/biz/ - Business & Finance

Were gonna need some facts to back this up.

No, really. If you want a thread. Give us reasons. Financial reports. Tearsheets. Please, give us reason to discuss it from a /biz/ point of view and we will.

You know they have massive cash reserves, right? They have years to get their shit together.

The real question is, if nintendo goes down who's gonna buy up the IP for pokemon.

>>109825

Nintendo would sell themselves to someone compatible before going down. Sony, Microsoft, maaaaybe Apple would be interested.

Now, if their IPs were individually sold for whatever reason, I bet EA would love to have Pokemon. Or maybe one of those awful app developers like Zynga or King would go after it. It'd work pretty well (for them, not consumers) with their business model.

>>109758
What do you want? Money? You can have VersaLife, the whole damn company. Power? I'll get you on Mead's cabinet. I'm serious. Just forget about that last reactor.

>>109764

This. They were actually able to cover Wii U losses straight up.

Their 3DS/DS sales are enough to keep them floating. The only way Nintendo goes bankrupt is if they continue on this path for years to come.

I still can't fucking believe they did a buyback. Now they're just manipulators like every other goddamned top ranked company that won't reinvest its profits.

>>109854
If EA got it, no one would ever buy another one.

Can Valve buy out Nintendo?

>>109944
no lol

>>109934

With a multiconsole userbase and possibly a willingness to publish on Apple and Android devices? They'd sell plenty. People would be pissed, but they'd still buy it, at least the first time around, before they realize how hard they're going to be screwed by DLC.

>>109911

Considering part of the shares were with part of the family with a bit of bad blood. They didn't have much choice.

Former NOA VP and Yamauchi's right hand man, Minoru Arkawa left and gave evidence to the EU over the anti-trust case in 2002 and he was married to one of Yamauchi's daughters and still is (He ran the Tetris company for a while). The Yamauchi family weren't interested in holding onto the legacy and if they did. There would be blood in the boardroom. Better for both sides.

>>109944

Valve's a private company. Also the investment angle from research is that they are probably quite over valued. EA's $1 billion offer probably was a correct representation of the books and company value.

>>109825
They wouldn't sell them selves. They would simply stop making consoles. They would continue on as a software developer and producer of cartoons and merch.

>>110010
only 1 billion for Valve ?

yet a single smartphone app company gets purchased for 18 billion. a free app and social media app at that. That will probably only have a self life of 5 years.

this world is not just.

>>109961
Part of the problem is that they're polar opposites.

Pokemon is one of the most prized possessions of "gamer culture" and EA is by far the most hated. Not one of the most hated, THE most hated. People very likely would buy it once or twice, but others would boycott it, the news would spread that it's not what people want (because it inevitably won't be, really, especially after they've been fed the same game since the start), and it would either crash or lose almost its entire core fanbase in favor of a new group of people who effectively like a new series. EA pumps out an awful lot of games no one gives a shit about or likes at all, but they still manage to survive because the games people do like keep everything afloat.

You can't take something like Pokemon, Mario or Zelda and throw it under a company like that without it being crushed by creative differences. It'll turn into a Final Fantasy situation where the company changes and then it falls off into borderline irrelevance, only being remembered as "that thing that used to be what we loved. So wait, what number are they on now?"

>>110056

There's precedent for this. SimCity is one of the most prized possessions of gamer culture as well, that used to be put out by a well-liked independent studio before being sucked up by EA. And despite the fact that everyone hated EA and knew very well that the game was shit, it still sold millions of copies, while PC-only and restricted to a proprietary DRM platform. I guess we won't know for sure the result until and unless EA puts out another SimCity game, but I think this is evidence that people would give it at least one shot, even knowing how badly they might be treated.

>>110045
>remake games using the same engine slightly modified
>same shitty hitboxes and tick rate
>delay titles for years to decades

Why would it be worth more?

>steam

>>110045

WhatsApp was horrifically overvalued and it's DotCom bubble level purchasing.

While EA deserve to be spat on. Their business acumen is spot on. Valve's value is the $1-3 billion range, easily. /v/ overvalue them horrifically (And any company that has a product based on a large infrastructure yet refuse to invest in a single focused QA division shouldn't be overvalued.)

>>110096
exactly because of Steam. which is probably the best thing to happen to PC gaming ever.

>>109934
Pokemon now F2P
Unlock pikachu or bulbasaur for 5$!

>>110103
Yeah their customer service is legendarily horrible

>>110115
And how much is steam worth?

>>110087
Oh, definitely. Even I would get something the first or maybe second time around to see if they could hold it together or maybe even offer some improvements. But as confidence drops, the desire to purchase more sequels drops. I think it's pretty hard to recover from even one bad mistake unless the followup is incredible.

I wouldn't doubt for a second that they'd have good sales numbers when they first pick it up.

>>110123
I bet an F2P Pokemon with microtransactions would be hugely popular. I hate to say this because I love Pokemon, but I think the fanbase would be fooled into eating that up. Not with Pokemon that cost real money, of course, other than maybe the big legendaries (Mewtwo, Mew, Celebi), but with other microtransaction features such as alternative clothing, hairstyles, etc. All in the current style of the handheld versions. I could actually envision that being one of the most popular games among young people (16-). I don't think older people would fall into it quite so easily, but of course it would be a bell curve.

>>110178
They'd probably blend F2P pokemon with puzzles vs dragons to create a system where the pokemon center is only usable 4 times a day (unless you pay real money) and there's limited opportunities to catch legendaries. Basically, it would be terrible

>>110178

As long as it's only cosmetic elements, fine. I'm more concerned about "You are out of Pokeballs! Wait 1 hour for a ball, or buy more Pokeballs! $.99 each, or $9.99 for 15!"

>>110221
Jesus christ, just imagining that actually being a thing would be like hell on Earth. I'm glad EA will most likely never touch those games.

>>110201
>pokemon center is only usable 4 times a day (unless you pay real money)
This would certainly be horrible.

>>110221
>"You are out of Pokeballs! Wait 1 hour for a ball, or buy more Pokeballs! $.99 each, or $9.99 for 15!"
This is an example of an F2P method that's pushing it, but would probably be acceptable to most people. Maybe. Maybe not because of type advantages. So yeah, perhaps not such a good idea for Pokemon in particular because of the >implications that arise from it.

They wouldn't have to keep it strictly cosmetic, but if they played it well and did things like EXP boosts and other convenience items to save people time and grinding, it would probably work well for them and for most people as a whole. And yes, grinding is mandatory or you'd have a full team of 100s in a week to a month of everyday playing depending on how good you are, as online players are more competitive by default by having other people to compare to. I would hate that model and you might too, but we're in the minority here.