Software is what will determine Nintendo NX's Future NOT HARDWARE!

Emily Rogers has this to say:

Instead of focusing our attention solely on hardware, we should really be having a discussion about NX’s software.

Of course, we should. You will not believe how many people have a big presence on message forums and game websites that are influenced somehow by a check from Sony or Microsoft. This is why discussion about Nintendo and the NX is not… calibrated… correctly.

“But FireEmblem_Man,” they say…

“NX hardware determines much.”

“NX controller will determine how things are played.”

“The accessories of NX are profitable which is why NX must be modular.”

The console is just a box we buy to get to Mario. I didn’t say that. The Great One, Yamauchi, said it. Miyamoto and Iwata mocked that saying when the Wii U was released and look what happened.

Yes, Nintendo is making new hardware, new controllers, new accessories, new online strategies, new IPS, and so on. None of this works without games.

Nintendo’s hardware development is governed by the software development. If the software guys do not want it, then the hardware guys are not going to put it in there. It’s that simple.

The reason why you are not seeing discussion of Nintendo’s software strategy, which dooms any true inquiry into Nintendo’s business strategy, is because it is not part of their profitable universe. What type of hardware, controller, and such is all interesting for third party and wannabe third party companies. The consumer, which is the axis of which all gaming revolves around, is not that concerned about it. To the consumer, hardware is nothing but junk unless games are presented. I expect NX hardware to be announced with NX games.

Nintendo also makes quality games. Having discussion about games instead of ‘hardware’ is more favorable to Nintendo in a marketing persuasion. Many industry interests do not want this.

The big, big secret to console success is due to the software output. Let’s take a trip down memory lane.

Second Generation

In the Second Generation, when games were separate from the hardware (the invention of the cartridge), it is clear that the consoles with the most games did the best. Atari 2600 was going to be pulled off shelves like the Channel F console until the release of an arcade port called Space Invaders. Space Invaders rocketed the Atari 2600 up, spurred more game releases, which snowballed.

Now, the Second Generation imploded most spectacularly. So many games were being released in 1983 that no one could buy them all. So many of the games were of terrible quality. The Game Industry declared the game console a dead relic with the future only being in arcades and computer PCs (see Trip Hawkins, founder and president of Electronic Arts).

Third Generation

Nintendo takes a big investment gamble and releases the NES in the United States. What is significant here is that this was seen as madness after the Atari Crash. This is why “ROB the Robot was made so the NES could be sold to distributors as ‘toys’ instead of video games. The founder of NOA had market research saying this was a stupid move. But he ignored the market research. Why? People were still playing video games in the arcades. The Famicom was successful in Japan. Why would Americans be so different?

The software strategy of the NES is extremely important to understand the NES. The NES had a lockout chip (which Atari would try to bypass and then hold Nintendo up in courts). Nintendo also limited third party companies to five games a year (!) on the system. Some companies would make shell companies to release more games. This was to force quality into the game making. You had the Nintendo Seal of Approval. You also had Nintendo Power and all that really pushed and highlighted the more quality games (and no, not all were Nintendo made. You should see Howard Phillips spazzing with glee over a preview of Mega Man 2 in the first issue of Nintendo Power). Nintendo even gave away Dragon Quest 1 while devoting a huge guide to Final Fantasy 1.

Fourth Generation

Third parties do not like Nintendo’s controlled market of the console. EA’s Trip Hawkins goes so far to backwards engineer the Sega Genesis and dictates terms to Sega saying they are going to make whatever games they want. Sega has no choice but to agree (but Sega imposes the similar restrictions as Nintendo). Nintendo lost the sports games to Sega which hurt Nintendo badly.

Despite Sega's Sports push, Nintendo still manages to gain a ton of software support with JRPG's, Fighting Games, and action Platform titles.

Fifth Generation

Sony, who had no experience with the Atari Crash like Nintendo or Sega had and who had consumer electronics in other markets, had another approach to the game console: flood it with software. Much to do has been made about Nintendo 64’s cartridges versus PlayStation’s CDs. Cheaper costs wasn’t so much about ‘stealing’ third parties as it was about flooding the console market with them. Anything and everything was pushed out on the PlayStation. PC game makers also pushed out ports. As more PC game makers switched to the PlayStation console, this would trigger a defensive strategy from Microsoft to keep PC game makers on Microsoft’s architecture.

Sixth Generation

The PlayStation 2’s success is said to be a number of things from the DVD capability to being released a year early. The reality is that it was the games. The PlayStation 2 did not have the best launch lineup. However, it did have the best software pipeline ever. There was this one game on the PC called Grand Theft Auto. It was OK. The sequel was OK. But when Grand Theft Auto 3 was put out for the PlayStation 2, it rocketed and rocketed the console as well. You never know where the next hit game is coming from, and so it is best to have a broad software strategy. This is the lesson Nintendo learned for the Seventh Generation.

Seventh Generation

The reasons why the Wii succeeded are said to be many from being ‘omg casual’ to ‘gimmick controls’ to ‘cheap’ and such. But what is never discussed is that the Wii put out more software than the PS3. Nintendo also did the same with the DS versus the PSP (despite DS having cartridges and PSP having discs reversing the N64 ‘cartridge’ myth). However, Nintendo’s strategy was right with the software pipeline but the hardware still couldn’t take the PC ports. The PC ports favored Xbox 360 mostly. When Call of Duty 2, a sequel to a PC game, came out on the Xbox 360, it began to rocket the console up. The sequels of Call of Duty further rocketed the Xbox 360 console. The port to the PC game called Minecraft also rocketed the Xbox 360 up. While ports of these games found their way to other systems, Xbox 360 greatly benefited from these PC ports.

Eighth Generation

There’s not to mention here except how poorly Nintendo put out software for the 3DS and Wii U. Microsoft no longer sees Sony as a threat so it appears Microsoft is beginning to cease using its console as a defensive strategy and more as another part of the Windows universe.

Ninth Generation

This remains to be seen. If Nintendo is serious, it will have a MASSIVE SOFTWARE PIPELINE. This can be done by combining the handheld and home console teams. It can also be done with hardware easier to put on PC ports.

The Great Software Pipeline isn’t about Nintendo games… though those matter. It is about all games on the system. If you ask Reggie Fils-Aime, “Reggie, what games should I buy with my new NX?” Reggies reply is going to be: “All of them!”

The truth is that Sony’s console success has never been to uber hardware (Sony’s hardware has generally sucked) or DVD/Blu-Ray or marketing. Sony’s console success lies almost entirely on the Great Software Pipeline. Nintendo was able to outpace this pipeline in the Seventh Generation because Sony and Microsoft handicapped themselves with the early push to High Definition.

Can Nintendo outpace Sony in the Great Software Pipeline without such a handicap? The answer would be no because Nintendo is split between handheld and home console. Sony, also has handheld, but not in the way Nintendo does. Sony’s PSP push might have hurt its PS3 push, and it might explain Sony’s tepid Vita push as Sony focuses on PS4. With combining the handheld and home console, Nintendo is removing a handicap it has had around itself. Microsoft, of course, has no handheld to make software for.

I see Sony hurting itself by going into the VR and 4K area (hurting itself meaning hurting the Great Software Pipeline). This gives an opening to Nintendo. Microsoft doesn’t seem to care about consoles lately, but we’ll see what they say at E3.

Above: Selling game consoles is about creating a Great Software Pipeline of both First and Third Party games. It is not about the hardware. It also isn’t about the Killer App. It is about the probability of creating killer-apps. The best way to increase that probability is release as many games as possible.

Agree, though there's still people going going to fly off the handle if NX about as powerful as XBO/PS4 ballpark. Then again, even at Nintendo's best, people don't always bite. At this point, I think consoles sell less on their merits and more on lack of reason to hate it. So, don't go give people reasons to hate you Nintendo. Short Wii U life cycle and LoZ getting delayed to be NX launch title isn't off to good start with some loyalists. Neither was early withdrawal of meaningful firsr party support. We'll see once it's revealed what the mob thinks. T here might be people who skipped on Wii U be willing to jump on board finally, so at least th ere's that. If it had BC that's a good start on software side.

As far as games go, it'll be the first party and third party exclusives that attract people. I don't think third party multiplats that share titles with PS4/XBO/PC are going lure people.

TL;DR

Regardless what you think, having a lot of games will always be a selling factor for consoles to gain market shares.

Who knows? Maybe a Port of Zelda Wii U would be a big hit for the NX? Microsoft Xbox didn't take off until Halo came in. Then again a third party game can definitely make a console a hit just like the PS2 and Xbox 350 with GTA III and Call of Duty Modern Warfare.

Of course games are the important part, but the thing is that there are standard features that should be available.

It'd be suicide to start up a new cheeseburger restaurant that doesn't serve fries even if you have a different side dish that you think people will love. And I think that's all people really want from Nintendo. They want there to be a base console with good support for the popular features available elsewhere, and if Nintendo wants to push anything additional on top of that then that's welcome.

NX hardware determines much

No it doesn't Software does! How else could Sony get software with a crappy Cell chip? That's why they went x86, for developers to pump out more Software for the PS4 to become the 8th Generation Market Leader, not because of it's powerful specs.

With that type of crap strategy no wonder Nintendo sucks at life.

Elaborate

I agree with this, i feel strong lineup of 1st party, third party and 2nd party will help NX meet high success. Nintendo needs to find that perfect balance.

What's this? You actually agree with me? Well of course! Nintendo missing out on those yearly EA Sports titles really hurt them long term. Despite the Wii U having great exclusives, it's not enough to warrant a Wii U purchase.

@FireEmblem_Man: Red Dead Redemption 2 or bust!

Third party software, to be exact.

so make Nintendo 3rd party already. clearly nobody wants their hardware.

I'm going to have to agree, Red Dead Redemption 2 on the NX being a lead platform will definitely help, but we will have to wait and see on E3 for that.... Although knowing Rockstar, they prefer Sony.

WiiU had very strong exclusives, but people wanted bang for the buck when it came to hardware.

I think OPs reasoning is sound, but the argument holds less gravity in an environment where one can safely assume that the competition will also have a plethora of games.

How? Nintendo had great 1st party titles, but they didn't warrant sales. The Wii U didn't have Destiny, no yearly sports titles, no Witcher 3, and so on. Hardware power has nothing to do with Wii U not selling, but the Wii U's limitation of having a gimped CPU and not an x86 processor did hurt them from receiving the same treatment. When little or no games are aren't available, sales go down.

And nobody actually wants crappy software.

People will come in here and say that powerful hardware is needed to get 3rd party developers and AAA games.

Therein lies the rub, right? By having exotic hardware, they shut the door on having the software they needed to make their place at the table in Generation 8. Hardware and software are both absolutely necessary.

That maybe, however, I'd argue that Nintendo focused too much on the gimmicks of the Gamepad which also turned a lot of developers off, and that their Online infrastructure was still a mess, since they couldn't even get those online shooters like Destiny.

I also argued if Microsoft did NOT kill themselves with the abysmal marketing of always On and DRM as well as that high price tag of $500 at the start, maybe we would have seen a different outcome? Sony took the lead due to marketing hands down as well as getting those third parties back on track with easy development.

Too bad Nintendo's recent history is littered with under performing in the software.

They are making a lot of games that people just aren't very excited about. The quality hasn't been the highest either. They've had a few solid titles, but nothing that screams "must buy" for a large fan base.

If they wanted to sell the NX. They would launch the new Zelda title with the console and make it an NX exclusive. Anything else will take the wind right out of their sails.

Hey, if NX means Nintendo puts on their 80's pants for some good old-fashioned gaming storms, I will be there.

That is definitely the point I'm making. NX needs that killer title to help sell consoles, whereas there was none on the Wii U. We can always talk about those review scoring titles like Bayonetta 2, but it wasn't enough for people to be excited for as it was a niche title. Nintendo does need Madden and Fifa of course as well as that next big hit which we don't know what it will be.

That's actually what I'm hoping for as well

Their hardware is just as important as the software this time around. No more BS gimmicks, no more stupid controllers (no motion controls, no screens, etc), ad it has to be on par or more powerful then the competition. Without these things they won't get the software they need from 3rd party developers.

Sure software is more important, but only if said software appeals to a large group of gamers which most Nintendo IPs currently don't.

If Nintendo can't get strong third party support then they need to start making the kinds of games that those third parties are offering. The NX isn't going to succeed if 90% of their output is cute and colorful games.

Fixed it for you.

You're asking too much from a troll.

One last thing, the original Wii's software library is not superior to the PS3/360.

The main reason it sold well was because of Wii Sports selling the Wiimote concept and the $249.99 price tag. The Original Wii's library in general is terrible compared to all previously released Nintendo consoles.

So, those same group of people didn't buy Mario Kart Wii, Just Dance, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Wii Sports Resort, Wii Fit, Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Animal Crossing, and Guitar Hero 3 were all not for those that bought a Wii for Wii Sports and the Wii Remote? That's why the argument of only getting a Wii for Wii Sports is weak

All subjectivity. There are in fact a lot of extremely under rated Wii titles.

@FireEmblem_Man: hardware matters just as much especially this time round for Nintendo.

If they screw the hardware up and it lacks power then they will not have the 3rd party developers making games for there console, so software wise it could be a repeat of the Wii u.

I get your point, but Nintendo can't let there hardware have a gap the size of the Wii u-ps4 again.

As I stated before, the Xbox One's hardware is weaker than the PS4, but that doesn't stop developers from putting games in it. Yes, it was Nintendo's fault for concentrating on making the gamepad first then not making good enough hardware to have games. But it's also Nintendo's fault for not getting Destiny to come to the Wii U when it's also available to the Xbox 360 (in which the Wii U was similar to)

@FireEmblem_Man: Xbox one and ps4 are similar in hardware specs, less than an incremental gpu upgrade.

The Wii u is way behind the other two consoles in hardware, they can't afford to be that far behind again, 3rd party developers will snub Nintendo if that's the case.

The hardware needs to at least be in the same ballpark.

It wasn't worth bringing destiny to the Wii u, i don't think its a straight forward port from 360 version(could be wrong) and the install base of the Wii u being lower is suggesting bubble would see finishing returns on it.

It's Nintendo who put there console in that position.

software ? 25 years they been pumping out the classics ... we know nintendo's games already ... nintendo needs 3rd party support and thats it

Yep...

Unfortunately, former Bioware developer, Trent Oster believes the same bullshit emg is spouting. So by System Wars/SonyGAF logic "it must be fact."

Gag me.

Obviously, they want to erase the Wii from gaming history.

Sure, games are all that matters, and the controller because gimmicks can hamper the games. I don't really care about multiplats on Nintendo consoles anymore, though the'd be nice. If they can just support the console themselves that'd be the best case scenario, because we'll have so many good games we couldn't get anywhere else.

At this point hardware is good enough, I can't even imagine what Nintendo can do with hardware comparable to the PS4. At the end of the day it comes down to good art and intelligent allocation of the resources you do have, you can still make a turd on the most powerful hardware there is.

Yep. A little afraid to share the clip here, but there is a joke in (of course) Family Guy (when it was at it's best) that comes to mind in the Road to Europe episode.

Well, I hope Nintendo has something good cooking in the oven because their recent software output has been garbage. Maybe that's because of paltry fiscal allocation due to the U's under performing, I don't know, but if they think what they've put out for the U (with the exception of Pikmin 3) is going to be sufficient to draw people in on the NX, they're in for a rude wake up call. They not only need to up the ante for their own software, they need to increase its breadth or have third parties come in in supplement. Shoveling out more Mario, more Zelda, more Smash, more Kart, is not going to cut it unless they wish to remain extremely niche. The faithful will eat it up, but that will only encompass a tiny fanbase.

Is the OP another Sean Malstrom copypaste?

Bottom line is this: you aren't going to have good software without the hardware. Yes, Nintendo also needs to up the ante in the software department, but that starts with designing a powerful, easy to develop system, with a workable control scheme (i.e. NO MORE GIMMICKS!).

Their last two systems, have made software a challenge. The Wii Motion controller was brilliant in some implementations, but then what? In the end many games suffered because of FORCED motion controls. Then the 3rd parties abandoned ship because of weak prior gen hardware and poor attach rate. Hardware doesn't matter?

Wii-U came out as a last gen system. 3rd parties quickly abandoned ship because they were basically done with PS3/360 games, and it was too much work to port a special "last gen" version for Wii-U (especially when it wasn't going to sell anyway). Again, Nintnendo forces many games to use it's ill conceived tablet. Hardware doesn't matter?

I'll wait and see their NX launch line ups. :P

I didn't say the only reason, but the main reason. You were trying to make a point that the console with the superior game library always wins out, but that isn't the case for the original Wii. Unless all you care about is Nintendo games the OG Wii objectively had the weakest library of games in the 7th generation of consoles overall.

A $349.99 - $399.99 Wii with the same games wouldn't have sold nearly as well.

Nintendo has been fucking that chicken for a long time and they just keep falling flat. Nintendo needs hardware that people can get excited about again.

@MirkoS77: yeah I know right, there output has been garbage

Splatoon? Kiddy garbage

Mario maker? What I have to make my own games now? Pass

Xenoblade? What is this weeb shit?

*I'd normally put a /sarcasm but you get the idea