A snapshot of the console gaming industry's massive decline

[Julius Seeker]

A little more than 7 years ago today, on the week ending June 14th 2008, the generation was in roughly the same age as it is today. According to VG Chartz,

DS - 446,348
PS3 - 312,807
Wii - 298,361
PSP 217,418
X360 - 100,954
Total - 1,375,888

Today, the sales looked like for the week ending June 13th.

PS4 - 142,656
3DS - 79,704
XbOne - 68,611
WiiU - 54,432
PSV - 27,741
Total - 373,144

Meanwhile iPads are selling 1 million per week, and iPhones 5 million.

I don't think the console industry is destined to die, but they're going to have to adapt to the change of environment. They have to compete with Apple and Google now.

This generation could be the end of it all.

If things keep going the way they are, inevitably, next generation will be smaller than this one. Something needs to be done to revolutionize console gaming, and make it more appealing to gamers than PCs and smart devices.

[Shrinweck]

Seven years ago we were losing a million jobs a month and there were more people with free time so the improving economy is clearly to blame for this.

THANKS OBAMA

[ManaMan]

I'd like to see those numbers alongside online app stores and computer game store/platforms like Steam. I'd say that's where your money is going. PC games have improved dramatically in quality and app stores are filled with thousands of small diversion type games. People think: if I can already play great games on my laptop/tablet/phone why would I need to purchase a separate system devoted exclusively to games?

The WiiU will Nintendo's final console.

Seven years ago we were losing a million jobs a month and there were more people with free time so the improving economy is clearly to blame for this.

THANKS OBAMA

Love it.

[Replay]

"Free-to-play has obliterated a hundred AAA studios." --John Romero

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/doom-c ... 0-6421334/

[Julius Seeker]

The WiiU will Nintendo's final console.

They have already announced their next console, Project NX. The unveiling will be sometime after Christmas. It may not be all we expect in a traditional console though, as they seem to have a strategy involving a platform which incorporates mobile and PC somehow.

[Eric]

The WiiU will Nintendo's final console.

They have already announced their next console, Project NX. The unveiling will be sometime after Christmas. It may not be all we expect in a traditional console though, as they seem to have a strategy involving a platform which incorporates mobile and PC somehow.

Think about this: third party publishers (especially western) in the AAA console space have extended their middle finger to Nintendo.

Japan's console games industry is dying.

Nintendo is ferociously Japanese, no matter how many fond memories you or I have playing Mario growing up.

Mobile gaming is booming in Japan.

NX could very well be a console designed to capture the Japanese mobile market. It could have an ARM cpu and mobile GPU in a mobile phone form factor that can easily dock at home.

In this scenario NX would almost certainly be weaker than WiiU(and I have 0 confidence of them releasing a system on par with even the Xbox One).

If Nintendo cares about the west and the AAA console space then NX in its home variation would certainly have to make porting from PS4 super simple. This means adequate power and memory.

Does Nintendo give a shit about you or I?

Maybe Iwata still believes he can capture lighting in a bottle like he did with the Wii with some Japan centric mobile centric console bastardisation.

I'm pretty sure the age of Nintendo getting away with gimmicks in the west is over though.

[Replay]

We'd all cheer if Nintendo released a hardcore-gamers' console again.

It isn't likely to happen for one reason: Nintendo HATES the way console loss-leading works.

Microsoft, for instance, famously takes a bath on every XBox they sell, and they don't break even until someone's purchased about ten or more games for it. The 360 cost THEM something like $400-500 a console back when it sold for $300; I'd imagine the One is similar. Sony takes a similar bath on the PS4 and did on the PS3 at launch.

Nintendo, by contrast, won't commit anymore to building expensive $500-700 computers to sell for $250 in hopes of making it up on software, even though they have the highest profit margins on software too.

[Julius Seeker]

Just in response to Eric. The mobile industry is booming everywhere, not just Japan. The console industry is also shrinking everywhere. If Nintendo, or Microsoft, or Sony, just releases some gaming console with a controller that is just an upgrade in power, then they are not moving with the trends in any major market; the next generation, if it looks like the last 2 + more power, will be even smaller than this gen is going to be.

So yes, the industry needs to evolve, or it will decline and die. There is already less room for major console games this generation than previous generations.

My own hypothesis of Nintendo's NX platform is that it will be unified platform to be used across multiple device forms specific for different market niches. As well as having something that can be upgraded more regularly and more meaningfully than once every 5-7 years. If I am looking to buy a new console 4 years into the generation, I want something more up to date; others may want something cheaper, or maybe a home console instead of a handheld. Nintendo has been experimenting with this recently on a smaller scale, with the New 3DS being more than double as powerful but having the same platform as the original 3DS and 2DS.

[Replay]

Everyone wants to make freemium casual after the success of King with Candy Crush and Riot with League of Legends, both of which make hundreds of millions of dollars off "free" games. (League is heading towards a billion in pure PROFIT at this point; it's up there with World of Warcraft among the most profitable games of all time.)

I can't say I hope Nintendo goes in that direction. I would really like them to do something they'd never do - and that's head Sega-direction, move out of hardware, let Sony/Microsoft do the console manufacture while they again focus on making the best games in the world.