Is Nintendo Run By Idiots?

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How has Nintendo not gotten in on ios and Android apps? How do you just ignore that market especially now that everyone has a freakin cell phone?

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Because that's their freaking competition. If you want to play Mario, go buy a 3DS or a Wii U. You may as well be asking why they don't make games for the PS4 as well. That would ruin their handheld gaming machines if they were to do it, and plus I don't think Mario would do well on a Droid or iPad. Nintendo is not going to put out one of their classics unless it's as good as it originally was, and there is no way Super Mario World would be as good on an Android as it would be on a good old fashioned console.

So no, this is a smart decision by Nintendo not to put their classics on mobile gaming devices.

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The Wii was a unheard of motion sensing tech packaged in hardware that was at least 10 years dated. Microsoft and Sony very quickly realized they too could make motion capture games coupled with far more useful hardware, and the Wii died.

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You do know that Wii sold like 20 million more consoles than they did, and made an assload more money than those 2 did, right? They tried to keep up with the competition from a technology standpoint with the Gamecube, but that didn't work, so they tried something different, and it worked. It had a pretty damn brilliant marketing campaign too with "Wii would like to play."

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But mobile gaming is ridiculously popular right now.

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Maybe it's because they're not whores in wanting to put out subpar games on touchscreen devices, or compromise their corporate values? Nintendo going to mobile gaming would not only be whoring out, but also definitely take a hit out of their portable gaming devices.

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I can buy Duke freakin Nukem in the app store but not one of the most popular game franchises of all time. Hell, I can buy atari classics.

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And what is Duke Nukem and Atari classics up to these days? Not shite? That's the only way they're making money off of Duke Nukem is putting him on Apps. Mario makes plenty of damn money without doing that, and doing that would compromise their corporate ideology.

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Nintendo' s marketing decisions in the last 15 years have been nothing short of idiotic. The Wii was a unheard of motion sensing tech packaged in hardware that was at least 10 years dated. Microsoft and Sony very quickly realized they too could make motion capture games coupled with far more useful hardware, and the Wii died.

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This is laughably inaccurate in your omission of how successful the Wii was and how many great games came out for it.

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Nintendo not gotten in on ios and Android apps? How do you just ignore that market especially now that everyone has a freakin cell phone?

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For the same reason Apple doesn't release something like Facetime on anything but an Apple device. Nintendo's strategy lately is to make money on both the hardware and software. If Nintendo's titles exist on other platforms (even old classics like SMB) it reduces the incentive for the consumer to purchase their hardware.

People have already made great point but I will add to it.

Nintendo has made many mistakes but they are not idiots. If you know anything about the way Nintendo does things then you know that they tend to think very long term and believe heavily in quality. They brought gaming out of the crash by bring quality games when shite was being produced for a quick buck. Japanese companies in general think more long term than short term. They don't want to make quick money in the app store.

The quality of those games would also suffer on mobile. As is I have trouble playing classic mario games on my wii u because the controller isn't the same. Playing those responsive games on a touch screen would suck.

Their marketing has been questionable at times. They screwed up with the Wii U, everyone knows this. They packaged a game pad that so far hasn't been proven to be essential. The name itself is too ambiguous for common consumers to understand that it isn't an add on to the wii.

Nintendo also doesn't need money. They are very smart with their investments and have banked enough to be flexible.

Feel free to buy yourself a 3ds since the gameboy came out in 1989. I think you got your moneys worth.

Nintendo is sitting on a gigantic pile of cash that affords them the opportunity to do whatever the frick they want. They didn't get there by making bad decisions.

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I don't completely agree. The 3ds has done very well for them.

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But it really hasn't. It's going to be the worst selling Nintendo handheld ever. While it's doing good numbers on its own, it's a Nintendo handheld. Expectations are way higher.

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I think what they are going to do going forward is merge their console and handheld into the same ecosystem to play on the go in some way.

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This goes along with I've said already. They going to have to change their target market to sustain any type of success for their handhelds.

Also,

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If Nintendo's titles exist on other platforms (even old classics like SMB) it reduces the incentive for the consumer to purchase their hardware.

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The people interested in playing a NES port of SMB or SNES Mario Kart are never going to buy a dedicated handheld for the $3-5 experience they want for a short amount of time.

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I don't completely agree. The 3ds has done very well for them. Will that market continue to succeed? It's hard to tell. I remember people saying consoles were dying too.

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Personally, I'll feel better about giving my kids Nintendo handhelds in the future than handing them an old iPad or smartphone we have laying around the house.

What's funny is that I hate that Nintendo is so behind when it comes to Internet connectivity on their devices, but it can actually be a boon for a parent.

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That's where the market share and userbase has gone. DS and PSP did nearly 250 million. 3DS and Vita are going to be under 85 million.

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That's not the best way to play a portable game though. There's no way you could make a good Mario, Zelda... really any great Nintendo game solely on a touch screen. Yes it's possible to make it functional, but great, you'd have to start a new franchise from the ground up.

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That's not the best way to play a portable game though. There's no way you could make a good Mario, Zelda... really any great Nintendo game solely on a touch screen. Yes it's possible to make it functional, but great, you'd have to start a new franchise from the ground up.

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Oh I agree completely. I play a few mobile games, but it's largely terrible. I love my 3DS and Vita. The place for the big budget games are shrinking. They should be cross platform imo.

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It's possible that they believe the mobile market will crash though and I wouldn't blame them. Mobile games are setting up just like atari did with crap everywhere and a lack of quality.

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It's definitely a bubble. The only major difference is that everyone is going to buy a smartphone with game capabilities. The number of smartphones only increase though, so you won't ever have to worry about a lack of potential consumers.

No, it's ran by Asians.

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I would have the confidence that a company with the brand power like Nintendo would be able to make their games standout. Not to mention the guaranteed advertising that <1% of mobile games receive.

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I think you're right but you even admitted yourself that the experience of playing a game like SMB on a touch screen would be pretty bad. Nintendo knows this.

However, an argument could be made for some Nintendo titles that would translate quite well to an iPad or iPhone. A few I can think of:

Kirby Canvas Curse
The Advanced Wars games
The Fire Emblem games
The Mario RPG's with turn-based combat
And maybe The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass & Spirit Tracks