PlayStation and Xbox 1-up Nintendo

PS4 controller

Sony has already announced its new console called PlayStation 4, and Microsoft has also confirmed to announce its next generation Xbox, for which the name has not been revealed yet but publications are referring to it as either Xbox 720 or Xbox Durango. Sony’s strategy for PlayStation 4 is to introduce a more game-centric model rather than focusing on applications, while Microsoft wants to dominate the living room by establishing  “a must-have living room…object, that everyone, gamer or not, will want.” However, this does not mean that Sony will not work on its applications or Microsoft will lack focus in their games. Both consoles seem to be different than each other, and each want to portray concepts and strategies that will give them a unique and a distinct recognition.

Despite these two leading labels, we cannot forget about another contender in the race, which we have been aware of from a really long time, Nintendo. Nintendo launched Wii and flourished considerably, heavily disrupting the stability of its competition at the time. Nintendo’s strategy with introducing creative motion controls in Wii helped them attain great popularity and profit.

After Wii’s success, Nintendo took a step and later presented another console, which was the Wii U, but it turned out to be a step backwards for Nintendo as Wii U struggled terribly in the market. People thought Wii U was just an add-on to the Wii instead of being a totally different console.

Additionally, there were more mistakes that led to this lack of success such as when the system came out, all the attention was given to the gamepad, or the tablet controller, of Wii U without showing off the box of the system at all, and when the box was shown, it probably was just confused with the one previously used for the original Wii as people thought they looked similar. Several games were created by 3rd party developers, and those games had already been released for other gaming systems before. During the launch, players were also shown using old Wii controllers as Wii U only comes with one gamepad. The graphics of Wii U had improved noticeably compared to the Wii, but did not meet the standards of the next generation systems.

Pursuing this further, Nintendo prospered with portable, handheld game consoles like DS and 3DS even when people were utilizing their smart phones and tablets. Nintendo also came up with entertaining games and innovative motion controllers for the Wii that attracted masses but unfortunately, failed to do the same with the Wii U. Overall, Nintendo has lagged behind with the development of its unsatisfactory product and strategy.

It seems as if Wii U may soon be out of the picture after PlayStation 4 and Xbox Durango hit the market. How do you feel about Nintendo’s future? What changes can Nintendo make now in order for the Wii U to still be able to compete well in the market when the next generation PlayStation and Xbox are released?

 

Source:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2013/05/06/if-sony-and-microsoft-find-their-next-gen-roles-where-does-that-leave-nintendo/