Investors Mad at Nintendo for not Developing iOS Games

[RCM]

Kind of a giant slap in the face to Nintendo's strategy.

"In one the oddest investor complaints ever, Nintendo's shareholders are reportedly mad at the maker of Mario, Zelda and the Wii, for not leveraging its core franchises on Apple's iOS platforms. Apparently investors haven't noticed for the life of the company's video game industry involvement that Nintendo does not swim in any other ponds but its own. According to a report from Bloomberg's Mike Firn (reporting from Tokyo), investors are now saying that it should develop titles for Apple's iPhone. That would be like Microsoft investors telling it that it should develop Halo games for the PlayStation 3 or Wii...

The complaints highlight the situation that Nintendo President Satoru Iwata faces as consumers shun Nintendo devices to play games on iPhones, iPads and Facebook. The flop of the 3DS debut prompted the company to cut prices 40 percent in Japan and 32 percent in the U.S., the first time the games developer has resorted to such a move within six months of a product’s debut.

Iwata has said that Nintendo will only make titles for its own products as long as he’s in charge, but fund manager Masamitsu Ohki said the company should "scrap that strategy to avoid further alienating investors who have driven the stock to six-year lows."

"Smartphones are the new battlefield for the gaming industry," said Ohki, a fund manager at Tokyo-based Stats Investment Management Co. "Nintendo should try to either buy its way into this platform or develop something totally new."

Ohki declined to identify his holdings to Bloomberg or to name any targets Nintendo should consider for an acquisition. Yasuhiro Minagawa, a spokesman at Nintendo, declined to comment beyond statements made previously by Iwata.

In the short term, Nintendo is betting on price cuts to the 3DS which now sells for 15,000 yen down from 25,000 yen starting today in Japan and a number of new game titles to revive earnings. The company plans to introduce flagship titles such as Super Mario 3D Land in November and Mario Kart 7 in December for the 3DS. In the U.S., the 3DS will cost $169.99, down from $249.99."

SOURCE: http://www.gamepolitics.com/2011/08/...ping-ios-games

[Robocop2]

Nintendo would be more likely to develop an iphone type device of their own than they would develop for another platform.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Not to confuse the discussion, but they did allow the Pokemon name/license to be used for an upcoming official app (Android/iOS).

It's not a Pokemon game proper so I don't see it as any different than them allowing the license to be used for animated movies, plush dolls, etc. but it could be viewed as them teasing the issue of consumers and investors wanting them to branch out to other platforms.

http://kotaku.com/5818044/here-it-is...ial-pokmon-app

[Rickstilwell1]

Not to confuse the discussion, but they did allow the Pokemon name/license to be used for an upcoming official app (Android/iOS).

It's not a Pokemon game proper so I don't see it as any different than them allowing the license to be used for animated movies, plush dolls, etc. but it could be viewed as them teasing the issue of consumers and investors wanting them to branch out to other platforms.

http://kotaku.com/5818044/here-it-is...ial-pokmon-app

Reminds me of Zelda and Mario for CD-i all over again. If they start making unofficial Nintendo related games, I see more CD-i's in our future. Usually Nintendo makes good games thnat milk their franchises. I'd hate to see more bad ones that do the same thing.

[Bojay1997]

While I think this is an interesting article, as near as I can tell, they have overblown the shareholder sentiment towards changing Nintendo's strategy. All I can find is one analyst and one other quote from a shareholder indicating they think Nintendo should develop for mobile or buy a mobile provider or manufacturer. Having attended several shareholder meetings for companies other than Nintendo over the years, shareholders and analysts are always making these kinds of demands either during the meeting or to the press before or after. Usually, they just don't get reported. Frankly, Nintendo would be foolish to further dillute demand for their games on their own platforms by making them available elsewhere, especially given the economics of mobile and iOS when compared to the economics of console and handheld sales.

[Clownzilla]

Nintendo needs all the exclusivity they can get if they tend to keep making game systems the way they are. A Nintendo consloe without Nintendo games is close to worthless. The last thing they need to is develop their IP's on competitor's machines.

[Collector_Gaming]

i find it interesting on the comment they made considering this



which was made for Windows 3.1 and Mac OS

I mean why not do simple lil games that a small game development squad could be dedicated to just to try out a iOS app game and see what it does. *shrug*

[courtesi1]

just me or wouldnt nintendo make more money dumping the hardware (ala sega) and just porting their games to ios/android?

it seems like in this day and age you are an egotistical bastard if you release a console

[8bitgamer]

i find it interesting on the comment they made considering this



which was made for Windows 3.1 and Mac OS

I mean why not do simple lil games that a small game development squad could be dedicated to just to try out a iOS app game and see what it does. *shrug*

As god as my witness, I swear I learned to type using the Mac version of that game.

[Collector_Gaming]

As god as my witness, I swear I learned to type using the Mac version of that game.

i kinda did too my friend.

My elementary school had this and we had a few of the B&W macs and a few of the color ones and luckily we played this on the color ones.

[heybtbm]

Since we're in the last generation of traditional handheld consoles, Nintendo should try to be ahead of the curve this time instead of behind it (last to abandon carts, last to adopt DVD's, still hasn't developed an online presence, etc.).

The 3DS is the end of the line. There will be revisions of the hardware over the next few years...but that's it for dedicated handhelds. Smartphones have won the battle. Question is...does Nintendo know this and refuse to accept it or do think they can change the course of gaming evolution?

[The 1 2 P]

Since we're in the last generation of traditional handheld consoles, Nintendo should try to be ahead of the curve this time instead of behind it (last to abandon carts, last to adopt DVD's, still hasn't developed an online presence, etc.).

Despite usually being last to the party they have still been very profitable over the years, mainly on the back of their Gameboy and DS handhelds. The Wii further added to their profits where they now are a company that reportedly has 14 billion in cash and assets. And although they are usually behind the times on current trends they did usher in this new motion controller initiative that everyone seems to be doing now, although I'm not so sure they should really be bragging about that.

The 3DS is the end of the line. There will be revisions of the hardware over the next few years...but that's it for dedicated handhelds. Smartphones have won the battle. Question is...does Nintendo know this and refuse to accept it or do think they can change the course of gaming evolution?

I agree with you that this will probably be the last dedicated handheld generation(3DS and Vita) and I also think that the next round of consoles could be the last(or second to last). As for what Nintendo will do, only they know for sure. If the Wii U fails then they won't have any choice but to rethink the whole multiplatform option. But they've been down before and have risen again so I guess we'll have to wait and see.

As for the story, like others have already said this would be a very unwise move for Nintendo. For the most part their exclusive games is pretty much all they have going for them on their consoles/handhelds. Eliminate that and Nintendo systems will become almost universally undesirable.

[Rickstilwell1]

It's not really that predictable that this is the last handheld generation that will exist. Should the 3DS get more sales once they finally release Mario games, and should the Vita get more success than the PSP, there could be a chance that it's not the end.

As collectors we don't really care if it ends because there's already more stuff out there than we can collect in our lifetimes, but still there is a lot of fun in getting new handheld games in boxes to open. It's like nowadays everyone is open turning games into the N-Gage without the taco or cards. What they didn't want before is what they want all of a sudden.

[G-Boobie]

It's not really that predictable that this is the last handheld generation that will exist. Should the 3DS get more sales once they finally release Mario games, and should the Vita get more success than the PSP, there could be a chance that it's not the end.

As collectors we don't really care if it ends because there's already more stuff out there than we can collect in our lifetimes, but still there is a lot of fun in getting new handheld games in boxes to open. It's like nowadays everyone is open turning games into the N-Gage without the taco or cards. What they didn't want before is what they want all of a sudden.

The didn't want the N-Gage because it was a clunky, poorly designed piece of shit. Android and iOS devices are not. Most of the time.

What's killing dedicated handheld gaming systems is their single-purpose design and the price of their software. If I have an Android or iPhone, I not only have a phone and gaming device, I also have a GPS, a functional web browser, access to YouTube and Pandora,Facebook, email, etc. All for the price of a 3ds, or even less, with contract. And the games worth playing are at most five bucks.

Still, this is Nintendo. I've learned not to make assumptions about their strategy until the dust has settled. We'll see how it goes.

[Collector_Gaming]

Yea until the dust settles never under estimate nintendo. They haven't been in the business for what is it? over 100 years as a business in general. And over 30 years as a video game company because of stupid business mistakes.

I have a feeling they have something cooking in their R&D that will blow the sox off the market.

[Steve W]

Look at the second generation of game consoles, with the Atari 2600, Intellivision, and Colecovision dominant. They happily ported their games over to the competing systems. Sure, Coleco thoroughly half-assed their ports, but the ports from Atarisoft were really good. Nintendo could make a hell of a lot of money making a few ports of some second-tier games by branching out to other consoles.

[Gameguy]

They really should go back to their previous target market, kids. Handhelds should be aimed at children, not adults. No parent wants to buy their young kid a phone with internet access that keeps needing a paid subscription to work, they just want to give them a game system to keep them busy on the go. Go back to marketing towards kids, that's where the money is.


As for making games for other systems;

[Steve W]

As for making games for other systems;

That was just a license deal, since Nintendo hadn't even brought their console out in the US yet. That's how Donkey Kong was the pack-in for the Colecovision. I think that Atari bought the license off Coleco after the big video game collapse and the Tramiels wanted to put out some more 2600 games.

[Graham Mitchell]

So, is anybody sad about the possibility of this being the last handheld generation? If smartphones replace gaming machines, we're in for a pretty crappy experience, unless the phones are significantly modified for larger screens and, ya know, BUTTONS.

Playing games on my android phone sucks balls because the touchscreen interface is so limited. Even if this phone has the graphics muscle to run Ocarina of Time faithfully, it would be unplayable without buttons.

If the smartphones become optimized for gaming, theyre gonna be huge, inconvenient, and cost over $500. At that point you might a well just buy a 3ds.

Something could come along and prove me totally wrong, but I cannot accept the iphone or ipad as my primary mobile gaming source the way they currently are.

[Gameguy]

That was just a license deal, since Nintendo hadn't even brought their console out in the US yet. That's how Donkey Kong was the pack-in for the Colecovision. I think that Atari bought the license off Coleco after the big video game collapse and the Tramiels wanted to put out some more 2600 games.

I know that was before they brought the NES here, I just posted it as lots of people seem to think that they never published their games on other consoles besides those CD-I games which just used the characters from other better games. If they can't sell hardware anymore like they used to they would gladly make games for other systems, or go back into the playing card business.

They really care about making money more than anything else, if games aren't profitable for them anymore they'll just make something else instead.