Did Nintendo ever actually LOSE?

[Sammy Samusu]

Virtual Boy was never an important release for Nintendo (just compare its pre-launch to other Nintendo platforms). But even so, it taught them about stereoscopic 3D, which led to 3DS, one of the best selling video game systems, plus the shit ton of software it sold.

Nintendo 64 flopped but it gave birth to Animal Crossing, Smash Bros, and the foundation for Mario and Zelda 3D games. Needless to say, all these series are among the biggest selling at present day, and have been for a while too.

Game Cube was another flop, but its R&D was reused for Wii, which went on to become one of the biggest hits in video game history. Quick and dirty.

Then finally we have Wii U, a cute prototype that would later evolve to become the huge hit known as Switch. Wii U also produced Splatoon, the biggest new cultural hit in Japan since Yo-kai Watch.

Can you remember the last time that Nintendo actually lost?

 

[En-ou]

I thought those eras Nintendo was the only one making money on hardware. Flop?

 

[Savantcore]

Releasing a fully fledged console as a 'practice run' for the next one is an awful strategy. Yes, Nintendo have 'lost' plenty of times, but they used the experience to win on their next go, as you say.

 

[Bandage]

Nintendo may be slow to react on some things (online), but overall, the business is run pretty much as forward thinking as possible.
Failures are just successes waiting to happen.
Everything has an eventual purpose.

 

[Heckler456]

Then finally we have Wii U, a cute prototype that would later evolve to become the huge hit known as Switch. Wii U also produced Splatoon, the biggest new cultural hit in Japan since Yo-kai Watch.

Click to shrink...

I guess that's one way to describe the huge failure that was the Wii U.

Also, what is Yo-Kai Watch?

 

[Nightengale]

They lost various times, but there were good takeaways from those losses, so they didn't actually lose that much!

tldr; they still lost.

 

[Deleted member 8593]

For a company the size of Nintendo, every generation they survive alongside Sony and MS is a win.

However:

Then finally we have Wii U, a cute prototype that would later evolve to become the huge hit known as Switch. Wii U also produced Splatoon, the biggest new cultural hit in Japan since Yo-kai Watch.

Click to shrink...

I don't even know where to begin with this.

 

[Deleted member 14002]

Wii U was a loss. It had great library, I loved mine, but definitely a huge loss.

To say otherwise is revisionist history.

 

[signal]

Final Fantasy

 

[Hexa]

I mean, if you consider everything that doesn't do well as R&D or a prototype for the next console, as long as they don't drop out of the market, everyone would be considered as never losing.

 

[Liquor]

While Nintendo has turned failure into profitable situations, that doesn't mean Nintendo hasn't taken huge losses as well.

What this really shows you that the whole 90s era Win/Lose Video games crap doesn't do a great job in understanding the market and how it actually works.

 

[Xenosaga]

That's a very interesting way to defend that failure of a product called Wii U.

 

[Deleted member 8112]

To me, as a fan, they've never lost. I can't say any of their products or games ever made me feel like I wasn't getting my money's worth, to say, or that I was ever dissatisfied.

 

[Nugnip]

"Losing" is such a weird concept. It's a business, some products you make are successful, some are less so, and some are outright failures, but "losing"? It's not a game nor a war, unless you're into that fanboy kind of stuff.

 

[mrtl]

They lost me as a customer since the Wii. The Switch however.. must. buy. now.

 

[Fireblend]

I mean, under that definition no big console maker has ever lost. You could argue Sega did, but even they are doing relatively well nowadays. So your argument kind of just erases the word from our vocabulary for measuring console success instead of actually saying anything meaningful about Nintendo specifically. Nintendo has stumbled plenty.

 

[Viale]

Releasing a fully fledged console as a 'practice run' for the next one is an awful strategy. Yes, Nintendo have 'lost' plenty of times, but they used the experience to win on their next go, as you say.

Click to shrink...

Exactly this, just because you learned from a loss doesn't mean it's not a loss anymore, it just means you learned and grew from it.

 

[Robdraggoo]

I wrote wouldn't say the n64 was a flop. It sold pretty close to it's predecessor.

Its just thst the ps1 was such a monster hit ,everything else looked like peanuts in comparison.

 

[JustSomeone]

They lost when they pulled retro out of making another donkey kong game.

 

[Deleted member 9207]

As a company Nintendo has never lost. I don't think I've ever seen them even downsize.

 

[KZXcellent]

Then finally we have Wii U, a cute prototype that would later evolve to become the huge hit known as Switch. Wii U also produced Splatoon, the biggest new cultural hit in Japan since Yo-kai Watch.

Click to shrink...

Passing the Wii U off as a Switch prototype is some impressive spin. The Wii U was a failure, Nintendo lost in that respect. Having a new IP like Splatoon be a hit doesn't negate the trash fire of the previous console.

This just reads like a damage control thread.

 

[mentallyinept]

I mean, if your definition of losing a complete flop with no positive takeaways, then no. I'd say that they don't lose like that.

With regards to losing money... they've lost several times.

 

[logash]

That's some pretty weak spin you did there for the Wii U. The Wii U was a loss, no matter how you word it. Sure, they made some great games for it but Nintendo has always been good at that. Great games can't redeem a console that is about to be surpassed by it successor in about a year on the market.

 

[Hippopuncher12]

They have lost a lot in the console realm.

 

[Carfo]

The Virtua Boy was a huge loss. Sucks for Genpei because he was such a good employee for them too

 

[TylersProphecy]

When Iwata says a console sold so little, if they cant do better, they should stop making consoles (gamecube), then it's a loss. I believe the wii u went on to sell worse.

 

[Deleted member 2809]

Wii U was a disaster. Gamecube wasn't attractive either, it was saved by its games.

 

[Deleted member 4021]

Nintendo followed up their best-selling home console with their biggest flop in history, I'd say that counts as a pretty massive L.

The Gamecube was also a failure, even if no one could realistically beat the PS2 juggernaut.

 

[Geoff]

Nintendo is a combination of great innovation, fantastic game design, arrogance and a frustrating, introverted and ignorant approach to doing business in a rapidly changing market. They succeed, sometimes, in spite of their flaws because the quality is there but they have fucked things up countless times. The biggest fuck up being allowing Sony to eat their lunch. I have (almost) all of their consoles but they annoy me constantly with their choices. Current aggravations being Virtual Console, online chat options and the FUCKING TRAVESTY that is their loyalty reward program.

 

[shanafan]

Releasing a fully fledged console as a 'practice run' for the next one is an awful strategy. Yes, Nintendo have 'lost' plenty of times, but they used the experience to win on their next go, as you say.

Click to shrink...

And to think, this "practice run" turned into one of favorite consoles of all-time.

 

[LetsRock]

Then finally we have Wii U, a cute prototype that would later evolve to become the huge hit known as Switch. Wii U also produced Splatoon, the biggest new cultural hit in Japan since Yo-kai Watch.

Click to shrink...

That's a strange way to say « failure »

 

[Lord Brady]

Sorry, but the Wii U was a huge f***ing fail. And pretty much 100 percent of the things they do that involve anything regarding online is a huge fail.

 

[TheMoon]

Super Mario Bros 2. They lost some levels there.

Wii U was a loss. Had I great library, I loved mine, but definitely a huge loss.

To say otherwise is revisionist history.

Click to shrink...

Perspective.

 

[dubsky]

The Wii U completely bombed, what are you talking about? Yeah it had a good library and it was cool seeing Nintendo games in HD for the first time, but the absolutely abysmal marketing couldn't hold it up. It was a console with a core library trying to be the successor to the Wii.
When the only people who can consider buying your product is limited only to your own fans, that isn't good news. Hell, many people who bought the Wii probably went on to buy a PS4 in the next console gen.

 

[Possumowner]

Have to say as much as I love the Wii U it was clearly a bit of a flop,great console with some amazing games...but they screwed it up.......now Switch is Nintendo back to its best

 

[Occam]

Already forgot about Wii U? That was quick.

 

[logash]

When Iwata says a console sold so little, if they cant do better, they should stop making consoles (gamecube), then it's a loss. I believe the wii u went on to sell worse.

Click to shrink...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the Wii U the worse selling main stream Nintendo console? Like I think it sold worse than the Dreamcast(A console that is widely known as a failure).

 

[Deleted member 4359]

GameCube, despite it being repurposed two times was only done the first time because they didn't have any other ideas of how to work in the AAA space.

 

[SantaC]

3rd party support went downhill after snes era.

 

[Precious Tritium]

I mean if you can't salvage something positive from your failures you're doing something wrong. Nintendo definitely had losses, Wii U was a major failure.

 

[spam musubi]

Virtual Boy was never an important release for Nintendo (just compare its pre-launch to other Nintendo platforms). But even so, it taught them about stereoscopic 3D, which led to 3DS, one of the best selling video game systems, plus the shit ton of software it sold.

Nintendo 64 flopped but it gave birth to Animal Crossing, Smash Bros, and the foundation for Mario and Zelda 3D games. Needless to say, all these series are among the biggest selling at present day, and have been for a while too.

Game Cube was another flop, but its R&D was reused for Wii, which went on to become one of the biggest hits in video game history. Quick and dirty.

Then finally we have Wii U, a cute prototype that would later evolve to become the huge hit known as Switch. Wii U also produced Splatoon, the biggest new cultural hit in Japan since Yo-kai Watch.

Can you remember the last time that Nintendo actually lost?

Click to shrink...

If you frame every time they lost as them actually winning in the long run, then sure, you can say they never lost.

 

[Deleted member 2254]

They certainly lost a lot in regards to third parties after the SNES. Underpowered hardware and some old school design choices (eg. cartridges) scared third parties away who had to make complex ports for smaller install bases and sometimes didn't bother. Switch is looking sexy af and I'm buying one next month, but on the long run the big third parties that are also on X1 and PS4 could have quite a lot of trouble arriving. Already FIFA and Doom are quite heavily downgraded and those are scalable, I don't think it's realistic to expect stuff like RDR2 or Anthem on it. That's where they lose, that makes it that 360 degrees players will have to own at least one other console besides the Switch to play most of the important titles out there. As long as they chum out quality games they'll be fine though, as proven by the stellar reception of Zelda and Mario and the great sales of the console itself.

 

[Invisible Cities]

Did Nintendo ever actually WIN?

Game Boy set them up for the catastrophic Virtual Boy.

The SNES set them up to lose a massive amount of share and relevance with the N64.

Wii was a massive success, but they went on to release the aborted Wii U.

Can you remember the last time that Nintendo actually won?

 

[MetalLord]

Wii U still gave nintendo profits

 

[Dreamboum]

Then finally we have Wii U, a cute prototype that would later evolve to become the huge hit known as Switch.

Click to shrink...

I am cackling.

Wii U was a necessary step to get to Switch, according to Nintendo execs.

Without Wii U, there would be no Switch or Splatoon, two central products for Nintendo.

Click to shrink...

Couldn't the Wii U be a necessary step AND successful at the same time ?

 

[Sammy Samusu]

That's some pretty weak spin you did there for the Wii U. The Wii U was a loss, no matter how you word it. Sure, they made some great games for it but Nintendo has always been good at that. Great games can't redeem a console that is about to be surpassed by it successor in about a year on the market.

Click to shrink...

Wii U was a necessary step to get to Switch, according to Nintendo execs.

Without Wii U, there would be no Switch or Splatoon, two central products for Nintendo.

 

[Deleted member 8196]

Nintendo lost with Wii U.
They really got some good games and i bought the console at day one but in the end it was even worse than GameCube.
Splatoon was boring af.
Bayonetta 2 and The Wonderful101 saved the console a little bit.

 

[HistoricalAnomaly]

Nintendo 64 flopped but it gave birth to Animal Crossing, Smash Bros, and the foundation for Mario and Zelda 3D games. Needless to say, all these series are among the biggest selling at present day, and have been for a while too.

Click to shrink...

The Nintendo 64 only ever flopped in Japan though. It sold just short of the SNES sales in America and Europe.

 

[Dr. Dre's Dr.]

The decision to name a thread "has Nintendo ever lost?" Like it hasn't happened and then list a ton of ways in which Nintendo has in fact lost is laughable to me. Nintendo has lost, Sony has lost and Microsoft has lost. It is just part of business

 

[Deleted member 8196]

The decision to name a thread "has Nintendo ever lost?" Like it hasn't happened and then list a ton of ways in which Nintendo has in fact lost is laughable to me. Nintendo has lost, Sony has lost and Microsoft has lost. It is just part of business

Click to shrink...

Yup exactly.