Nintendo's Hardware Design Choices & Business Model - Telegrams for Die Shrink

Samsung just announce UFS 4.0, I think solid state battery are around the corner. Let see

Manuel A. Arroyo Perez

Hello Tom and co-host. Nintendo started building home consoles after Atari and others pretty much abandoned gamers. What led to that decision to revive the home gaming business. Why did Nintendo think after Atari and Mattel's failed why was the NES going to be compelling.

Dr Forbin

Hi guys, I'll try to brief, focusing this question on the first nintendo console I got almost 20 years ago, the GC, which was also their last traditional home console. There's a couple hardware choices that stick out to me in particular: First, the minidisc. I've always been baffled by it as I've only ever seen it used in my GC. My understanding is, vs DVD, it had higher RPMs with lower capacities but was small enough to fit the 'cube' form factor. But then who would want to lug around a chunky console in a backpack with the chungus power brick back then? Mind you this was when sony were selling a $300 PS2 that was as expensive as most DVD players of the time and gained crazy adoption. Second are the trio of ports on the bottom, not that I've ever used a single one. Why would nintendo put features like internet on a separate adapter, as not everyone would've bought it, leading an already slim set of third party devs to be hesitant to add online play into a game at a time when MS had Xbox live? Was I just too young then to know what online gaming was like back then? So I guess my overall question is: What the hell were nintendo thinking?! Cheers

AC_666__

Hello Tom and Dan. Nintendo is such an interesting company that dates back all the way to the 19th Century. I won't get into the whole history, but what I do want to hopefully have you guys discuss is just how once they became the company they are today, a video game one, how hiring Reggie Fils-Aimé (and promoting Satou Iwata as well) first changed them during in 2006 all the way to 2019 when he left. He employed the Blue Ocean strategy which is what we call "Nintendo being Nintendo" these days, where they just do their own thing in the same market as Sony and Microsoft, but act as an auxiliary company that doesn't directly compete. (If you want some background on this topic, this video is a good help: https://youtu.be/7FWyhlS3kvc and if you want to skip to the relevant bit, that would be the 8min marker). Do you believe this strategy was the right way for Nintendo or do you think (now that Iwata unfortunately passed and Reggie left) going forward with their new heads of the company and possibly jumping back into the main competition many people in your viewership wished they would, benefits the company and in the end, us, the gamers? Thanks and keep up doing what you're doing!

Hey Tom and Dan! Although I have never considered myself a "Nintendo gamer", I recognise and respect Nintendo's approach to hardware. I have only ever owned a GameBoy Colour with Pokémon Red (OG version, none of that Fire Red bullshit) and a Game Cube for Res Evil 4, nowt else. In my mind, they have always had a focus on game play, rather than pushing forward graphical fidelity. When I see many modern games come out looking oh so pretty but lacking in substance, I think a parallel can be drawn with Nintendo's lack of focus on horse power, compared to other console. "Fancy ray tracing malarky? Sorry, it just can't do it. Best just focus on making the game fun to play, old chap." I have developed this opinion since the release of the Wii but I think the roots of such a philosophy were there when you look at how long GameBoy hardware remained largely unchanged. Keep up the good work, boys!

Go-Kart

Considering that a big part of Nintendo's business model is maintaining their family friendly image and getting people who were fans as children to get their children into the Nintendo fandom, do you think we'll ever get to a point where Nintendo realizes that its "maintain the value of our games at all costs" strategy is counterproductive? Because as an outsider looking in, Nintendo would be getting more long-term value from putting out free emulators for its platforms up through the GBA on the various apps stores, then charging like $2 for decades old first party games, spending the least amount of money to maintain and expand that pipeline of new fans. I know not to expect a lot from the *really* conservative Japanese and European companies, but it surprises me that Nintendo would spend money to develop mobile games, but not bother to crush demand for emulators and ROMs (which they try to Cease and Desist every so often), when it'd be so much less effort.

Cleansweep

Hi Tom and Dan, Nintendo more than ever has been extremely anti consumer and anti fan, doing everything in their power to piss off the people that have carried them in their worst and basically anyone who dares give them their hard earned money. There's a lack of any good services with online play being only peer to peer, the virtual console severely lacking in game selection with only a handful of NES and SNES games present, the abuse remaster practice Super Mario 3D All-Stars being time limited and costing 60 usd for a poorly upscaled emulated version of games that deserved more respect, and the Skyward Sword remaster having functionality locked behind Amiibos just to name a few. And if you go online it isn’t hard at all to find raging defenders of a company that openly treats their fans like garbage, why do you think this business model works for them when it would never work for anyone else? Is the power of nostalgia so great that people deny their experiences to preserve that feeling? Is the general public unaware of how badly they’re being treated? How long in your opinion before this buble pops(if at all) and more of the fans and even the general public get fed up with the abuse and leave them, despite the great games?

Matheus Duque

So will the Switch 2 have a 2080ti or a 3090 in it? 🤔 With that aside, why do you think that Nintendo seemingly refuses to launch their games, even their old ones, on hardware other than their own. It seems like they’re seriously limiting their potential market. Why not release an official version of some 5 year old Nintendo game for Steam, Xbox or PS? I’d love to know your perspective on this, although I suspect you’ve already discussed this subject.

Jake_ Dude_23

What do you think Nintendo will go for when they release their next generation console will it be x86 or ARM or even risc-v? Also I still think the best console I've played on was the N64 and golden eye or perfect dark where the best games (imo)

What about Battery and UFS 4.0? I do believe that Nintendo and Nvidia will use a custom SoC future heavy and after seen the Valve Deck I'm feeling good about a possible 16GB buffer. However I think Battery tech is nearing solid stated soon and UFS 4.0 should be there too (https://www.flashmemorysummit.com/English/Collaterals/Proceedings/2018/20180809_CMOB-302-1_UFSAPanel.pdf) 2H of 2022.

Manuel A. Arroyo Perez

Could a Pokemon MMO have been successful? Was this a big missed opportunity while the genre was thriving? Would Nintendo even be capable of such a thing, since they do not make games for PC?

Nintendo has been often making odd choices when it comes to hardware, and it holds their consoles back in some ways. For example: - 64 and GC still used cartridges and small discs, respectively, which meant smaller game sizes. - Wii was very weak so this forced many third-party games to have a bad Wii ports or no ports. - Wii U didn’t actually have major hardware goofs’ but that console failed due to bad marketing. - Switch they choose maxwell I’d argue that console needs a hardware upgrade ASAP. So, my question is, why can’t they just do all things right when it comes to hardware? They got great games, but it’s always the hardware where there’s a catch.

Falto

Hey Tom and Dan. I would love to hear you guys discuss about the Nintendo Playstation. I know the story behind it but I would love to hear you guys talk about. At one point Sony was under Nintendo's unbrella, how do you think Nintendo would operate today if Sony and Nintendo stayed working together? Would Kratos be in Smash Bros? Lol. All seriousness, thanks for all you guys do.

Kinihun25

Why do you think people continue to buy Nintendo hardware even though they often lack in performance?