Posted in: Games, Movies, Video Games | Tagged: entertainment, games, Michael Pachter, nintendo, video games, wii u

Nintendo 'Need A New Console That's Competitive With Xbox One And PlayStation 4' Says Analyst

If you spend anytime following video game news, you'll no doubt have come to have heard of Michael Pachter. If you haven't, he is basically the most prominent business analyst who talks about video games. He makes some wild claims, some of which pan out wrong, but others that pan out right.

GameInformer sat down with Pachter during D.I.C.E to talk, and he had plenty to say, specifically pertaining to Nintendo. When asked if Nintendo needed a new console to boost profits, Pachter didn't hold back on his misgivings surrounding the company.

I think that they are not a particularly introspective bunch. I think that they are still in denial about the Wii U failure. You keep seeing this stat so we're up 82 percent – yeah, 40,000 units went to 70,000 units. Who cares? You're still trailing the other guys by a mile.

They need a new console that's competitive with Xbox One and PlayStation 4. If Xbox can sell at $349 Nintendo could make it and sell for $249. They won't because they still live in that old console world where they think they need to make a profit on the hardware. That means if they make a competitive console it would be more expensive.

He continued to say that even if Nintendo did release a new console that had comparable hardware to the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, he's not sure third parties would want to work with Nintendo after the failure of titles on the past two consoles.

The problem is I think they did a bad job with third parties with the Wii and they've done an abysmal job with third parties with the Wii U, so I don't think third parties would come back for a new console. If they come out with a new console and it is essentially identical programming language with the Xbox so the cost to port a game is zero, I'm still skeptical that third parties would support it. They possibly would, but only if the cost was so low. And that's the problem. Ubisoft got really burned on the Wii U making dedicated titles like ZombiU. Activision stopped making Call of Duty for the Wii U, and EA hasn't ever made a game for the Wii U. I don't think they come back.

Technically Mass Effect 3 and FIFA 13 came to Wii U, so he is incorrect on that last one.

Regardless, I don't think he is entirely wrong. Nintendo do have a very insular company view, to the point where it probably does hurt them as a business.

At the same time, Pachter has a history of harshly calling out Nintendo. I think there might be a little bit of that in here too. The Wii U just had its best year and I expect 2015 will be bigger yet. There is hope for the console yet

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!