Nintendo WiiU : Thread 04

[Neon Ignition]

My guess is that Nintendo won't do anything that affects or directly/indirectly competes with its own handheld business. What we'll get there is a true 3DS successor in due course.

Console wise there's two options, the first is to try and recreate the Wii in the sense of revealing a system so unique and different it captures attention for a whole new generation of kids and families. The second is to create a low cost powerhouse and try to undercut their rivals asa games machine for gamers. Something that can handle all games but is affordable enough and appealing to all. Honestly, I think we're going to get a random curveball machine.

[Ouenben]

All doom and gloom too soon , with key AAA titles out this year Nintendo still have a chance turn things around just as the 3ds.
Need a strong E3 and I hope they attend and have a big press conference .

I was wondering when you'd show up.

[chipsgravy]

Of course Nintendo have another bigger problem now. The fact that main stream media of talking of Nintendo troubles means that fewer people are likely to want to buy a Wii U. Why buy a console from a failing company. Especially when there is a lot of rumours out there that the console is to be replaced within a year. Personally I have no regrets. There are great games on the Wii U. There are great games coming out on the Wii U.

Maybe Nintendo will do a complete business rethink and get back into "love hotels" again instead of pursuing the fickle gamer.

[gIzzE]

You're right, I was thinking last night, if I hadn't got my son Disney Infinity for Xmas in the Wii-U I would probably sell it.

I am now thinking I will get a PS4, and for the first time I signed up to PS+ last night, didn't realise you got so many titles for free for what works out at ?3.50 a month over a year.

Last night I downloaded, Borderlands 2, Uncharted 3, Xcom, Devil May Cry and Little Big Planet Karting, which will keep me going for at least 2 months, by then I suspect there will be at least another title or two that I want to play.

Why can't Nintendo do the same?

[Guts]

PS+ might seem great from the consumers point of view, but I'd be interested in knowing how much money Sony makes from it, or even if they make any money from it. It's a good way to attract more customers to Sony's platforms, but I wonder, if in the long run it will further devalue games, when people will skip titles just to wait if it arrives on PS+.

[nakamura]

PS+ is not a good business model IMO. The same with Steam. It cannot keep going.

[wakka]

One difference between Nintendo's games and the games on PS is long term profitability. Nintendo will sell a game at full price for 5 years or more. But the average PS3 game is devalued rapidly and practically worthless a year after release. Putting the game on PS+ gives the publisher more revenue from the game (where distribution would have filtered down to non-profitable preowned copies otherwise) and also gives them a way of expanding the audience for DLC.

BioShock Infinite is a good example. That's on PS+ next month, and it's given them a great platform to promote the Burial At Sea stuff - I'm sure they'll generate extra sales of it from giving away the game. And on top of that, they'll receive royalties from Sony too.

I doubt Sony themselves makes much money directly from PS+, it's a fantastic USP though.

PS+ is not a good business model IMO. The same with Steam. It cannot keep going.

They're fundamentally different. When I purchase a game in a Steam sale I keep it forever. PS+ is a subscription service that requires users to keep paying in order to keep playing.

I think PS+ is perfectly sustainable considering how dependent publishers already are on day 1 sales. In fact it helps expand games' profitability potential beyond that tiny release window, so they're not just sucked into the black hole of preowned.

[Lebowski]

I think it can games appear months if not years later on PlayStation+ and steam sales, I doubt games like Bioshock Infinite or battlefield 3 had its sales hurt by ps+ as its never as cut and dry as all EA games always appear on ps+

Look at recent ps+ stuff like Boarderlands 2 and Devil May Cry, they have made there money at retail, and currently probably doing a roaring trade on the used games market, the devs see none of this so along comes Sony "hey you made your money from that game how would you like to make a ton more by being this Months PlayStation plus Game"

Say Sony has 1 million users currently paying for PlayStation+ at ?3.33 a month, that scales up to ?3.3million a month id bet theirs plenty to keep Devs happy in them numbers.

[Neon Ignition]

The ones I'm curious about are the games that hit PS+ free on initial release and how they make their money back. I'm assuming games like Resogun etc are low in budget enough that it's easily recouped but for something like Drive Club surely it has to be an awkward set up as its already been confirmed the game can technically be completed without buying the disc and I'll honestly be surprised if too many pay for the retail version rather than just stick with the +Edition

[VR46]

I've always wondered if the Devs got a flat fee for appearing on PS+ or if they got a set amount per download.

Re PS4, probably done the devs a favour with titles like Contrast and Don't Starve as I think sales figures would have been pretty low if they were charging around a tenner per title.

Resogun should have sold well on it's own merits but I bet it wouldn't have done as well or got anywhere near the coverage if it wasn't on PS+

Wakka is totally right about Nintendo title remaing at high prices for years when most PS3/360 releases hit what ?19.99 within six months nowadays.
Nintendodogs on the DS was (and probably sitll is) about ?29.99 minimum new and that must have come out about seven years ago.

[djtickle]

Going on PS+ I imagine would be a indie companies dream. I imagine they get a nice wedge of cash that they might have never made from normal sales. Plus like it was said above sales from DLC for the likes of Resogun and Don't Starve are really going to help these companies out and help them get sales from people they might never have got.

I most likely would not have purchased the above 2 games but as I got them from plus I will be buying the DLC.

[wakka]

I don't think devs make anything out of PS+. They have already been paid for their work long before. The publishers make the money.

[Lebowski]

Going on PS+ I imagine would be a indie companies dream. I imagine they get a nice wedge of cash that they might have never made from normal sales. Plus like it was said above sales from DLC for the likes of Resogun and Don't Starve are really going to help these companies out and help them get sales from people they might never have got.

I most likely would not have purchased the above 2 games but as I got them from plus I will be buying the DLC.

I reckon they send David Dickinsons real deal team round and wave a big pile of cash at them "are you going ps+ or taking it to retail"

[S3M]

PS+ is not a good business model IMO. The same with Steam. It cannot keep going.

Don't put too much weight on this just because of Duncan's App release experience of one game that he detailed the other day. I've been meaning to reply to that topic but haven't got round to it, as someone's who worked on a number of released games I've seen both the up's and down's of the industry.

In the case of PS+ I suspect many developers see a huge increase in DLC sales, I'm also not sure if Sony may pay publishers for some games to be released on PS+. In the longer turn I'm not sure the volume of games released every month on PS+ can be sustained, but it has helped sales of the console and increased membership.

[thetrooper]

Is there anything due on virtual console today? Anyone know?