Sharpen the knives boys, it's GOUGING time! (Nintendo)

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 1:38 am

As Swiss Tony might say, it's a bit like making love to a beautiful woman. First you have to lubricate the emotions with a nice gift, and then you shouldn't be surprised when she gets more and more expensive on return visits. Enjoy the cheap times while they last.

This is just a more obvious example of the exact same strategy that motivated Nintendo's decision a few years back to not send units of a certain game (Donkey Konga on Wii, I think) to the US because margins were better in other countries due to the exchange rate. Nintendo gets a prize (called money) from selling products in a way that makes them money.

I've been wary of Nintendo's competitiveness on performance and price issues for some time now, but until the other manufacturers get smart and put out better devices that capture the imagination, Nintendo is going to win the battle to move towards the mainstream. Nintendo was also not just lucky in that they were positioned with a console that was (at least recently) less expensive and made more money (per unit hardware sales) than the others.

All that said, I'm not going to be buying a Wii anytime soon for the reasons mentioned in the first post. If they released some way of playing DS games on a TV with any controller I wanted, that would interest me, but until then I'm just not that interested in paying big money for House of the Dead Overkill.

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 4:13 am

Nintendo make history again.

Zejiro · Post by **Zejiro** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 8:11 am

BulletMagnet wrote:Sorry, but NO company is ever "all about" anything but turning a profit - once any business stumbles upon a workable way to make more money, they WILL exploit it, no matter who they tick off or rip off. Nintendo's no more of an exception than anyone else, and never has been - I'm not anti-Nintendo, but sorry, that's just reality.

Off course their goal has always been to make money. But back in the days they used to care about what games they released. They spoiled us with awesome kick-ass games that are still top games today. Nowadays they're more like "Instead of coming up with something new, we'll make the same shit over again, and kids will buy it because they're fucking stupid, and we will make a fuckload of money WIIIIII!!!!" Which obviously sucks. There has been a time when Nintendo actually cared about the games (while at the same time trying to make a profit - which no one can blame them for, after all they are a company)

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 2:50 pm

Zejiro wrote:Off course their goal has always been to make money. But back in the days they used to care about what games they released.

If you don't like their recent games as much as their older ones that's your opinion, and I've got no reason to argue with it, but that's not why people are complaining in this topic - the cause for ire is their pricing strategy. And on the front of being willing to do whatever it takes to make an extra buck, completely independent of the quality of the product they put out, Nintendo, as I said, is the same as any other company, and always was. If you don't mind being ripped off as much when they're putting out games you like then that's your prerogative, but either way you're still being ripped off.

jpj · Post by **jpj** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 3:35 pm

not entirely the same but sony did this technique with the slimline ps2 in the UK as well. when it was dropped to £99 the actual rrp was £104.99 but they knew retailers would pretty much be forced to round the price down to an even number. that was annoying. this on the other hand, is fucking ridiculous. basically, you're getting people to stock and sell your hardware for not only zero profit, but actually for a loss

never heard anything like it in da biz

SamIAm · Post by **SamIAm** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 3:50 pm

How much, in Yen, does it cost the big N to manufacture and ship a Wii at this point in time? Anyone have an answer with a good source?

I would agree that the rise in price stinks for consumers. On the other hand, the Wii market is still a seller's market, and in this sense what Nintendo is doing is a no-brainer.

Now, does anybody else agree with me that there is an interestingly high chance of a Wii-market fallout occuring in about a year or so? Think about it - the world is flooded with Wiis, the software library is not so strong, the system cost is still high, and the price of better technology is falling. If people started selling their Wiis en-masse, the price of a new Wii could potentially fall like a rock.

I mean, you have to expect some kind of unusual results from Nintendo's unusual approach to this generation. Unless you think they got it just right, in which case, well, hmm.

jpj · Post by **jpj** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 4:00 pm

there are a lot more non-gamers out there than gamers. i read somewhere their target/aspiration was for every living room in the developed world to have a wii console.

but nintendo could just make a new handheld every five years, and put out a pokemon game once a year, and they'd still be making money

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 7:30 pm

^^^ Uh... isn't it exactly what they have been doing recently?

jpj · Post by **jpj** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 7:38 pm

sorry, i meant if that was their *only* form of revenue

i wonder if they would've gone under during the GC days if it weren't for the gba...?

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 7:41 pm

Agreed. I guess that likewise, Sony is suriving thanks to the PS2 and PSP.

Super Laydock · Post by **Super Laydock** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 10:11 pm

jpj wrote: i wonder if they would've gone under during the GC days if it weren't for the gba...?

With their cash position, I doubt that very much.
And even if they sold less than their competitors with the GC, unlike that competitors they still made money on every console sold.

I don't like the way they're going now either, but business wise they've got it all together.

Zejiro · Post by **Zejiro** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 10:13 pm

BulletMagnet wrote:If you don't like their recent games as much as their older ones that's your opinion, and I've got no reason to argue with it, but that's not why people are complaining in this topic - the cause for ire is their pricing strategy. And on the front of being willing to do whatever it takes to make an extra buck, completely independent of the quality of the product they put out, Nintendo, as I said, is the same as any other company, and always was. If you don't mind being ripped off as much when they're putting out games you like then that's your prerogative, but either way you're still being ripped off.

I know this topic isn't about that. I was just letting my thoughts of Nintendo out, since it was bashing time anyway.

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 12:59 am

Super Laydock wrote:
jpj wrote: i wonder if they would've gone under during the GC days if it weren't for the gba...?
With their cash position, I doubt that very much.
And even if they sold less than their competitors with the GC, unlike that competitors they still made money on every console sold.

I don't like the way they're going now either, but business wise they've got it all together.

And that's why they don't care about making games fun anymore. They're going to make money, so why spend any effort?

nimitz · Post by **nimitz** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 2:30 am

BulletMagnet wrote:
Zejiro wrote:Nintendo used to be all about the joy of gaming.
Sorry, but NO company is ever "all about" anything but turning a profit - once any business stumbles upon a workable way to make more money, they WILL exploit it, no matter who they tick off or rip off. Nintendo's no more of an exception than anyone else, and never has been - I'm not anti-Nintendo, but sorry, that's just reality.

Indeed, a great example is the licensing policies they had back in NES and SNES days. Nintendo has always been thinking about money first and foremost.

UnscathedFlyingObject · Sat Mar 14, 2009 4:20 am

And that's why we as customers should make a ruckus about it and possibly boycott their products. Don't want to encourage any bad practices.

Limbrooke · Post by **Limbrooke** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 4:04 pm

Neon wrote:If you play good games I don't see why this is a big deal. Gamecube had none and neither does the Wii

None could equal some but at the same time doesn't justify purchase, unless it's after the generation and for cheap. Could include N64 with that bunch too.

Ed Oscuro wrote:This is just a more obvious example of the exact same strategy that motivated Nintendo's decision a few years back to not send units of a certain game (Donkey Konga on Wii, I think) to the US because margins were better in other countries due to the exchange rate. Nintendo gets a prize (called money) from selling products in a way that makes them money.

I've been wary of Nintendo's competitiveness on performance and price issues for some time now, but until the other manufacturers get smart and put out better devices that capture the imagination, Nintendo is going to win the battle to move towards the mainstream. Nintendo was also not just lucky in that they were positioned with a console that was (at least recently) less expensive and made more money (per unit hardware sales) than the others.

All that said, I'm not going to be buying a Wii anytime soon for the reasons mentioned in the first post. If they released some way of playing DS games on a TV with any controller I wanted, that would interest me, but until then I'm just not that interested in paying big money for Ghost Squad.

Nintendo has never struck me as a company that cared since, as documented, nothing in their strategy seems to be with the customer in mind other than having the allure of entertainment value. I don't dislike the company but I'm not interested in what they've done since the GBA.
And yes, Ghost Squad is a decent game.

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 4:13 pm

Nintendo just found an easier way to make money, it just so happens it doesn't keep their old fanbase happy. But it keeps the more important people happy, their shareholders.

Well Nintendo have not made any money from me since the GC, so they can put the price of everything up 200% for all I care.

UnscathedFlyingObject · Sat Mar 14, 2009 6:39 pm

Nintendo games are a joke nowadays.