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Apple Is Nintendo's "Enemy of the Future"
Pickens writes "The San Francisco Chronicle reports that video game industry revenue fell by 26 percent in April, adding more concerns about the health of the industry in the worst year-over-year decline since July 2009. But the big news is that the decline in portable sales makes up 61 percent of the overall monthly decline, suggesting that the Nintendo DS platform is losing steam but also reflecting the growing clout of the iPhone platform as the iPhone and iPod Touch continue to draw in more casual gamers, the iPad offers a bigger screen experience, and Apple announces the 'Game Center' — a social gaming hub with console-like online gaming features. Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata is understood to have told his senior executives recently to regard the battle with Sony as a victory already won and to treat Apple, and its iPhone and iPad devices, as the 'enemy of the future.' 'If Nintendo's future mobile platforms are to be any kind of success, the company will have to figure out how to take on the ease of use afforded by the App Store,' writes Nicholas Deleon. A large part of Nintendo's faith in reviving its efforts hinge on the 3DS, which may ship in the fall, the first truly major handheld introduction for Nintendo since the original DS in 2004. He adds, 'Maybe Nintendo should just release a phone?'"
I disagree with the premise of the article.
I believe the lack of video game sales is due to the crappy economy overall, not because of things like the iPhone/iPod/iPad.
I could be wrong, but I feel their view is too shallow.
Sent from your iPad.
Well maybe Nintendo could release a phone. I'm not against that. I guess. I don't know how I feel about that.
But what I'm really noing to is WHY the sales are dropping. Its not because of the iPhone.
It's because the DS is almost 6 years old. Nov 2004 was its release. Anyone who has wanted a DS, already has one. Nintendo foolishly tried to enhance the sales with the DS Lite and DSi. How shocked am I to find that nintendo fans who purchased a DS, don't feel the need to buy a DS lite, or a DSi. So how much money went into those two projects, and really what benefit did they expect to see? Did they expect a resurgence of sales? They merely expanded the market of the DS by small margins. And so only those who didn't wants a DS for various reasons would be so inclined to buy a DS lite or DSi, hoping those reasons would be resolved.
I'll stick my neck out and make this claim: If Nintendo decided to launch a new handheld - and it was different than the DS or Gameboy, it would sell well. Problem is that Nintendo has started to fall apart on their innovative ideas. The Wii has also been out for 4 years now, and the only innovation they've added to it has been the Wii Fit board 2 years ago, and the DS gets rehashes.
So, when Apple releases a new phone, and it sells, Nintendo isn't losing because its a threat in any sense, its more or less that Nintendo's sales have already plateau'd and started to have fallen, and Apple sales just happen to be on the rise.
Correlation != causation.
Not until they start putting real controls on their products. Being able to play games for longer than a couple hours would help too. I don't see either happening any time soon.
--- Do you believe in the day?
This story is eerily similar to the previous "Oh NO! Nintendo sales are down!" article about the Wii. Nintendo is the dominant player of the market, and sales are down, BECAUSE ALMOST EVERYONE POSSIBLE ALREADY HAS A DS.
Market saturation, mixed with the usual mid-year games lull, and the anticipated rollout of a new platform combine to lower sales numbers. Does that mean competitors are taking over the market? No, no it doesn't.
I'm not crazy about "does this mean that...?" style of journalism. Speculation is fine - but it isn't news. Yet, this style of "journalism" seems to be rising as other forms of journalism are going out of business. It's fine for arguments, but annoying when there's too much of it, too often.
Ryan Fenton
Well, Reggie Fils-Aime is right, they download a game ($3-5) and play it a few times until they get bored, and dl another game ($3-5) and play it.
Guess what, it is easier to justify $3-5 on a game, crappy or otherwise than it is to risk 10 times that on a game that may or may not suck, may be fun for many hours of pleasure, or just boring after one time through.
Ten sucky games are worth more than one that may or may not suck.
And I wish I was running a game company right now, as I have bitchin' idea how to make/market games.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
Couldn't the decline in DS sales simply be due to the fact that the market is saturated? Anyone who wanted a DS has already purchased one. The same goes for all the consoles. We're at the mid-point for this generation of consoles, a point at which I would expect console sales to have stagnated somewhat. It's not surprising that Wii sales would have declined the most dramatically, given the nature of its relatively outdated hardware. The PS3 is probably the only console of the three with some growth potential given it was such a late starter.
So far Apple is a non-competitor in the console arena, outside of perhaps the portable market and even there it's still a minor player. And Apple is always going to struggle as a gaming device given its significantly higher price point, being a more fragile device and, for the iPhone, requiring a pricey subscription with AT&T. We have to consider who's playing on these consoles. A significant number of them are quite young, not the sort of people who would normally be using an iPhone or iPad. For adults who might be interested in gaming, chances are they'd own both an iPhone AND a console, or two.
Is this more nonsense from "experts" gushing over how wonderful everything Apple is? Currently Apple poses no threat to the consoles. Any decline in game sales is almost certainly connected to the general state of the economy. However, anyone with common sense at Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo would certainly be eying Apply with caution and would be wise to prepare for the future.
I have a hard time seeing Apple entering the dedicated gaming market. They seem more interested in creating a ubiquitous general-purpose entertainment device. Gaming is one of it's many capabilities. I'd say it's more likely that the consoles will move in that direction; in fact, the PS3 and Xbox360 have already made some moves that way. Sony has even built in some connectivity between the PS3 and PSP. But I think such devices are still some time off.
You dont know corporate speak, one thing is you will never ever here from a corporate guy in public that they are concerned about someone else, this is like admitting a defeat.
Reggy after all is a salesman and for that he has to lie his way around. I do not understand why the press even interviews those guys anymore they could preprint their answers (we are not concerned bla bla, strong product lineup bla bla, we are the future bla bla) and have it signed by them, would not make a difference but would be way cheaper.
Who the heck is going to have a kid with an expensive iPhone on an expensive data plan.
iPod Touch.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
Easter is attributed with the sale of 50 million games. This year, Easter came in March (a surprisingly good month), not April like it usually does (a surprisingly dismal month).
Perhaps this isn't the sole reason, but I'm sure it's part of it. There's really nothing to see here.
Fact: Everything I say is fiction.
They are still, "not taking Apple seriously" for all we (should) know. "Satoru Iwata is understood to have told his senior executives recently to regard the battle with Sony as a victory already won and to treat Apple, and its iPhone and iPad devices, as the 'enemy of the future.' + later some "journalist" speculation. So, they probably plan for the battle for some time now ("3DS" is probably basically ready, if you look at typical development time of new Nintendo hardware). They just they show their concern, that's what companies do.
One that hath name thou can not otter