How is Nintendo different in manufacturing consoles?
Nintendo one of the best video game production company. It is the company which as developed the infamous Mario, Pokémon Go, Legend of Zelda, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Mario Odyssey, Octopath Traveler, Kirby: Star Allies, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and many more games.
Nintendo’s mission is to put smiles on the faces of everyone by connecting them through video games. “We do so by creating new surprises for people across the world to enjoy together”, Nintendo team. It all started in 1889, when they began to make hanafuda playing cards in Kyoto, Japan. Today, Nintendo as come a ling way making many advanced video games and entertainment industry. The special mention for some of the best hits of Nintendo are Switch, Wii, DS.
We were hooked on every Nintendo Entertainment System consoles, that never made it to India. Nintendo lacked in high graphics compared to Xbox or PlayStation. Nintendo always focused on hardware requirements that makes their console stand out, they build hardware together with the software- the Wii U had 32 MB of EDRAM that could be shifted to work as L3 cache. They had powerful performance and good portability compared to Xbox and PlayStation. Nintendo is known for its best first party games, as they build their own game engines instead of using existing ones. The developers add Realism in graphics which makes it look better than high graphics game.
Nintendo didn’t focused on high graphics as it seemed pointless to them, instead it uses strong art-style which is strong speciality of Japanese creators.
Success and Failure of Nintendo
There is no denying fact that Nintendo always came up with unique and creative consoles, which makes them one of the top 3 best consoles making Company. For the past four generations of home consoles, Nintendo has been alternating between huge success and failure.
Nintendo recent release was Switch, according to Nintendo, the Switch’s portable battery life will range from 2.5hrs to 6hrs, depending on the graphics requirements of the video game. Despite charging via USB-C, the console won’t support quick charging per se, but instead utilise the new-gen USB Power Delivery 2.0 standard, which should help speed things along in certain situations. Hardware-wise, the Switch is just an underclocked Shield TV with 32GB of storage instead of 16GB. The company is clearly focused on one platform, although with the Switch and Switch Lite already available and a Switch Pro expected soon, there’s still going to be plenty of choice for gamers.
According to SafeBettingSites, Nintendo Switch is the top-selling gaming console of 2020, 21.1 million Switch consoles since the beginning of 2020, double than PlayStation 4 and Xbox One combined. Nintendo always came up with innovative games Switch, Wii and DS series were the top hits among that, whereas Wii U and The Virtual Boy didn’t go that well in the Gaming market. Though Nintendo always come with something innovative but it always lacked to attract adult/teenage gamers.
Inspite Wii being successful, Wii U was a failure in console sells. A problem the Wii U had was that in addition to a low install base, it had a CPU that was last-gen that held it back from getting a lot the same AAA titles the PS4, Xbox one and PC did. Nintendo failed to explain the configuration and controls of Wii U as it was complex. Thus it was not able to get audience attraction, due to poor marketing and no third party support and upon that launch of Switch outsold Wii U.
Why hasn’t Nintendo shown interest towards India for last three decades?
Nintendo’s central focus is the research, development, production, and distribution of entertainment product, primarily video game software and hardware and card games. Its main markets are Japan, America, and Europe. Nintendo has shown least interest in Indian gaming market for past three decades. Nintendo console haven’t made a official release in India for quite a long period. It should have as taken a great leap. Nintendo failed to recognize India as big market. The Indian gamers are more attracted to PC, XBOX and Playstations, because they grew up on these.
Yet there are many Indian gamers to have hands on experience with Nintendo switch which they had to buy unofficially with help of third party or gray market. If you get to buy one, it shall likely be without warranty, and the price of game is very high than the original price. While it would be great if Nintendo, launching its consoles through official source. The gray market has been efficient as main source for Switch, and newly launched titles for the system. Nintendo Wii was a huge success and they didn’t even bothered to release it in India. Nintendo Switch launched almost three years ago and the console has already become one of the most successful products by Nintendo.
The most famous console of Nintendo in India was 8-bit games- NES(known as Famicom in Japan) which also never got official release in India. We did get the Chinese clones of the NES. These clones were sold under the brands like, Samurai systems, Super design Terminator and super Gameboy. Nintendo also came up with moblie games, the most popular among that was POKÉMON Go. Pokémon Go initially didn’t release in India but We should be thankful to Reliance Jio, that partnered with Nintendo for official release of Pokémon Go in India.
Conclusion
One thing is pretty clear, if by any chance Nintendo Switch makes an official release in India, it will gain an upper hand in Gaming market easily. Considering console games, Microsoft and Sony have had huge success in India with the Xbox series X, series S and the PS5 because they officially sell the consoles and games throughout the country. There are very less chances of Nintendo making its official appearance in India.
