Michael Pachter: Nintendo Is Not Going Anywhere, As Long As They Produce Great Content, They Will Be Fine

In his latest assessment on the Japanese giant, which was made in the latest episode of Pachter Factor (via My Nintendo News), Pachter revealed his softest stance and take on the company and its future yet.

“When last I looked, which was in the last three months, Nintendo has something like $10 billion in cash. I think that the worst case if the NX is a bust, they will lose half a billion,” he said. "Every time I have ever criticized that company and its management, including its late president, it wasn’t because they were running the company into the ground and about to go bankrupt. It was because I didn’t think they were generating enough profit on the phenomenal assets that they have. I’m not critical of these guys in the way that you should be worried.”

Pachter went on to add that Nintendo isn't going anywhere in the long run- especially as long as they continue making great games, which is something that they have never failed at doing.

“As long as they keep producing great content – and they have never wavered – they’ll be fine. I just don’t think they are going to maximize their profits without having a good hardware strategy and a good software strategy."

The problem, then, is not in their games- it is in how they approach the development of their hardware, which is too isolated from the rest of the industry, meaning they never can get any meaningful industry wide third party support.

“And, I frankly think that handhelds are challenged because mobile has become the way that most people play games, and console is challenged because they have been underpowered the last couple of generations and they are trying to be cute with these different kind of hybrid devices. Like, a GamePad instead of a controller, and nobody really liked it so the Wii U didn’t work. Their failure in hardware has cost them third-party support, because third-parties can’t afford to make a game for a 10 million install base Wii U that could be discontinued at any time."

All of this means that with the NX, Pachter simply does not expect Nintendo to get much third party support- at least not in the west. There is, according to him, too much inertia against him.

“[With] the NX, I think you are going to see very low third-party support outside of Japan unless the thing is a hit. And so, I mean my criticism of them is just that they have squandered a big lead that they had in hardware and gone from first-to-worst, quickly, on the console side.”

Nintendo fans may be tempted to dismiss this assessment, but it is extremely fair and valid; more importantly, Pachter has been right in his scathing assessments of Nintendo of late, including when he called the Wii U flopping, or the NX launching in March 2017.

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Damn it, Pachter. Hell froze over, and Nintendo is now well and truly doomed.

Big ouch, with Pachter saying that, it's the last straw, Nintendo's going third party or doomed, doooomed I tellz ya. :P

I don't think Nintendo's problem has ever been whether they will crash and burn. What Nintendo's challenge will be is whether they can grow beyond the loyal N64 fanbase they have by the short and curlies and appeal to a wider demographic. The WiiU, was in fact, a retreat from even that entrenched fanbase. They've yet to sell through 15M units.

So, I think Pachter has the right of it. Literally anything is better than their current position in the market with the WiiU. If they can recover from this level of a hole they are in, they will be okay with pretty much anything and thrive.

Pachter is a correct now, right Char. HAHAHAHA!

J/K, I agree, but please Nintendo stay away from the mandatory gimmicks this console cycle.

It's mostly about cash. Once you run out of those you are done... no matter the amount of great products you produced.

They will still be around. Just not as a console maker. I look forward to playing Zelda and Mario Kart on PS5.

Well, Nintendo generally still makes a freakish amount of cash, so they should be fine.

Didn't this idiot said that PS4 will run games at 240 fps?

Lol Pachter. Whenever he predicts something, exact opposite happens. Pray for Nintendo.

He did not say that, no.

I don't remember reading or hearing that from him. He regularly says that he doesn't know all the technical aspects of consoles.

In Pachter's defense, he is just an analyst, it's a job weather that person is right or wrong, it's how you take it. Having said that, he does have a point that Nintendo isn't going anywhere, even if NX turns out to be a major flop, they will still be here in the gaming industries. Nintendo is way more worth then both Sony/MS combine, they have Billions of dollars (or yen however you look at there currency) and they can take the risks just don't get carried away with the money.

Unfortunately, 3rd party has gotten lazy. They want to develop for the PC so they can port down to the PC-like-consoles as quickly and efficiently as possibly. A weak, underpowered system stands no chance at catching developer eyes and if they did suddenly upgrade their system to match PS4 or Xbox One specs for there NX, they'd suddenly be "just another PS4 or XBOX One" level console that has the benefit of running Mario, Zelda, Kart, Kong, Metroid and Smash bros titles. Nintendo did the right thing by delaying NX till next year insuring they have a strong 3rd party games as well as first party games to go along with it.

As it turns out, I was wrong, he did say that the PS4 would run games at 240fps.

:/

Lol Patcher lol.

Does this mean Pachter is teh cool guy because quite a few here grew up on Ninty and have a soft spot for them? This company has refused more than once to play ball and if they won't again in order to get more third party support people will continue to pass them by.

@charizard1605:

Geesh! Foot in mouth! Thanks Pachter for making me eat crow.

You mean the vocal internet minority is wrong about Nintendo? NOOOOOO WAAAAYYY. That almost NEVER happens with stuff.

I also remember when he said the PS3 could do 120 FPS as well. As I said before, he's an analyst so take it or leave it. Pachter has flip-flopped far too many times.

An analyst? You are really scraping the bottom to reaffirm your opinion. Why don't you try a more reliable source?

Producing "great" content matters little in this cut throat industry, Pach. Surely even you would know that.

*Obligatory **** you Pachter!

He said that Nintendo will not get third party support. That remains to seen, but history is with this statement.

I guess throw darts and you are bound to hit the board sometimes :P

See? He also said that PS3 will run games at 120 fps. I've no idea why some people still take this guy seriously. His statements are still good for laughs though.

Pachter should be telling the truth. Games don't matter. Perception does. And the perception is that Nintendo abandoned their fans when they made the Wii and have been ignoring them ever since. He should also be saying that Nintendo's biggest battle will be to convince 'hardcore mature adult' gamers that their new console will be the place to play games.

I'm really hopeful about NX because of the consolidation of the handheld and console game dev teams. Should mean lots of Nintendo love coming down the pipeline. But from a analyst perspective even I would be cautious about Nintendo. After Wii U and their branding and advertising mistakes, I'd be looking at them with some skepticism.

So Nintendo will get strong 3rd party support and crash and burn? :P

Ugh, don't jinx it.

Now the question is how often do Mr Patcher prediction comes true? I say oh no Nintendo! lol

Well, Pachter says literally the exact same thing as you, so I guess anyone who agrees with him also agrees with you.

Nintendo doomed confirmed

That means Ninty = teh doomed!

Nintendo isn't going anywhere but they are going to change.

@charizard1605: Except I don't think they will be fine. They will lose credibility and prestige in the market if they end up dropping out of hardware manufacturing. I don't want that. I'd like them to get in the fight. I won't sit and give them my money for more fuckin Mario, Kirby, toad, no matter whether they are fighting, kart racing, paper, whatever.

Financially of course they can survive but it would suck balls. Unlike others I don't want to play Zelda or Metroid on PS5

Ah, I understand now.

Well, let's see what Nintendo have up their sleeves with the NX, then!

The most disturbing news I've heard all day.

The safe bet with Pachter is to bet against what he says.. I just hope he didn't jinx the NX. Although even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in awhile right? Perhaps he will be right and go on a winning streak.

Oh Gawd the curse of Pachter, they may as well rebrand themselves to Nintendoomed now.

R.I.P. Ninty, the Pachter man has cursed you to a painful death.

To be fair Sony also claimed the PS3 would be capable of 4D gaming and the PS4 would do 4k.

Of course.

Nintendo could keep selling 10 million consoles at a profit, and selling a handful of first party games at a profit, and live forever.

Surely nobody wants them to maintain the position they have with the Wii U. Nintendo could decimate Sony and MS with their phenomenal first party, their strong ties to the Japanese market, and their stash of gold they could use on an effective marketing campaign. They just don't.

Even their best-selling Wii was nothing more than a secondary system. Nintendo ignores the demographics that Sony and MS go for, but they could definitely position themselves in a way where they get that demographic plus all the others they currently target. I wouldn't even have to think twice about what console to buy if I knew I could get all the best third party console games, and the best first party games all on one platform.

Nintendo's death confirmed!

@blue_hazy_basic said:

HAHAHAHAHA!

I hope not!

Im just gonna ignore this terrible news and hope he changes his mind next month.

RIP Nintendo.

Someone here understands it.

Nice knowing you Nintendo

Yes, we all know that another flop wouldn't bankrupt them, but there comes a point where they have to realize that staying in the dedicated home console market doesn't make much business sense anymore. If the consumer once again gives Nintendo the cold shoulder after they release the NX then Nintendo will no doubt pull out of the dedicated home console market. It would just be a waste of resources to make a another attempt after two consecutive failures.

@SecretPolice: Yeah, I knew I was late for that joke :P

Oh shit, the dude just jinx Ninti...NX is doom!!!...and Nintendo is definitely now doom!!!...NOOoooooo!!!!! :P

oh god....OH GOD!

the industry without nintendo. jeez....im really going to miss them :(. they were great for throwing a wrench in the works and were the most interesting of the big 3 and now....gone. so sudden too :(.

seriosuly though i half agree with him.

the NX is not going to get any meaningful third party support. it wont because 3rd party games (multiplats especially) wont sell on nintendo platforms. there may be some initial releases that consist of poor ports with missing features at twice the price of the other versions but that will be about it.

it doesnt matter if the NX is more powerful than the neo with an online system to give steam a run for its money and it using basically a copy of the xbox 1 elite controller as standard...it aint going to make a jot of difference. 3rd party games will not sell on nintendo platforms.

so nintendo need to reach a development capacity, using internal teams, 2nd parties and working with 3rd parties, that can support both their handheld and console with exclusive games. enough content to keep both devices interesting.

they have kinda half done it with the wiiu and 3DS but with 3 very big issues

1) not enough. nintendo needs to be able to deploy more content without compromising quality (always difficult)

2) way way to japanese focused. they need to be getting developers from around the worlds with strengths in different fields.

3) the types of games that are being made are too narrow and too focused on a very very small demographic (basically just veteran nintendo gamers)..

Wait... Pachter is saying something positive about Nintendo? My god, I'm half expecting to look outside and see the entire world on fire....

Then again, we should also remember, that we all made fun of Pachter, myself included, when he said NX wouldn't release in 2016 and look where we are now. Maybe the guy isn't as insane as he sometimes seems.

This is incorrect.

If the NX and next Nintendo handheld both flop, which they will, Nintendo won't be fine by any standard when it comes to profits.

In before clueless 8-year-old Kidtendo fans says "NINTENDO SELLS AT A PROFIT!!!" without any understanding of operation cost floors.