It seems that Nintendo is in financial trouble. After recently posting a financial loss of what some are reporting as up to 457 million USD, it would behoove Nintendo to take some drastic action. Many writers are calling for the resignation of Satoru Iwata, president and CEO of the Nintendo Corporation, while others are calling for the inane idea that Nintendo should only publish software. Both of these solutions seem to me ridiculous. Changing the head of a company for a new one may certainly take the company in a new direction, it is the actions of the new CEO, not the change of the CEO itself, that might give the company new revenue. Still, this might be a better solution than the other one being proposed.
People are constantly suggesting that Nintendo stop making hardware and make only software. They say that if they could play Zelda and Mario on their Sony or Microsoft console, they would actually get behind Nintendo. This, it seems to me, is insincere. If these players truly wanted to play Mario and Zelda games, they would support Nintendo rather than want to take it out of the race.
So, what should Nintendo do?
Whether Nintendo replaces Itawa or not, the company should do something. Allow me then to make some suggestions as to what could be done by the company, but not before stating something that they should have done.
Social Media:
Twitch Plays Pokemon was a viral phenomenon a few months ago. At any given time, there were over 80,000 people watching. Pokemon is an IP of Nintendo. They should have come to some sort of arrangement with the streamer to show Nintendo ads every few hours.
Now for what they can do now. Currently, Nintendo's policy regarding Youtube videos is different to most other gaming companies. Other companies will allow streamers like PewdiePie and SmoshGames to make videos about their games. Nintendo, however, will often file a claim against these streamers. This makes streamers shy away from reviewing Nintendo games, which leads to less exposure, as they have audiences in the millions.
Nintendo should also hype up their products more. When Assassin's Creed: Pirates of the Caribbean was to be released, there were a lot of promotional programs all over. Gamestop had enormous posters, ads in gaming sites featured the game heavily, and reviewers expressed their eagerness to play the game in nearly every other piece. With the upcoming release of Mario Kart 8 there is no such thing. I haven't seen many ads about the game, the only Gamestop announcements of the game are for the WiiU bundle (and even then they're diminutive when compared to other promos the store has had, such as the recent one for One Piece: Romance of Dawn), and I have read a total of 5 articles about Mario Kart 8 (this is across several publications).
About their Games:
Nintendo should step up their in house game development and localization efforts. Their current list of Wii U games include Donkey Kog Country: Tropical Freeze, New Super Mario / Luigi U, Nintendoland, Pikmin 3, Super Mario 3D World, a 10 year old Zelda HD remake, Wonderful 101, and a few party games. Yet Nintendo has the second most diverse and interesting list of IPs of any videogame company (Sega's recent acquisition of Atlus places them at #1). Where is the Wii U Super Smash Bros that, really, should have existed at launch? Where is the Wii U Fire Emblem? Maybe it's time to consider a console version of a real Pokemon game.What about a Wii U F-Zero or Metroid? What about a Punch Out or Pilotwings or Star Fox game? Combine an upped development schedule with more and better promo, and they will be on their way to more sales.
Another thing that Nintendo could do is consider something that Sony said in their PS 4 reveal: indie games. Nintendo should go out there and look for talented indie studios, both in Japan and in the west, and sign them. Indie games have followings, and if Nintendo were to acquire, say, Freebird Games (To The Moon), Klei Entertainment (Don't Starve), Alexander Bruce (Antichamber), The Fullbright Company (Gone Home), Humble Hearts (Dust: An Elysian Tail), and other great indie studios with good characters and clever game, Nintendo would have a wider base.
The final thing Nintendo should do is acquire exclusive deals. Part of what made the SNES (and the Genesis, honestly) great were the many third party exclusives - Final Fantasy 6, Chrono Trigger, Sky Blazer, and Super Castlevania IV (to mention a few off the top of my head) were all third party system sellers. Since the days of the N64, Nintendo has had very few of these. Now, I very much doubt that Nintendo will get exclusives on a Call of Duty, Battlefield, or Madden game. However, they do seem to have a cozy relationship with Sega. If they can get Sega to sign off as exclusive publisher (or maybe even buy Sega?), the Wii U library will increase exponentially, not just with Sega games, but also with Atlus titles. Want to play Persona 5 (one of the series with the most dedicated following)? Wii U exclusive. Furthermore, if they go the Nintendo-Sega Merger route, they would be able to capitalize on Sega's massive mobile market, use their expertise to create compelling mobile games that compliment their console and portable games, and (wishful thinking) force Sega to address all the wrongdoings it perpetuated on the gaming community. Imagine, my dear readers, if Nintendo suddenly announced the US release of PSO 2 (also on the Wii U) or an English remake (updated visuals and audio, new gameplay elements) of Shining Force 3 including all scenarios. Exclusive on the Wii U.
Doing this will put Nintendo on the black quickly.
Of course, all this seems unlikely. Nintendo has traditionally been a conservative company that takes few risks, and much of what I suggest involve risk. However, when your company is losing almost half a billion USD a year, is it really much of a risk?
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