Is the Next Nintendo Handheld the Last Stand for Dedicated Handheld Gaming?

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May 19, 2016
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With the failure of the Vita and the diminishing returns of the 3Ds as well as the ever encroaching mobile market; dedicated handheld gaming devices seem to be on the ropes. Now I know Nintendo has system sellers like Pokemon in its back pocket. But do you see the possibility of the next Nintendo handheld being the last one?
 

Saelune

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Pfft, lets wait for the new Pok?mon game to come out first.

Ofcourse console sales go down...cause you hopefully just buy it once. I had my 3DS since Pok?mon White. I don't break mine like my brother does.

Only if Nintendo decides to go mobile and Pok?mon GO becomes the "main" pokemon games, no, handhelds will be fine. And this all requires Nintendo simply making an evil choice.
 

Yoshi178

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i'd hardly call 58 million hardware sales of the 3DS terrible but seeing as 58 million is technically a much smaller number than 150 million then sure. 3DS is doing complete shit compared to the DS and handheld gaming is doomed.
 

meiam

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I doubt it.

At first glance it might seem like portable would be in a similar situation to console, just like console could be rendered obsolete by PC, portable console might be in endangered by smartphone. But actually portable console have a huge advantage, they have good control, which smartphone will never have. To me this pretty guarantee that they'll alway have a small niche market at there disposition. The only threat might be that people rather carry as little as possible on them at any time, but people who travel will still want to buy one for these time and since they have lying around they'll probably keep playing it.

So I figure console would disappear before portable, and seeing as console are doing really well now, I wouldn't be scared for portable.
 

Scarim Coral

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The only time I will see this happening if they announce they will moved to the mobile market. Ok technically this has happened but it isn't like they are shifting all of it into the phones and telling the other developers to do the same.

Sure the sales are down but that doesn't means no one has bought the portable games so I doubt they leave them in the dust.
 
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I think it depends a lot on what NX actually is. There have been some reports that at least some part of NX is a handheld device, so if that's true then Nintendo is presumably still in the handheld game. Sony is definitely done after Vita, and I can't really see any other company trying to move into the handheld market given the ubiquity of mobile phone gaming. Overall, I'd say mobile gaming devices only have a future if Nintendo is bringing something to market, otherwise they look pretty dead.
 

Hades

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Mobile gaming might prevent handhelds from growing but I don't think mobiles will ever render them obsolete without drastically changing.

Someone used to substantial games making a full switch to mobile gaming is akin to a life long costumer of fancy restaurants suddenly making the switch to McDonald.
 

RaikuFA

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"3DS a failure"

Lolwut? 3DS is doing pretty damn well last time I checked.
 

JohnnyDelRay

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I'm not sure, but I don't think so. I mean as long as developers still put in as much effort into the handhelds as they do.

I don't see the "encroaching mobile market" as much of a threat if quality maintains its status quo right now. Actually good mobile games worth their money and not riddled with microtransactions are still diamonds in the rough. Ok, one has to compare the cost of them, 3DS games are pretty expensive, but I still don't see the ratio improving. Mobile are riddled with shovelware, with a business model that everyone wants to emulate first, and worry about producing something groundbreaking second. It seems purely based around money.

I don't see that changing any time soon. Although I've never been much of a handheld gamer myself, I am curious what the NX will do, and I doubt it would cannibalize it's own industry. Then again you never know.
 

shrekfan246

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I notice that nobody in this thread is even entertaining the idea of a non-Nintendo handheld.

I feel like that in itself says something about the state of handheld consoles.

I've gotten more time out of my Vita than practically anything else lately, but the way Sony decided to not support it basically meant it was doomed to failure from pretty much the beginning.

I'm not sure who else could make a handheld, myself. I wouldn't say something like the Nvidia Shield counts, and I'm not even sure what's going on with that thing anymore anyway. But I feel like any other publisher except Sony or Microsoft trying to get into the mix would end up like the Ouya (arguable that that's what's happened to the Shield), because how many of them actually have any sort of experience with that sort of thing?

If Nintendo's even planning on making another handheld, I wouldn't be surprised if they're at least the only company that continues to even bother with it. For all intents and purposes, that might as well mean the death of handheld gaming.
 

McMarbles

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RaikuFA said:
"3DS a failure"

Lolwut? 3DS is doing pretty damn well last time I checked.
Not doing as well as LITERALLY ONE OF THE TOP TWO SYSTEMS OF ALL TIME (did it ever pass the PS2? I think it might have, but I'm not sure) means you might as well pack it in.
 

Saelune

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shrekfan246 said:
I notice that nobody in this thread is even entertaining the idea of a non-Nintendo handheld.

I feel like that in itself says something about the state of handheld consoles.

I've gotten more time out of my Vita than practically anything else lately, but the way Sony decided to not support it basically meant it was doomed to failure from pretty much the beginning.

I'm not sure who else could make a handheld, myself. I wouldn't say something like the Nvidia Shield counts, and I'm not even sure what's going on with that thing anymore anyway. But I feel like any other publisher except Sony or Microsoft trying to get into the mix would end up like the Ouya (arguable that that's what's happened to the Shield), because how many of them actually have any sort of experience with that sort of thing?

If Nintendo's even planning on making another handheld, I wouldn't be surprised if they're at least the only company that continues to even bother with it. For all intents and purposes, that might as well mean the death of handheld gaming.
Its more a monopoly than anything. As I said, handheld gaming would only "die" if Nintendo killed it.
 

BarkBarker

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Definitions of success of consoles seem to be pretty fucked up, it sold to the people who wanted it and plenty of people wanted it. Consumers wanted a dedicated system, developers probably like dedicated devices for their games to run on so they can make their vision. As long as I want a good system with all the buttons and dedication to making my gaming experience top fucking notch, which may seem confusing given the 3DS thinking a single analog interface rather than 2 is any level of okay, handheld gaming devices will always be around.
 

shrekfan246

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Saelune said:
shrekfan246 said:
I notice that nobody in this thread is even entertaining the idea of a non-Nintendo handheld.

I feel like that in itself says something about the state of handheld consoles.

I've gotten more time out of my Vita than practically anything else lately, but the way Sony decided to not support it basically meant it was doomed to failure from pretty much the beginning.

I'm not sure who else could make a handheld, myself. I wouldn't say something like the Nvidia Shield counts, and I'm not even sure what's going on with that thing anymore anyway. But I feel like any other publisher except Sony or Microsoft trying to get into the mix would end up like the Ouya (arguable that that's what's happened to the Shield), because how many of them actually have any sort of experience with that sort of thing?

If Nintendo's even planning on making another handheld, I wouldn't be surprised if they're at least the only company that continues to even bother with it. For all intents and purposes, that might as well mean the death of handheld gaming.
Its more a monopoly than anything. As I said, handheld gaming would only "die" if Nintendo killed it.
A monopoly could be equivalent to economic death anyway. I mean, I know Nintendo hasn't really been interested in trying to actively "compete" with Sony and Microsoft for quite a while, but they are still technically competitors. Even in the handheld space, Sony made good consoles regardless of their nonexistent support for them. Without anybody else challenging their hold on the handheld market, what's to stop it from just stagnating due to Nintendo being your only choice if you want portable gaming on something that isn't a phone or tablet?
 

09philj

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Hahahahahahahaha...

No.

Call me back when the best mobile games aren't on emulators and can be played with not shitty controls.
 

Saelune

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shrekfan246 said:
Saelune said:
shrekfan246 said:
I notice that nobody in this thread is even entertaining the idea of a non-Nintendo handheld.

I feel like that in itself says something about the state of handheld consoles.

I've gotten more time out of my Vita than practically anything else lately, but the way Sony decided to not support it basically meant it was doomed to failure from pretty much the beginning.

I'm not sure who else could make a handheld, myself. I wouldn't say something like the Nvidia Shield counts, and I'm not even sure what's going on with that thing anymore anyway. But I feel like any other publisher except Sony or Microsoft trying to get into the mix would end up like the Ouya (arguable that that's what's happened to the Shield), because how many of them actually have any sort of experience with that sort of thing?

If Nintendo's even planning on making another handheld, I wouldn't be surprised if they're at least the only company that continues to even bother with it. For all intents and purposes, that might as well mean the death of handheld gaming.
Its more a monopoly than anything. As I said, handheld gaming would only "die" if Nintendo killed it.
A monopoly could be equivalent to economic death anyway. I mean, I know Nintendo hasn't really been interested in trying to actively "compete" with Sony and Microsoft for quite a while, but they are still technically competitors. Even in the handheld space, Sony made good consoles regardless of their nonexistent support for them. Without anybody else challenging their hold on the handheld market, what's to stop it from just stagnating due to Nintendo being your only choice if you want portable gaming on something that isn't a phone or tablet?
Cause Nintendo has been the only company to try new stuff on their own. Double screens, touch screens, motion controls, glasses-less 3D. Yeah, it could go south...it could always do that. And EA could decide to not be a terrible company, and Trump could apologize for being so mean.

Mobile gaming has tons of competition, and yet none of it ever tries to be original or quality.