Console Wars: Nintendo’s take on it

Put together on May 2, 2007 5:36 pm by Thomas
What do you think?

Nintendo’s success on the marketplace with the DS handheld and the Wii console should not come as a surprise to anyone. It has achieved third place during major console manufacturers so consistently that some people stopped watching and started paying attention to the race between the first two contenders. However if one paid attention, it would be easy to understand the reason why Nintendo can be placed squarely in the “Winners” column: Nintendo has always been about the games.

Microsoft went the way of the Xbox Live and Sony is having its users discover cures for cancer on their consoles. Nintendo’s toys are just that: toys. They steered clear of anything which was not strictly game oriented. They didn’t see the console as a hybrid between a gaming machine and a multimedia, next-gen entertainment center. And although this may seem like a narrow-minded strategy, it wasn’t. Because they took the next step: They innovated.

They did this without diverting from their gaming ideology. They simply took gaming to the next level, with the addition of Wii’s fascinating control device. It is the sort of thing that makes you say, “Why hasn’t anybody else thought of this before?” Probably because both Microsoft and Sony were too busy stuffing their boxes with non-gaming related features, trying to get their consoles to be something more than just game machines.

The Wii is not only innovative. It works. Games are more fun than they used to be and surprisingly, more healthy. Worried that your child will join the legion of obese teenage gamers? Get a Wii! This is probably the best alternative to any other gaming machine out there. Apart from, ehm, you know. Going out and playing some sports with friends.

Nintendo won this fight because it stuck to its guns, specialized in an area they know very well, and most importantly because they evolved the science of gaming. Interestingly, they are the only ones who actually make money. Sony and Microsoft lost vast amounts during production, which they expect to take back from games sold. Nintendo actually made money, both from selling its console, and from selling the games.

Just to balance my argument, this comparison is a bit unfair to Microsoft and especially to Sony. Their strategies are different and require more time to come to fruition. Nintendo was also slightly lucky, filling a void created by the competition between the two major players. A harder look must be taken when Nintendo’s hardware becomes slightly outdated, and when programmers manage to take full advantage of PS3’s amazing capabilities.

But for the time being, the once-upon-a-time underdog that nobody took seriously has ruled the financial year.

tags: analysis, product

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