Nintendo Fails To Deliver January Direct As Sony Director Questions Overall Decline Due To Weak Wii U, 3DS Sales: Will PlayStation Vita Overtake Handheld Market?
With January 2014 gone, Nintendo has failed to deliver a Nintendo Direct, which may be rather emblematic of the state of the company as a whole.
After recording a third straight annual loss due to lower-than-expected sales of the Wii U and 3DS, Nintendo appear to be losing the most valuable thing of all: Consumer support.
Nintendo never did a Nintendo Direct in January did they? That's disappointing. I look forward to them to be honest.
— Jean-Paul Bartolomei (@ultimablackmage) February 3, 2014
January went without a Nintendo Direct, this saddens me... oh well, hopefully we get on this month. — Matt McLennan (@Matto_n_Pixls) February 2, 2014
Omg. WHY WON'T THERE BE A NINTENDO DIRECT FOR JANUARY?!?! I'm getting impatient @Nintendo. #WEWANTAJANUARYDIRECT
— Hobby Hobson Gaming (@sfh1041) January 29, 2014
This kind of reaction to a lack of a January Nintendo Direct is not unlike the reaction to the Pokemon Bank release date debacle, and both seem to put the company in a negative light.
But in truth, Nintendo may have bigger concerns than the January Nintendo Direct.
Recently, GameSpot featured the director of Sony UK lamenting Nintendo's market troubles, which he believes could negatively impact the gaming market as a whole.
"[The decline of Nintendo] could be detrimental to the market, unless people like us raise our game and help tap into the younger consumer group that they serve rather well," says Fergal Gara.
“That is the challenge to us. We need to bring maybe more family-friendly, more casual experiences into the market. I think there’s a big market segment there that we should take the challenge to engage and I see lots of potential to do that.”
In essence, Sony may see Nintendo's decline as an opportunity to take over the corner of family-friendly gaming.
Of course, despite Nintendo's struggles with sales, the 3DS remains the best-selling handheld device compared to Sony's PlayStation Vita. But with more youth-friendly games, could the Vita become the next Nintendo 3DS?