How has Nintendo survived making consoles past the Sixth Generation?

NEC is still around as far as I know, but Hudson only exists as some nameless psuedopod of the Konami blob anymore.

@Sapphire Blue

You just hit the nail on the head on why I love Nintendo: They actually remember that "E for Everyone" means Everyone. Regardless of the primary demographic of a given Nintendo game, odds are there is some element that is attractive to given group.

Want a raging badass to satisfy your anyone, ever? Link and Samus, full stop. Want genuinely good humor that can be enjoyed by adults and kids alike? Hello Kid Icarus: Uprising! Want something Darker and Edgier, for a more mature audience? Fire Emblem is excellent; and if a kid picks it up, their just gonna skip the boring adults talking and play with the knights and dragons and bunnies! Chaotic fun with friends? Smash! Strategic fun with friends? Pokemon!

"Cool" kids can use childish as an insult all they like; but at the end of the day, we know that everyone would rather be Mario than Soap.

edited 25th Feb '14 8:29:33 PM by TheAirman

Now I love my dark gritty shooters and my bloody stabbings and my brutal deconstructions of stuff but god damn it I have probably had more fun playing Smash Bros with friends than I have in any other game.

They consistently make games that are fun to play.

If there's one thing that draws in everyone, it's having fun.

Software-centric.

x4 That's because Mario didn't slowly bleed to death in Prague.

Darn it, now you gave away the plot twist to the next Paper Mario

I'm not disagreeing with that, but I don't think that's necessarily the right thing for a Hardware developer to be. Probably not the best or the only thing.

A hardware developer needs third party support. They can't really make it on their software alone.

edited 26th Feb '14 5:20:35 AM by unnoun

Nintendo is the Disney of video games. They've had a very long time to build a devoutly loyal fanbase, have properties that are familiar and beloved by the world, are so culturally-ingrained that their mascots are household words - even people who have never touched a video game in their life know Mario - and they produce entertainment that is engaging and fun for the entire family, kids and parents alike.

Of course Nintendo is still in business and still producing. The world would be a very different place without them.

I wouldn't go that far. Disney continuously produces new things and markets them heavily.

Nintendo continuously produces new things, but barely anyone notices because they're never marketed.

Though they are mostly back to their original lines like office phones.

I don't know I see ads for Nintendo products on TV all the time; new I Ps yeah I would agree that they don't market them.

edited 26th Feb '14 7:56:07 AM by Halberdier17

Yeah I was talking about new properties/franchises.

It probably helps them that they actually make consoles as opposed to low-end P Cs with a lack of content and high-end prices. (Search your feelings, you know that's what the Xbox One and PS 4 really are at the end of the day.) Plus they actually do local multiplayer with their games, which is something a lot of games forget these days.

Besides, the Wii U has the best content selection of the current gen (and yes, I know not many games have come out for the other two, but even with launch titles I'd take Nintendo Land and Zombi U over Knack and Ryse any day of the week.) And the biggest killer apps for the system (Smash, Mario Kart, Smash, and inevitable stuff like a new Zelda, Kirby, Metroid, etc. Oh, and Smash) haven't even come out yet.

Look at Smash Bros' rosters. Now look at every game that's ripped off Smash Bros (including that Playstation one).

I think that speaks for Nintendo well enough, but for substance I'll add a little something - history (those nostalgia goggles are strong), just enough resistance to conformity that their characters and franchises (the big ones, not some sideline shovelware meant to reel in the young audience) remain distinct well into the HD era, and diversity.

Now now, let's not get ahead of ourselves on Kirby being inevitable. Remember Kirby's fabled Game Cube platformer?

I liked Kirby on the gamecube.

Kirby Air Ride was the shit

Well, the original Wii (not Wii U) did pretty much print money for them last time I checked, so that probably helps.

Is it really true that Nintendo was the most profitable company of the Sixth Generation? It's a pretty outrageous claim that I hear in some places.

Yeah it is true; Nintendo made money off of the GBA line and the GCN was profitable since day one.

Microsoft's Xbox division lost money every year from 2001 - 2008 and it wasn't until 2010 that they actually made a profit from the Xbox line.

Sony was close to Nintendo in terms of profit for a couple of years during the 6th Generation.

Here◊ is the link to the image that I got my information from.

It is based on all three companies earning reports.

edited 26th Feb '14 12:46:24 PM by Halberdier17

It's not outrageous; Sony and Microsoft sell their consoles at a net loss, while they make a net profit on game sales. Nintendo has, to my knowledge, never sold their consoles at a loss.

They sold both the 3DS and they are currently selling the Wii U at a loss.

The 3DS wasn't selling at a loss until they dropped the price by $80; they aren't selling at a loss now.

The Wii U is selling at a loss since day one but it was only a small loss they made profit if you purchased a game with the Wii U.

I don't know if the Wii U is selling at a loss now but I think it is since they dropped the price by $50.

I think that, if you forced Sony to just do the Playstation or Microsoft to just do Xbox, either of them might've failed at some point. Not sure since I don't have stats but I'd think that would be a distinct possibility.

And the 3DS probably isn't going to be taken out by phones as a gaming platform any time soon because, well, mobile games aren't really full-fledged games. Compare what you get with Fire Emblem Awakening vs. Flappy Bird, or Kirby Triple Deluxe (when it does come out) to Candy Crush. The big mobile games are flash games that you have to bribe your way to victory to make progress in. Sure, they might make more money than the 3DS, but it's not going to kill Nintendo's mobile market any more than the PSP did.

One thing that's kind of weird and yet distinctly sensible about Nintendo is the way that they look at innovation. Most companies when presented with an idea will maybe humor it, and it may get off the ground but will probably see very little marketing. With Nintendo, they're happy to try out that new idea, but will more than likely give it to one of their characters. That speaks of the versatility of those characters to handle so many gameplay tweaks, and it's probably why Mario can be allowed so many spin-offs.

Multiplying your character or building a whole world of yarn? Kirby can make a game of that. Ghost-hunting vacuum? We can let Luigi do that.

edited 26th Feb '14 1:08:32 PM by Alucard

This. Nintendo has made a career on using familiar characters and settings to showcase new ideas. As much as people chide them for making the same games over and over, they aren't: they use the same characters and the same basic story, certainly, but they're always looking for something new that they can add to the gameplay.

Nintendo is a very gameplay-focused company, and that's where most of their innovation lies. Mario saving Peach for the umpteenth time might not be new, but that water cannon on his back is, and there's TONS of fun you can have with it that you might not have done in a game before. Link's saving Zelda from Ganon? Old hat. Doing it by plastering himself onto walls as a mural? That's new. Another Mario RPG? Seen it. The core gameplay mechanic is revolving from 3-D to 2-D and back in order to solve platforming puzzles? Never seen that before!

While other companies tend to go, "Okay, write me a story that will justify selling the same game to an audience again," Nintendo goes the other route, saying, "Mario's saving the princess. That's our angle. What can we do with the gameplay that we haven't done yet? Levels laid out on spheres that you run circles around? Don't know what you were smoking when you came up with that, Isato, but I like it. It's new. Let's do it!"

edited 26th Feb '14 2:03:56 PM by TobiasDrake