Server Downtime further exposes Nintendo’s Poor Planning

The recent server downtime of Nintendo’s eShop and internet services on the Wii U and the 3DS is the latest of a long line of Nintendo’s poor planning issues that has been plaguing them for a while. The debut of Miiverse on the 3DS would have put a large load on their servers and the Poke Bank was the breaking point when it was released in Japan which officially melted down their servers. From consoles launches to game software release dates – these has been pattern of poor planning and predictions of common sense in the future by CEO Satora Iwata.

[Malice-Flare]

Nintendo is still a long way from overcoming their corporate culture that keeps them from adapting to the new market...

[christicehurst]

That is true, their culture is also holding them back in certain areas. Unlikely to change under Iwata unless something big happens.

[-Foxtrot]

Sometimes you can't always stick to tradition. In an ever changing market you've got to adapt. I mean they're online is terrible and should of least been revamped so it could match up to XBL or the PSN. Maybe some Gamecube classics on there and other stuff.

As you said this won't change under Iwata....he needs to go, he's holding the company back.

[Theyellowflash30]

So did all of Rockstar's issues with GTA 5 result in poor planning?

How about PSN being hacked, Sony didn't plan right?

The PS4's online network was having issues as well. Was their poor planning.

Exactly why are you singling out Nintendo when all companies have had downtime for their servers?

[DomceM]

Spot on YellowFlash

Sonyfangirls bash nintendo and ignore that their CC info was stolen.

Go ask Sony to plan better will ya? Thanks.

[L0L_WUT]

Even I don't think it's poor planning. ;)

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

If the new market would require them to drop the pad, go third party, ditch the 3ds for making mobile games, and ditch the wii u entirely in favor of a new console before the current one has even picked up its best games, i would rather they stay stuck in the past.
A lot of people have been making a lot of very stupid suggestions regarding nintendo lately.

[worldwidegaming]

Doubt they will ever change. Its the Japanese way.

[WiiUsauce]

Lol funny how NOBODY remembers the THREE MONTH LONG PSN outage lolol

[jaymart2k]

And Microsoft's x-mas outage, at least Wii U doesn't cost anything for online.

[ifistbrowni]

or the christmas outage of 2013... 2 days ago.

My buddies and i were unable to sign onto ps4 Christmas day and yesterday.

[deafdani]

Three months? If I remember correctly, it was around four or five weeks.

Your point still stands, though.

[Shnazzyone]

I'm a Nintendo Fanboy and even I admit. They fucked up. How the hell were they that unprepared? Nothing like failing your customers on christmas day. I brought my Wii U to my dad's for netflix. I actually had to go to the wii side to even do it. Embarassing.

I hope this gets nintendo to finally adopt an subscriptions based service. Why can't nintendo just make me pay 50 bucks a year and just say, "you know all our nes and SNES catalog? Unlimited access to that with the subscription." Hell I'd pay 70 if they just offered all Nintendo NES and SNES titles to play openly.

Then they can afford servers needed to be a popular online game system.

[wolfsaviorzx]

If your brought a Wii U for netflix, epic fail. Seriously get a game console for playing games. Online isn't necessary for Wii U to enjoy any retail games (Update is included with disk).

[ifistbrowni]

@wolf, he obviously said he took his wii U to his dads for christmas to watch netflix.

Not, "i bought my wii u for netflix."

EpiK FaiLz on dEm ReADiNg skillZzZ!

[Shnazzyone]

@wolf, Of course I also had wonderful 101 for christmas eve. Also had the joy of an nintendo eshop card in my stocking. That was fun.

[Chrono]

Poor planning leads to incompetency.

[The_Villager]

Somebody is obsessed with Nintendo Lol

[sarcastoid]

isn't your avatar from Animal Crossing?

[weekev15]

Surely incompetency leads to poor planning?

[Heisenburger]

Lol he didn't plan that out very well! XD

[jcnba28]

I think his plan with that comment was to "look smart" but failed miserably. He is a common troll in Nintendo articles.

[Shnazzyone]

Poor planning can sometimes result in perceived incompetence. However anyone in this thread obviously thinks they are smarter than they are.

[WiiUsauce]

Yup just how Sony poorly planned their psn network when all you Sony drones' credit card information was stolen and their servers went down for months. Yeah, I guess Sony is incompetent, huh? And guess what? Nintendo's network is back up lol.

[TheEvilWithin]

I had issues for a day or two but everything is working fine now. I don't see how this came up as poor planning? Didn't GTA5 get plagued with these same issues? Large amounts of people trying to sign in at once? Would it seem like poor planning for Sony to always get hacked? S*** happens guys. If its down for a few days it just means we need patience for Nintendo to sort this out. NOT the end of the world. I do feel bad for the people picking up there consoles and having sign issues. You can still play single player games till it's back up.

[Reeze]

Are we all forgetting everyone else's Christmas downtime?

Anyway, I somewhat agree with the article. I mean, as well as this, Flipnote Studio 3D has been delayed for MONTHS and MONTHS just because the servers aren't ready to support everyone...

I'm no tech genius, but I think that a company as big as Nintendo can work this out...

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

All off the big 3 have been having server issues, and yet somehow this is being spun into yet another doom and gloom article on nintendo?
Wow,i guess that one article was telling the truth; nintendo bashing has become some sort of sick fad.-_-;;

[christicehurst]

This article was about their decision making - mostly on their internet front and the Wii U. The 3DS has had a perfect year in terms of what they have done to it.

The Wii U in 2014 needs something like what the 3DS was treated to this year. Nintendo is never doomed - it just has a few areas where people would like them to apply some common sense and hopefully steer the ship right with the Wii U.

[Theyellowflash30]

Its a stupid article that's a bit sensational to get hits

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

Yeah well, don't games like X, Bayonetta 2, and Hyrule Warriors count as steps in that direction, as far as their 2014 lineup goes? And s far as their internet stuff goes they've been getting games and discounts on them for a while now, as well as offering games from several generations of their back catalog and sega's machines.
Yeah, they haven't offered up a ton of n64 and gc games yet, but still, aside from recent server troubles how have they exactly been doing the internet thing wrong? By not making online multi for every dongle game in their catalog?

[KratosSaveUs]

And I think the Wii U is gonna have that "3DS like turnaround" next year. With Mario Kart 8,Smash Bros,Bayonetta 2,Hyrule Warriors,Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze,and X. We've seen it slowly happening with Super Mario 3D World and Wind Waker HD and sells picking up.

[Kos-Mos]

On this mindless site that is.

[_QQ_]

good luck logging on to PSN on Ps4 as well, poor planning.

[Studio-YaMi]

Logged in with no issues at all,had a problem 2 days ago when they were maintaining the network and updating the store,didn't take long either(about 3-4 hours).

But I guess a Nintendo troll as yourself that likes to jump on the PC band wagon to dis next gen consoles is expected to troll.

By the way,I have no problem with Nintendo network outage,not like it would take forever or is a breach like the time that PSN was down for a whole month so it's not really a big deal.

But you're a troll,just thought of reminding you.

[_QQ_]

nope, maybe you are lucky because PSN has been buggy for at least 2 days now, i don't have a PS4 but i'm with a fiend who has one and we tried several times to access PSN. Don't take my word for it there are plenty of people saying the same.

Personally i don't care,2 days no online is no big deal for me, but its people choosing to focus on Nintendo while the same is happening to Sony/MS even steam was down for bit on xmas.

[Studio-YaMi]

That's why I hate the hypocrisy of people that are on Nintendo's case for the last 6 months or so.

I love Nintendo,I bought every single system they sold(maybe not all since I didn't buy the virtual boy LOL dodged a bullet there) and I hate how everyone is dissing on them lately for something as simple as lack of software and a simple holidays crash in the network.

I will see these same people biting their hands after the Wii U sales are up the roof when games like Mario Kart is released,it's already picking up with Super Mario 3D World.

Still,that doesn't justify your trolling on the Playstation.

Happy holidays~

[DCfan]

Oh well, i don't have a ps4 but my friend's friend, who knows a guy, yold me he could access it fine.

[_QQ_]

Plenty of Reports for all the networks being down,you don't need my word on it. you think if i was lying i wouldn't just say my PS4?

[TheGamingArt]

I've been logged in to PSN without any issues what-so-ever.....
Even so, comparing PSN to Nintendo's network is comparing apple's to oranges. Nintendo's network does NOT get flooded with heavy traffic what so ever considering hardly anything really relies or is build around the network. PSN and Xbox Live are built for their respective consoles as in, without one, you don't get the full experience. I laugh at the people who are comparing Nintendo's network going down and saying... what about the other guys. Tell me when Nintendo has EVER had a flood of heavy online users (like that from Halo or COD) stress test their network. They are no where near prepared to handle even an ounce of that traffic.

[jaymart2k]

My issues with PSN these last 2 days. Match making error in Killzone, What's New not working. Shop kicks me out with error.

[TheGamingArt]

I've specifically been playing multiplayer in Shadow fall, so I'm still unsure of the issues you're talking about. I have noticed that I get a message every once in a while notifying me that PSN is busy... but nothing else. No errors, no delays, nothing.

[pootymcpoockle]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't all 3 consoles have the same issue these past few days?
It's called Christmas guys. Tons of people have been hooking up their new consoles and none of the big 3 were completely ready.

[DarkKaine]

PSN/XBL have a rough time due to everyone hammering their services and nobody bats an eye.
Nintendo has a great holiday season causing an outage and everyone loses their fucking minds.

On top of that, you don't have to spend a dime to enjoy their online services.

Oh well, can't say I didn't see this coming..

[ZainreFang]

The Nintendo double standards are real, with supporting evidence arising every day.

[NYC_Gamer]

I believe all 3 brands have had their fair share of server related issues over the years not just Nintendo

[mydyingparadiselost]

There are alot of good points here that shouldn't be ignored, especially with regard to development time, Nintendo should have had more coming at a steadier place this year when convincing new adopters would be easiest. How the lull in Wii titles towards the end of its life didn't translate into more games during the Wii u launch window astounds me. The third party problems are a different beast altogether but at least the Indies are there, that's something Nintendo has really been able to embrace.
Something has been done since the launch to decrease Dev time though and that was the unifying of the 3ds and Wii u teams. I really think Nintendo expected more 3rd party titles to fill the gap between games but old ports at full price don't sell well.I still blame the lack of 3rd party success on the AAA companies though since that was their decision to make.
I think the most damning thing of all is the lack of a unified account system. That should have been up on day one and a major selling point for them. Bringing the Wii virtual console over with an account system tied to Club Nintendo would have given them a huge wealth of games available at launch and cementing their dedication to digital purchases.
I think the Wii u is great but there are definitely some things that haven't been done well and this article does an OK job of pointing some of them out.

[stragomccloud]

Well, Nintendo doesn't want to release buggy games.

[christicehurst]

Thank you for reading the article and highlighting the key points that I have been trying to address. N4G has a habit of reading the title and the first few words of a article and than give a opinion.

Th Indies have been a strong point for Nintendo's eShop and have enjoyed many games there. Unified accounts has to be something coming soon. They have known this for a while now and I really hope this happens.

[Kos-Mos]

Poor article. Voted down for fanboyism.

[JuleyJules]

How quickly everyone forgets that PSN was down for quite awhile in 2013 with a breach. I guess that's okay and smart planning for Sony but when Nintendo is down a few days it's poor planning on their part. It's not the end of the world and it'll be back up as soon as they can make it stable. I got on last night after being unable to for a few hours.

[SpiralTear]

I don't think the server problems are directly correlated to Iwata like the article implied. Just because you manage the entire company doesn't mean that every single issue can be traced back to you and only you.

[CouldHaveYelledUiiW]

I get it some don't like Iwata, it seems it mostly comes down to the Lack of PS4-XB1-Trumping-power in the WiiU.

But History (NES till WiiU) has taught me that even if the WiiU was more powerful, there would still be 3rd Parties who would not develop for a Nintendo console.

Sever downtime happens to every online related company sometime or another... how much... how often is the real TELL.
-So, put away the Pitch-Forks...

[SLUG]

just watch and see super smash and mario kart 8 will not have a online in the game the end is coming soon

[Reeze]

Really? Brawl and Mario Kart Wii even had online multiplayer. Why is there any reason for the next installments not to have it, when this console is much more advanced than the last?

[RPG_Lover]

Steam and PSN were both down. Article is bias, lying dribble. ignore.

[desertpunk86]

i got my first handheld this Christmas in years and while at first i wasn't happy i couldn't access the eshop now that i can i forgive nintendo,after games like gunman clive,steamworld dig,mutant mudds and liberation maiden i got nothing but a big as hell smile on my face.

[RobbyGrob]

Stop defending Nintendo. This is way worse than just poor planning. It's plain idiotic reluctancy to succeed in any other way than old ways you're used to succeed in.

I hate to be the one but someone needs to say what we're all thinking: classic Japanese pride. We're talking about corporate leaders born and raised in the most prideful nation on Earth here. Most people seem to have forgotten that and/or don't know the Japanese culture very well. Stop putting our western world stamps on this issue. Nintendo knows exactly what they're doing and how much their stubborness is harming their business.

They're not poor planners. They're obsessed traditionalists.

[AKR]

Yeah, yeah ~ It's always a major issue when Nintendo has a problem. We've seen this before; do you really have to stoop to that asinine level as well just or the sake of getting clicks?

Royally pathetic.

Is it a "lack of poor planning" when XBOX Live goes out? What about PSN? Steam? What about GTA Online's debut?

Servers can only handle so much information at once. With so many people trying to connect at the same time, it becomes overloaded and crashes. This happens frequently to many online systems (how many times does N4G go blank?). So it's not like this is some new occurrence that N-Network is experiencing difficulties. Acting like this happens frequently.

Tsh, pathetic article.

[christicehurst]

Yes servers on other consoles have broken down but is it wise to release Miiverse for the 3DS just before the Christmas period which is a pretty big step up in terms of users on their servers.

Nintendo had a year to know what that would have done to their servers and could have done this earlier in the year or in Jan/Feb next

[AKR]

Continue to prove my point, with the double-edged sword bias.

Before Miiverse 3DS released, they had extended server maintenance, meaning that they already prepped their servers for the influx of traffic. But as I said, server overloads can still happen.

Why should they have delayed a finished app, and kept people waiting longer? Ubisoft tried that and got some serious backlash. It's not exactly the same scenario this time - but the principles of the matter are the same. Nintendo had already announced that it would be coming soon. When is 2 months ever considered soon?

[RockmanII7]

better to have too many people on the servers than not enough.