News Nintendo NX to launch in March 2017

I have this horrible sinking feeling that Nintendo is going to go down the Sega path.

 

Should that be Xbox One and not 360?

 

Oh give me strength, whenever I hear that from Nintendo my eyes roll, it's just their code phrase for 'new gimmick to distract from the fact its another underpowered Nintendo console'.

 

I hate to say it, but I agree with this.

I can't see this being a PS4 beater in terms of tech, and with Sony releasing the PS4 Neo, It makes it even less likely.

I mean I would love Nintendo to come back to the glory days of N64 power fame, but it's unlikely.

 

Let's hope not, I guess you're referring to their failed late 90's hardware the 32x and Saturn sank Sega as a hardware company. The Dreamcast was a worthy follow up, but never really took off, possibly due to the reputation of the previous two. A real shame they don't make hardware anymore, 'cos the Megadrive pad and the original Saturn controllers are among my favourites ever.

 

*sigh* Nintendo isn't going to die out like Sega, and I don't suspect they'll get bought out. Just because they don't make games or systems that appeal to you, that doesn't mean they aren't making money. Wii was considered widely unpopular by most gamers, yet it sold very well. Nintendo today appeals to casual gamers, party gamers, and children. That's a pretty solid market. Not as good as what Gamecube catered to, but it allows Nintendo to offer inferior hardware at a price families will agree with, without having to worry about competition.

 

Ah, but you're just making assumptions on someone's tastes having an impact on a statement that actually has merit.

I've bought every Nintendo console and enjoyed many games that very much appealed to me. The reason I made my original statement is that Nintendo are making losses, and big ones at that (Janurary to March this year, saw a loss of $216 Million)

The last fiscal year, they only made $148 Million. That's down 61% on the year before, which in itself wasn't particularly stellar.

You can see examples of the company wanting to return to larger profits. For years Nintendo almost snorted at the mobile market. Now they've decided to do a 180 and get in there.

If their next console does the same in sales as the Wii U, then investors will start reviewing the viability of Nintendo as a TV console maker, going forward.

Also, no-one actually mentioned Sega "dying out", they moved in to different territory and are doing a fairly decent trade now.

 

The Wii U was definitely a failure, and that's probably why it's being abandoned so quickly. For devout gamers, the controller wasn't useful enough. For casual gamers, the gimmick was too expensive. As a portable gaming system, phones and tablets were better. But the Wii U wasn't meant to compete against PS4 or XB1, and that's my point.

The implication was about Sega consoles, which did die out. I'm well aware Sega is still around, but the topic at hand here is consoles, not games. If we're going to involve games in the mix, why not bring up Atari too?

 

Sure, I have no problem with the things you've just mentioned.

That still doesn't change the fact that if this console doesn't sell well, it could go down the route of Sega, Atari, whomever you wish to mention. Although I'm pretty sure they wouldn't abandon the mobile/handheld market.

Saying that the Wii U wasn't meant to compete with the likes of PS4/XB1 is fine, but having a 'Core Market' means squat to shareholders, when they're seeing losses like this.

So yes, the topic at hand here still is consoles, not games. There's a chance that if sales are poor, this could be Nintendo's last 'TV console'.

And that's my point.

 

Nintendo will be find in hand held market, I don't think the console market is for them anymore though.

 

I think you're underestimating how big Nintendo is and people's faith in the company. Their profits may be lowering, but they are still reasonably profitable. Anyway, people aren't just going to let Nintendo consoles go away that easily. The Wii U was a mistake and Nintendo knows it, but I don't think they'll make the same mistake again. I think they learned their lesson that making a system for the sake of being unique/different isn't worth it.

I disagree - just because the Wii U failed, that doesn't mean it isn't a market shareholders shouldn't have an interest in. The Wii was relatively successful and profitable, and that had the narrow market I mentioned earlier.

 

As long as Nintendo learnt from their mistakes with the WiiU then I don't see why they can't be more successful with the NX:
-x86 hardware for easier porting
-powerful enough for 1080p @ 60fps
-better online systems for voice chat/playing with friends (assuming it is similar to the nonsense on the wii.)
-possibly some kind of 4k upscale or media compatibility.

Hopefully it would have backwards compatibility too. I skipped the WiiU but would like to play some of its games if the NX turns out to be decent.

 

for such a failure it has sold 12.6 million units......

 

Exactly my point - it was a failure and it still has a lot of sales. People won't give up on Nintendo systems that easily.

@Bhuvsta:
If NX is x86 based, I don't think it will likely handle previous generation ports. I'm not saying it isn't possible, because the Dolphin emulator exists after all. But emulating another CPU architecture tends to demand a lot of resources. It could probably get away with emulating Wii games, but I'm not sure it'd be powerful enough to emulate Wii U.

 

I think we'll have to agree to disagree on this.

Thing is, I do understand what you're saying. Faith just isn't something investors particularly care much for, if they're presented with two costly failed products and dropping profits (if the NX does sell badly, which I'm hoping it doesn't).

Have a think about this: What happens if the NX sells just as badly as the Wii U? Do you believe the executive board at Nintendo will still agree that making TV consoles is the way forward, based on a faith and core base that could be diminished at that point?

I know Nintendo's figures and Business models, and trust me, I'm very much aware of how big they are. In fact, that highlights even more the losses they've made, with the combined profits of so many products.

We should also be careful here, when we start mentioning 'too big to fail'. That's been said many times before, recently

 

Yes and no. Investors make investments because they know whether something will be successful. If you have a dedicated fanbase, you will see sales. But as you said here:

That is probably true. If NX does as bad or worse than Wii U, then yeah, Nintendo is going to be in a bit of trouble. I see that as being pretty unlikely, unless Nintendo does something nobody asked for again. But suppose NX is a failure, as rollo pointed out, Nintendo will still likely make systems but they're probably going to be handheld. I'm pretty sure Nintendo will still make hardware regardless of NX's success, but I think we can both agree that NX will shape Nintendo's future.

Well take AMD for example - every other month people are like "they're going out of business" and yet they're still hanging on. AMD is doing terrible compared to Nintendo and has much, much tougher competition than Nintendo does, as well as fewer investors and fewer zealots. So if they can keep producing hardware, I'm sure Nintendo can too.

 

That's actually a good point. I hadn't considered the likes of AMD. It's good that they wrangled major contracts with Sony and Microsoft, or they really could be in serious trouble.

Ultimately, I'm hoping the NX is a success and Nintendo can turn it's fortunes around. It's probably the natural pessimist and economist in me talking, when I see it's quarterly figures come out and Nintendo has possibly been one of the slowest to react to change lately.

That being said, they are expected to make $300+ Mil by 2017, so I'm very much hoping I'm wrong.