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With Sony building a PC presence do you think it's a matter of time until Nintendo switches?

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Until Nintendo hardware sales drops like a rock, they'll stay put. Unlike Sony and MS, Nintendo makes a killing on hardware profits (console and handhelds) so they dont have to worry about balancing hardware losses with software/digital cut sales.

However, they are down to one piece of hardware now and they always have some kind of gameplay hook unlike Sony and MS being traditional consoles with a gamepad. Switch has the portability factor.

So even if Nintendo made ports to other consoles, I'm not sure it would even make a dent much into Switch hardware sales as the gamers seem to love the portability function.

Someone at Nintendo must be doing the math on PC/PS/MS software sales. If a Mario Kart game can sell 20 million copies on a Nintendo platform alone, it can probably sell at least 50M combined if across all platforms. Add in a mobile version and all these key Nintendo games might even sell 100M. PC/mobile would probably at least double sales alone.
 
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SNG32

Member
Nintendo should consider it. You have emulators playing releases day and date and at better resolutions on PC. Nintendo is still prehistoric when it comes to changes I mean look at there online it's still not up to par with the PS3's online capabilities.
 

yurinka

Member
Nintendo not only makes money with the hardware but also the softwere, and compared to the other 2, it's a company that is focused 99% in games. they dont have other areas to focus on, so it makes no sense for them to create competition for their own hardware.
Besides, they already have another tactic to get people to play their games, the mobile games, also called the Lite version of their Ip's
Out of the 3 console manufacturers Nintendo is the one whose revenue from hardware represents a bigger % of their total revenue. And they sell it at a profit.

Maybe don't have other non-gaming giant divisions as MS or Sony, but they also have other areas of revenue: they sell toys, cards, mobile games, recently opened a theme park, are working on movies based on their IPs, etc.

Nintendo have a handful of games in the 30m club, and bunch of in the 20m club. They have no incentive to release on pc when both sony and microsoft despite multiplatform release can’t sell that many games as consistently and especially not at full price for years.
The incentive would be to sell even way more copies, so to generate way more revenue and profit.

1st part games that sell ~20-30+ million units are only a small part of their entire business. As an example, Sony makes way more revenue than Nintendo from gaming having way less of these games.

To ask someone to port some of their several years old games to PC as Sony does would give them way more revenue and profit, increasing the units sold of their games without negatively affecting hardware sales.
 
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Fbh

Member
The company that won't even let you buy NES/SNES/N64 games on their actual console despite having them available on it? No, I don't think it will happen any time soon
 
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Deerock71

Member
They've Switched already.
Video Games Nintendo GIF by nomalles
 

Kataploom

Gold Member
Nah, a big chunk of Nintendo revenues come from hardware, they won't give that up, also they want control over software which they won't have if they go PC
 

Dream-Knife

Banned
I really want to never buy Nintendo hardware again, so I hope.

Or at least just bring Xenoblade to PC. That's really the only first party series I care about anymore.
 

Aldric

Member
I could only see them port their games on PC if their hardware business collapsed but I don't think it's likely, they seem to have found a winning formula with the Switch. Beside their strategy seems to be to leverage their IPs with stuff like movies, theme parks and more merchandising to make sure they have alternative revenue streams in case their hardware and software business struggles.
 
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dcx4610

Member
No. A big chunk of Nintendo's revenue comes from hardware. They make relativiely low-cost/high profit hardware. Meanwhile, Sony and Microsoft make hardly no money off their hardware and bring in their money with software.

It's just a different philosophy. As a PC gamer, I'm perfectly fine with Sony and Microsoft putting their software on PC since their systems are basically just computers now anyway. I actually like keeping Nintendo separate and unique and hope they just continue the Switch model going forward.
 

Banjo64

cumsessed
Sony and Microsoft typically make losses on Hardware but profit on software and MTX. Nintendo makes profit on hardware and software and MTX. No need for them to make PC ports when their first party games all sell like crazy.
 
PC sales would probably be a net win for them despite provoking some cannibalization effects from all the GAFers who are "PC/Nintendo". However, the old men at Nintendo are too afraid to let go of even a little bit of control by opening up to foreign platforms.
 
Until Nintendo hardware sales drops like a rock, they'll stay put. Unlike Sony and MS, Nintendo makes a killing on hardware profits (console and handhelds) so they dont have to worry about balancing hardware losses with software/digital cut sales.

However, they are down to one piece of hardware now and they always have some kind of gameplay hook unlike Sony and MS being traditional consoles with a gamepad. Switch has the portability factor.

So even if Nintendo made ports to other consoles, I'm not sure it would even make a dent much into Switch hardware sales as the gamers seem to love the portability function.

Someone at Nintendo must be doing the math on PC/PS/MS software sales. If a Mario Kart game can sell 20 million copies on a Nintendo platform alone, it can probably sell at least 50M combined if across all platforms. Add in a mobile version and all these key Nintendo games might even sell 100M. PC/mobile would probably at least double sales alone.

The fact that Sony have started making a (very small) profit on PS5 hardware (I'm assuming the disc version, but they barely make any digital PS5 units anyway) is the one main reason I still think some of their first-party games, namely some of the key single-player, story-driven games, will have staggered releases between PS5 and PC. However, I'm now in the camp that even those games will probably be 6-month/1-year staggers at most, timing the PC releases with new story content expansions with said expansions coming day-and-date between PS5 and PC.

Think something like Miles Morales or The Lost Legacy when it comes to the type of story expansions in question. But outside of those games, it's certainly starting to look more likely most 1P games will come at least within 6 months to PC post-PS5 releases, and MP-centric/GaaS/MTX-focused games coming Day 1 to both.

As for when or if Sony ever just outright states this officially, that's completely up in the air and wouldn't count on it until closer to the end of the generation. I'm almost curious if Sony's strategy for 10th-gen actually shifts them to building OEM PCs again but with their own design features (think the Vaio line) and pairing that with a PlayStation storefront for 1P and 3P content that could be competitive with Steam and EGS.

Then say they spin off GPUs based on whatever they come up with for a PS6 PC, for people to use in their own PC builds if they want. It would certainly help with push for Vulkan and probably Linux in the core gaming PC space, too. Best yet since it'd essentially be a Sony "console-like" (in terms of R&D costs for specific unique technologies and packaging, ease of use of the OS tuned for gaming etc.) PC, they can easily sell it for a decent profit from Day 1, something they seem to want to do anyway with PS5.

Dunno, just something I've been thinking about the past couple of weeks in light of some events, is all.
 

Neff

Member
No.

Sony is flirting with PC because they are struggling to warrant the hugely bloated budgets their games -and fans- demand. Nintendo games are made for a fraction of the same cost, and they're swimming in profit.
 

Woopah

Member
If they have another Wii U like failure then investors might push them towards PC like they did with mobile. But not until then. Right now they see merchandise, movies and theme parks as better growth avenues than PC.

Someone at Nintendo must be doing the math on PC/PS/MS software sales. If a Mario Kart game can sell 20 million copies on a Nintendo platform alone, it can probably sell at least 50M combined if across all platforms. Add in mobile all these key Nintendo games might even sell 100M. PC/mobile would probably at least double sales alone.
Mario Kart 8 might sell 50 million just on Switch.
 
Someone at Nintendo must be doing the math on PC/PS/MS software sales. If a Mario Kart game can sell 20 million copies on a Nintendo platform alone, it can probably sell at least 50M combined if across all platforms. Add in a mobile version and all these key Nintendo games might even sell 100M. PC/mobile would probably at least double sales alone.

MK8 is approaching 40 millions copies sold on Switch with full price, it doesn't need no stinkin' PC sales

Only GTAV and Minecraft sold more
 
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sn0man

Member
Arguably Sony’s decision to dilute their exclusivity on console makes Nintendo console exclusivity stronger.

Now if you want to experience all console gaming you might be able to get that with just a PC and a Switch.

Though Sony might find becoming a Publisher has upside like not supporting hardware.
 

ReBurn

Gold Member
Nintendo has yet to figure out VOIP voice chat on a console and you expect them to start porting games to the PC?
tbh Nintendo online is better without voip. Just chat on discord with people you know without the risk of interacting with children
 

Bodomism

Banned
Out of the 3 console manufacturers Nintendo is the one whose revenue from hardware represents a bigger % of their total revenue. And they sell it at a profit.

Maybe don't have other non-gaming giant divisions as MS or Sony, but they also have other areas of revenue: they sell toys, cards, mobile games, recently opened a theme park, are working on movies based on their IPs, etc.


The incentive would be to sell even way more copies, so to generate way more revenue and profit.

1st part games that sell ~20-30+ million units are only a small part of their entire business. As an example, Sony makes way more revenue than Nintendo from gaming having way less of these games.

To ask someone to port some of their several years old games to PC as Sony does would give them way more revenue and profit, increasing the units sold of their games without negatively affecting hardware sales.
SIE generated more revenue than Nintendo because of 3rd parties online, MTX, and dlc department but you forgot the most important aspect and that's profit.

Nintendo made around 6bn usd profits last FY and nearly doubled SIE profits. 1st party games high profit margins are big part of those record breaking profits.

L9NzCFY_d.webp
 
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Braag

Member
I'm not gonna say it's never going to happen since no one knows what the state of gaming will be in 50 years but I will say that I doubt it will happen in a very very very long time.

Sony will keep increasing their PC presence however since they are more directly competing with Microsoft, which already has a strong footing in the PC market.
 

V4skunk

Banned
Nintendo's philosophy at the moment is different than Sony's in that they rely on a integrated hardware software business model. Also unlike Sony they rely heavily on their first party output with the former responsible for two thirds of their Switch revenue. The Switch isn't a exactly a powerhouse and is designed that way for a number of reasons this however goes against how many PC gamers might think their gaming experience should go. Also it's worth noting that a number of Nintendo games are couch coop based something that would not fit the PC gaming experience.

It's no secret that Nintendo too has been following the "remaster" trend and has an extensive list of first party remasters and has been rewarded for it.

With the Valve's Steam Deck clearly setting itself up as a competitor and assuming it has a high adopt rate do you think this is a good opportunity to enter the PC market? Is Nintendo's business sustainable considering the gaming industries future outlook without slowly introducing a "game pass"?
Nintendo is too busy printing money.
 

Marty-McFly

Banned
SIE generated more revenue than Nintendo because of 3rd parties online, MTX, and dlc department but you forgot the most important aspect and that's profit.

Nintendo made around 6bn usd profits last FY and nearly doubled SIE profits. 1st party games high profit margins are big part of those record breaking profits.

L9NzCFY_d.webp
Well, that pretty much settles that.
 
They don't have to. Their games are not that expensive to make, they don't spend that much on marketing them and they don't have to cut in half the prices after 2 months.
 
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RoboFu

One of the green rats
Eventually, and I’m talking way in the future.. there won’t be desktops. Just mobile devices that can do anything or probably before that . TVs that can contain the most advanced hardware or even a global compute network that just uses TVs or mobile devices as dumb terminals.

at that time.. yes Nintendo will have a service only model.
 

yurinka

Member
SIE generated more revenue than Nintendo because of 3rd parties online, MTX, and dlc department but you forgot the most important aspect and that's profit.

Nintendo made around 6bn usd profits last FY and nearly doubled SIE profits. 1st party games high profit margins are big part of those record breaking profits.

L9NzCFY_d.webp

Profits are important but also only a small portion of the whole story. This chart is incomplete to see the whole picture, doesn't say too much about the volume of their business.

In this example, this difference in profit ($2.5B) is only ~10% of Sony's revenue ($25B). So Sony could have reinvested a smaller part of their revenue or cash to have more profit if desired. But instead they decided that it was a better idea to increase the headcount of all their internal gamedev teams to make more games, to acquire companies to make more games, and to sign 2nd party and 3rd parties to make more games, and to sell (at a loss) all the consoles they could produce to sell more games, add-ons and services in the future. They also could have greenlighted less internal games, some months ago Hulst said they have over 25 games in development to be published by them. They mentioned that are working to grow in PC (we saw some ports), mobile, and are also working on their next VR system and to be reworking PS Now, so pretty likely they also invested on these areas during this period. They decided to reinvest all this to grow and have more revenue (and profit too) in the future.

Regarding the main revenue sources for Sony's game division are, in this order: digital game sales, hardware sales, add-on (DLC/MTX) and game subscriptions. They represent 90% of their sales. Physical sales, PC ports VR, accesories combined are only 10% of their revenue (this is not counting mobile gaming, which as of now they have it in another division).

6VzwXRN.png

(notice that company typically report the revenue of their divisions, regions, etc instead of profit)

And yes, regarding 1st vs 3rd party Sony has basically all main console 3rd parties supporting them and (for those who shown their numbers) with PS as their best selling platform. And since there are a ton of super seller 3rd parties, it means 3rd parties get a huge portion of their software sales. Over 1600 million games (and counting) have been sold for PS4. Having such big and diverse catalog (combining 1st, 2nd and 3rd party games) means more players can find games that appeal to them (resulting on more people buying the console and games for it), and each player can find more players that appeal to them (resulting on more games sold per console).

I4r2X1s.png
 
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MOTM

Banned
I only have a Series X but if I had a capable PC I would rather Nintendo games on PC than Sony games. Nintendo would bring something a lot more different than Sony.
 

Shubh_C63

Member
Emulators pretty much does that nowadays but No Way Nintendo pushes for PC.

We are talking about decades here. maybe by 2035 when streaming is the future. They won't jump unless they have a knockout plan for it.
 

Derktron

Banned
This is cute, keep dreaming buddy because Nintendo will never ever allow that to happen...............As of yet. But still. Nintendo is very protective over their IP.
 

ButchCat

Member
Releasing "some" ps4 games is Sony building a PC presence?
Lol
This looks like denial to me. They went from never having anything PS related on the PC to having a number of exclusives playable there and and they look like they will be continuing to do so but hey that's your opinion.
 
I imagine Nintendo see no reason to have a presence on the PC marketplace. Most of their mobile offerings are pretty offensively bad.

Jeez, can you imagine if Nintendo, in a bid to retain all profit margins, launched their own digital storefront akin to Steam or Epic. I can't even begin to believe how bad their launcher would be when they can't even get their shit together offering basic online services.
 
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