In new product development theory developed by Kim Clark and Takahiro Fujimoto at Harvard Business School, there is so called platform innovation strategy. It is widely adopted by auto industry to introduce a new model every few years base on the same automobile platform, for example, Toyota’s renowned Camry platform. This is the same strategy employed by Nintendo. However, Nintendo may finally have to come to term with the new paradigm shift in video gaming industry – the platform shift made possible by new computer, communication and electronic technology.
For the past 30 years Nintendo has remained rooted to the traditional model of selling consoles that play games stored on cartridges or disks. But other, less-expensive ways such as social gaming, online gaming, and mobile gaming to play games are gaining ground quickly.
When the videogame world descends on Los Angeles this month for Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, the industry’s annual gathering, Nintendo Co. stands in the spotlight. E3 has long been a springboard for new gaming consoles—historically released every five or six years—which help spur demand for both hardware and software. Nintendo provided a sneak peek of the new system that it calls the Wii U.
The Wii U may test whether Nintendo can stay the course amid tides of change washing over its industry.
Where Wii games often cost $25 to $50, game apps for smartphones and tablets—many of them free or priced as low as $5—are a new alternative for Nintendo customers.
Meanwhile, Zynga Inc. and other companies have pioneered a field called social gaming, offering online games that are free to play while charging users for additional features. Rival console makers Microsoft and Sony have built online networks to enhance the appeal of their hardware. Nintendo’s new machine, slated for release later this year, aims to build on the Wii’s success. It incorporates the original Wii’s wand controllers with a new tablet-like controller with a six-inch touchscreen display, a built-in camera and motion sensors.
The concern is: The Wii was very successful in attracting noncore gamers, but can Nintendo do the same with the Wii U when mobile phones and tablets can offer so many free-to-play games?
Now do you find that you spend more time on your phone and tablet playing game than on a game console? If so, then the platform- and place- shifting is happening to you. You are no longer bound to gaming on TV.
Reference:
Wall Street Journal, June 3, 2012 : “Nintendo Puts Hope on New Wii at E3 Show”,