#1: Leave the Wii brand in the past
The Wii sold 100 million units worldwide and was successful in capturing casual gamers in a pre smartphone world.
It is time to move past this and look to the future. The Wii was neat; however, it can now be seen as ‘gimmicky’. Hopefully Nintendo moves back to something more tried and true. The Gameboy family is full of great designs, so is everything in their console library up until the Gamecube. The question is, what will the NX look like? And how will it play?
Gamers seem to be growing tired of gimmicks and are looking for solid experiences. Hopefully Nintendo realizes this fact and moves toward a more traditional experience.
#2: Don’t Snub 3DS Users
Right now Nintendo’s business is being carried by 3DS users. The 5 year old handheld is still seeing impressive sales, and the attach rate (the number of games that each 3DS owner buys) is very high.
Game like Pokemon Omega Ruby are still seeing great sales (over 175,000 last month alone) and with some new great games coming out in the next 6 months the handheld is far from dead.
Pokemon is always a solid bet
What concerns 3DS users is the ‘semi portable’ design rumours that are swirling around the NX. We have also heard that the NX is going to be a cartridge based system, so will it be backward compatible with the 3DS? Are the cartridges going to be of the same style as the 3DS?
Cartridges are easy, we know that they are essentially SD cards with protections at this point, and these can easily go up to over 64GB. Familiarity is a big selling point, if the cartridges are close to the 3DS cartridges that would be a smart move.
If the NX is backward compatible with 3DS titles in some way, then Nintendo will have already built in a possible 50+ million users. Buying a new home console looks a lot more attractive if it already works with your existing library of games, and is portable to boot.
How Cool is This?
#3: Make the First 6 Months Unforgettable
With the poor sales of the WiiU the general public is asking themselves, does Nintendo have what it takes to make another successful console? To combat this, the launch of the NX cannot, in anyway, be a soft release. For this to be a huge success there needs to be an impressive library of games from day one.
Backward compatibility with 3DS titles would be a good start, but that is not enough to knock the NX out of the park; it is going to need some amazing titles. We have heard from Nintendo that they have plans for many major titles for the NX, but what we need to hear about is definitive 3rd party support and we need Nintendo to stick to their release schedule.
Release dates are going to be extremely important to Nintendo’s success with the NX. We only need to look at No Man’s Sky to see what happens when a game is delayed, even slightly. The problem is that the type train can get out of hand very quickly.
This had better be ready for NS’ release date
#4: Don’t Worry About the Power
If we again look at Nintendo’s past, we see that the Gamecube was the most powerful console on the market when it released. Compared to the Dream Cast and PS2 there was no contest. However, overwhelming power did not translate into overwhelming success. Nintendo sold approximately 22 million Gamecubes, while this is nothing to sneeze at, it is still well shy of the 155 million PS2s that were sold.
This shows us something very important; success in the video game industry is NOT an arms race. It is true that a more powerful console gives more options, but that isn’t all that gamers are looking for.
The true driver of sales is experience which can be hard to define. What gamers are looking for in their experience is something that is easy to use, not overly complicated, and
Furthermore, we have reached a point in the development of consoles where good graphics are easy to come by. Realistically who has looked at virtually any WiiU game and though ‘Jeeze, I really wish that the graphics were better.’ Take Mario Kart 8 for example, it has to be one of the best looking games of the past 5 years, hands down.
Regardless of how powerful the NX is Nintendo should not use that as a main selling point. Who really cares if it is as powerful, less, or more than the PS4? If they invite comparison it is only going to invite criticism. Nintendo needs to establish their new brand as something that stands on its own
#5: Start Building the Hype Soon!
Am I the only one who is sick of the NX rumours? If I have to look at one more patent diagram I am going to go crazy. For the first few months the uncertainty was exciting; a new Nintendo console is always Interesting! And with the Wii and the WiiU as the past two consoles we are certinaly expecting something innovative from Nintendo. But radio silence on the part of Nintendo is starting to damage the hype.
I am not the only one who is wondering when Nintendo will share something concrete. E3 2016 would have been the perfect time to show off new system will look like, and announcing Zelda Breath of the Wild as launch title would have been a really big deal. I have to say that the lack of reliable information on the NX really makes me question if it will be ready in time for their targeted March 2017 release.
So long as Nintendo,
- Respects their existing audience
- Keeps with their release dates
- Gives us some information
I fully expect that the Nintendo NX will be a big hit, at least at launch. We can only wait and see, and hope.