Ian Livingstone suggests Nintendo sell its IP on other platforms; he has a point

Digitally Downloaded writes: "The key is the second half of the quote: "Otherwise a whole generation of young people will miss out on their games." Why is this important? Because when you unbox what keeps Nintendo a viable, thriving business it is the nostalgia factor. Adults continue to buy Nintendo games because they grew up with Nintendo games. Ignoring for a moment the new, casual play customers that the Wii picked up with Wii Sports and Wii Fit, the other half of the Wii audience - the Nintendo faithful - were actively marketed towards through the nostalgia factor with that console. There were those ads with Robin Williams reminiscing on being a Zelda fan for so very long. There was the 25 Years of Mario anniversary and associated game releases and promotions. Who were these targeted at? The people who have been playing Mario for 25 years. Even the naming of some games - The New Super Mario Bros - is a direct play on people's history with Nintendo."

[DarkBlood]

while its a good point to a certain degree, certain companies would "butcher it" for the lack of a better term so i wouldnt like this "what if" idea at all.

[Donnieboi]

I think Nintendo does their own franchises the best. Outsourcing it is only cool if Nintendo keeps a very keen eye on it. However, I wouldn't be opposed to it being on other consoles. But I know some Nintendo fans would prefer it to stay exclusively on Nintendo platforms.

[dedicatedtogamers]

One word: SEGA.

Can anyone say with a straight face that SEGA's quality has increased since they went multiplat after the Dreamcast? Anyone?

[manaxknight1]

u hit the nail on the head SEGA

[DivineAssault]

agreed

[LOL_WUT]

Same here ;)

[yugovega]

a whole geeration will miss out? how is that when most of the young people this guy is talking about are the ones carrying around ds and 3ds systems and playing new super mario bros? this guy can't be serious. most parents buy their kids nintendo because they feel it's safe for them then say xb or ps. that's how most gamers now got their start. until i stop seeing kids beg for a mario game this guys point is moot.

[Shad0wRunner]

I think its a genius idea.

Sell their Zelda franchise to Sony Santa Monica. Have them reboot it from the ground up. I'll bet Sony can do Nintendo BETTER than Nintendo can do Nintendo. LOL

[SexyGamerDude]

That's a horrible idea. If you ask me, Nintendo should drop out of the console race and put their attention where they shine the most, handhelds. The 3DS has been doing pretty good. Especially when handhelds are really popular in their homeland.

[adorie]

What a horrible night to have a Curse.

[Shad0wRunner]

What? Take the fanboy shades off, folks. It's time to realise that there ARE other companies out there who can take some of Nintendo's IP's to higher levels. I was just using Sony Santa Monica Studios as an example for Zelda, but hell...even Square-Eniz can do Zelda better than Nintendo.

If Nintendo wants to keep holding onto their flagship titles with a death grip, go ahead...but youre just gonna see the same redundant repeat of casual games over and over. Nintendo hasnt GROWN UP yet. I doubt they ever will.

[DarkBlood]

so you want to slap the M rating on nintendo franchises? hell to the no lol

[noxeven]

Nintendo should just do handheld then make there first party titles on other systems themselves

[GreenRanger]

They should be buying IPs, not selling them.

[mydyingparadiselost]

Considering the N has the only console with no DRM and BC, not to mention one of the few with a more customer friendly approach, I say no not only would they not be better off but gamers wouldnt be better off.

[STK026]

Seeing how the 3DS is selling quite well, and is still early in its lifecycle, my guess is that if Nintendo were to kill the Wii-U, they would simply put all their developers on 3DS projects. Nintendo has 3 sources of income, hardware, software and royalties. Putting their IPs on the Xbox One or the PS4 would likely increase their software revenues, but also decrease their hardware sales, both for the 3DS and the Wii-U, as first party games are the main reason people still buy Nintendo's consoles (home consoles and handhelds). Lower hardware sales also mean lower third party software sales, thus decreasing the royalties they get.

For as long as Nintendo can keep one platform alive and well (like the 3DS at the moment), they have no reason to develop games for other platforms. And even then, it would likely be more profitable for them to actually develop mobile games, due to their low development costs.

[mochachino]

I would by a true next-gen version of metroid day 1 for PS4/PC..

I'd just love to see a graphically next gen Nintendo game. It's been years since Nintendo wowed. Most of the time it's like "for last-gen hardware, it doesn't look so bad".

[Shad0wRunner]

If Nintendo cant keep up, in terms of hardware with their competitors...then yeah, they really SHOULD go the way of SEGA and discontinue their consoles.

Seems like the last few gens, Sony has upped the bar, Microsoft has upped the bar...but Nintendo always seems to be a gen behind. They dont see a need to add extra RAM, Blu Ray, bigger HDD, faster GPU/CPU, multiple cores, etc..they dont see a need to throw a HEMI under the hood. It's like theyre trying to race a Dodge Viper with a Honda Civic. LOL.

Stop it Nintendo...just...STOP. They're a billion dollar corporation, either take some of that cash and make a cutting edge console so that you can at LEAST keep up with the bar...or gtfo the industry.

WII U: Hey guys, we can finally do HD graphics now! SWOOT!

Sony & Micro: Uhh...we've been doing that for nearly 7 years now. Glad to see youre slowly crawling out of the stone age tho. LOL

[American_Gamer]

I don't like that idea at all, Nintendo might not always be everyone's cup of tea, but they have brought a lot of good things to the industry. We need three consoles to compete against each other, it promotes better games and better deals.

Hopefully after E3 and all the games they have to show off, the WiiU will get a kick in the pants.

[Kos-Mos]

A lot of good things? They CREATED the industry!

[Sgt_Slaughter]

Nintendo is going to be making games for their own consoles for 10-20 years down the road.

Get the idea of them selling their own IPs out of your head... it's not gonna happen while Nintendo has boatloads of cash in the bank.

[MattS]

You do know that cash in the bank isn't an accurate representation of a company's financial health, right?

In fact, if a company maintains a lot of cash in the bank and doesn't do anything with it, it's usually a sign of very poor management.