nintendo can get buying games now, will pay off in the future in terms of loyalty and developer commitment. If Guitar hero 3 sells a million on Wii, that’s a guarantee that more games of its ilk will make their way in the future.
4. Embracing online gaming
The Wii has online gaming, however while this is alright and with Mario Kart and Smash Bros. coming up, about to be expanded, it is still a shadow of what you can get on the PS3 or through Xbox Live. Now I’m not saying Nintendo should copy those schemes, but more commitment to downloadable content, demo’s for example, and the removal of friend codes for games (along with the introduction of voice chat) would allow their games to be at least comparable. As it is the Wii has a good basic set up, but feels ancient next to the competition. Online may not be the focus of the Wii but there is so much that could be done with it that it feels as if Nintendo aren’t bothering some of the time. Again if developers were given more tools and access we might stop seeing games that are online for other consoles but not for Wii, there is no excuse for this and the removal of online functionality may be a good reason why some games fail to sell on Nintendo’s console.
5. Alienating the hardcore
Finally Nintendo need to be wary that in attracting casual gamers and people who have never played before they risk alienating the gaming fans they first attracted. For this they need games, and a wider variety, preferably with some of the aforementioned online functionality included. The Wii may be less powerful than the competition but it’s no reason why shooters, RPG’s and action games won’t work on the system. The Wii may not be the hardcore console of choice, but can work well as a backup. For example not many people will own an Xbox and PS3, but many may have either and a Wii. The variety in games means it is not directly competing, but Nintendo still need to support these people, as do third parties. For this reason I hope that come Christmas we see some big sellers on the Wii, games such as Pro Evolution Soccer (coming to Wii for the first time) should make a difference, but as I commented before it is a fine line to walk.
Overall Nintendo remains in a strong position and will continue to sell out over the holidays, but can’t afford to rest on its laurels. As games get more advanced on Xbox and PS3 and the second and third generation of titles are released Nintendo needs to make sure it has enough up its sleeve to keep the magic going. For the start of a consoles life lazy ports and party games are to be expected, if the landscape remains the same in 12 months we will have a problem on our hands.
The question to ask is, once you’ve changed the face of gaming – what do you do next?
Tuesday 23 October 2007
Where Nintendo is going wrong
But that’s the wrong title, you protest, surely you mean Sony! ‘Where Sony is going wrong’. Can’t be that hard to mix up the two names, can it? Well no, and I have in fact typed the correct one, for, whilst Nintendo are proving to be very successful at the moment, and Sony have had what the very generous would call a ‘difficult year’, that does not exclude them from the mistakes and pratfalls that befall all big companies. In fact were the DS and the Wii not proving to be so popular there may be some serious questions being asked of the Kyoto giant, rather than rapturous praise. However don’t get me wrong, I think Nintendo have been very clever and made a lot of good and wise decisions in the past few years, they have somehow turned around a flagging business into the model of success and done so without seemingly breaking a sweat. Through this they have remained humble and true to their core values, backing away from the proverbial slagging match that becomes technological warfare amongst the cutting edge.
The fact still remains though that the console race, as many dub it, is far from over and there are several areas that Nintendo have been slow to correct or act on, that could hurt them in the future. Once the Wii is no longer new and exciting it will need a strong foundation, Nintendo’s job is to build that now for when the inevitable come-down occurs. In this article I will look at some of the questionable decisions of the past year or so, but also at action the company should be taking, but is not, remember a mistake can be one of omission as well as perpetration.
1. Attracting 3rd Parties
Nintendo have always struggled in their relationship with third party developers. The reason for this is that historically Nintendo gamers have tended to buy Nintendo products over those from other companies. This trend was obvious back in the days of the N64 and continued throughout the life of the Gamecube despite many exclusive and top quality titles being released. However it must be noted that amongst these were an awful lot of rubbish games as well. Still the fact was that for whatever reason multiplatform games sell better on other systems, which led many third parties to discredit the Wii early on.
When you are next in town take a look at the Wii games shelf. See all those party games, ports of older games and rubbish looking film tie ins? That is the result of this discredit. As soon as the Wii was proving to be a massive success third parties wanted in, unfortunately because they were late to the game, and making games takes quite a long time, many rushed ports and half finished games to shelves, desperate for some of the success. However it hasn’t exactly worked out for them, being that consumers can be more wary than some think. Charging full price for a port of a PS2 game is beyond cheeky and Wii has been sullied by these bad games.
Still Nintendo should have been more vocal from the start in attracting these developers. While it is true that some companies only started developing for the Wii when it was launched others were on board beforehand, but Nintendo were slow releasing development kits and licenses and offered little help. Recently they have been improving third party relations but it’s a two sided coin. Third parties need to ensure they release quality products on the Wii, but Nintendo need to support them, advertise them and the public need to buy them. Once third party games starts to sell more will come, if the dearth of multiplatform releases with badly implanted control remains, then Nintendo, despite the huge console sales, could still be struggling software-wise.
2. Growing the attach rate
So how does a console that has outsold everything consistently all year, struggle to sell games? Well it comes down to attach-rate. This is the number of games per console that is sold. This is a good figure to be able to see whether people, after buying a console, are keeping up by actually buying games for it.
The Xbox 360 leads the way in this field with its more hardcore user base buying between 5 and 10 games each, Sony has struggled but bundles and such have meant more game sales. Nintendo however have always struggled, with the Wii it is a slightly different matter, with such a wide reaching console those elderly grandma’s who love playing Wii Sports are unlikely to rush out for the new Madden football game, but it is still a problem if, with a such a big user base your games are being outsold. Using Madden as an example, even though it was released on all three next gen systems at the same time the Wii version got trounced in sales – the message was clear, the Wii has a vastly different user base.
Developers are cottoning onto this though and with original games such as My Sims and Zach and Wiki as well as EA’s upcoming Wii Playground developers are, more and more trying to connect with the Wii’s audience to create the next ‘big hit’. I only hope this happens soon before developers get tired of trying, there seems no logical reason why, with so many more units in homes, games can’t be huge sellers on the Wii, especially those games that offer something other consoles can’t, it’s just a case of finding the right formula.
3. Advertising
One reason game sales may be down is advertising, or lack of it. Many posts have been made recently in online communities about Nintendo’s lack of aggression when it comes to marketing their titles, for example Metroid Prime 3 is released in Europe on Friday but I have yet to see a single advert or announcement relating to this. Nintendo have said that they are trying a new strategy of advertising games in the few weeks before launch so as not to jump the gun, but they seem unwilling to pay for the big advertising that may push games such as this into people’s hands. Nintendo are making a killing from console sales at the moment yet need to be more aggressive in selling the games, third party games as well. The introduction of the Metroid 3 channel you can download to the Wii is good start, but it needed more fanfare and more to back it up with. Nintendo may hope such games will sell on name alone, but until they get out of these bad habits (advertising has never been a strong point) sales will continue to be disappointing.
Case in point is Guitar Hero 3. This will be a huge game, the first two were amazingly popular, this is the first time the game has been on a Nintendo system, with the guitar accessory that fits the Wii-remote neatly inside and online options the Wii version could be a massive hit, moreso than the PS3 and Xbox versions, but people need to know about it. There need to be ads highlighting the differences and getting the message out there, to miss something like this is to miss a trick and customers Nintendo can get buying games now, will pay off in the future in terms of loyalty and developer commitment. If Guitar hero 3 sells a million on Wii, that’s a guarantee that more games of its ilk will make their way in the future.
4. Embracing online gaming
The Wii has online gaming, however while this is alright and with Mario Kart and Smash Bros. coming up, about to be expanded, it is still a shadow of what you can get on the PS3 or through Xbox Live. Now I’m not saying Nintendo should copy those schemes, but more commitment to downloadable content, demo’s for example, and the removal of friend codes for games (along with the introduction of voice chat) would allow their games to be at least comparable. As it is the Wii has a good basic set up, but feels ancient next to the competition. Online may not be the focus of the Wii but there is so much that could be done with it that it feels as if Nintendo aren’t bothering some of the time. Again if developers were given more tools and access we might stop seeing games that are online for other consoles but not for Wii, there is no excuse for this and the removal of online functionality may be a good reason why some games fail to sell on Nintendo’s console.
5. Alienating the hardcore
Finally Nintendo need to be wary that in attracting casual gamers and people who have never played before they risk alienating the gaming fans they first attracted. For this they need games, and a wider variety, preferably with some of the aforementioned online functionality included. The Wii may be less powerful than the competition but it’s no reason why shooters, RPG’s and action games won’t work on the system. The Wii may not be the hardcore console of choice, but can work well as a backup. For example not many people will own an Xbox and PS3, but many may have either and a Wii. The variety in games means it is not directly competing, but Nintendo still need to support these people, as do third parties. For this reason I hope that come Christmas we see some big sellers on the Wii, games such as Pro Evolution Soccer (coming to Wii for the first time) should make a difference, but as I commented before it is a fine line to walk.
Overall Nintendo remains in a strong position and will continue to sell out over the holidays, but can’t afford to rest on its laurels. As games get more advanced on Xbox and PS3 and the second and third generation of titles are released Nintendo needs to make sure it has enough up its sleeve to keep the magic going. For the start of a consoles life lazy ports and party games are to be expected, if the landscape remains the same in 12 months we will have a problem on our hands.
The question to ask is, once you’ve changed the face of gaming – what do you do next?
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