susansong

Game Over for Nintendo

I think this article hit the nail ont he head, IF Microsoft can deliver. To "JudoOange:" Um... he never said Nintendo was always No. 1. On the contrary, he said they were #1 only for the last few years (since the Wii came out) and that Nintendo was losing market share to Xbox and Playstation.

Second of all, Nintendo has always focused on E-titles to try to position themselves as the family fun and safe alternative. That strategy bombed for them - as you said, they fell from 1st place to last among the big 3. Focusing on E-titles did not get them to the top spot, that's nothig new. It was the change to the Wii's motion control. That's what captured the family demographic. If anything, Nintendo has been moving away from E-Titles and have been embracing more Mature titles as of late. They even have some gore-fest titles like Manhunt 2 (though they blurred out some of the worst scenes).

But I do agree with you that when Microsoft sets their eyes on something, they go after it to win. They don't always succeed (the Zune didn't do much to topple the ipod) but they are definitely after Nintendo's lucrative demographic. And yes, Nintendo better wake up and smell the coffee. They better have something big up their sleeve or the company may be finished.

On Jun 05 02:24 PM Judo_Orange wrote:

> Nintendo game over? Not quite, I guess. Why?
> 1. Nintendo was not always in No.1. Actually they was in No.3, and
> then another No.3, but they've never been a money-loser. They have
> solid franchises, which are sold and will be sold this Christmas
> and next Christmas. In fact, they are now market leader and trend
> setter.
> 2. Indeed Wii's controller is a differentiator but that is not all
> the story. Nintendo's strategy focuses on E-rated titles. Sony and
> Microsoft, regardless their intentions, have seen M-rated titles
> dominated their platforms. (Take a look at Amazon, among top 10 bestsellers
> in each platform, 360/7 M-rated, 3 T-rated; PS3/8 M-rated, 2 T-rated;
> Wii/10 E-rated)
> As a result, the demographic gap between Wii and the other two differed,
> widely. True, gaming sophisticates make more purchases, pushing up
> attach rate, but they should never be the target audience Sony and
> Microsoft go after, at least not entirely, if the Big 2 want their
> consoles as ubiquitous as TV, ever. True, Wii's name suffered as
> gaming sophisticates dominates game forums/blogs, but month after
> month, Wii enters more family than 360 and PS3 combined.
> 3. The demographic difference is becoming clearer to third party
> developers. Therefore, increasingly, they are not making choices
> among three platforms or between Wii and 360, or between Wii and
> PS3, they are making choices between Wii and 360/PS3. That is not
> bad news for Wii. That is certainly not good news especially for
> Sony, the No.3 in this generation.
> 3. MSFT was good. Good at "Copy and Conquer". They beated apple in
> GUI war and they killed Netscape in browser war. They are aiming
> Nintendo because they are jealous of Wii's demographic. They did
> get the white, cheaper and non-HD arcade console out and they did
> bring more casual games to Live. But when your core franchises and
> audiences are more M, it's quite difficult to shift. But you are
> right, MSFT is a different kind of animal therefore Ninty had better
> not to be "flattered", whether the Natal is good or good-hyped.