Why Did So Many Game Franchises Switch From Nintendo to Sony Systems?
The Blind Eternities forum
Posted on Sept. 23, 2016, 10:41 a.m. by DemonDragonJ
Many classic video games franchises started on Nintendo systems, but then switched to Sony's Playstation when that system debuted. Some of the best-known franchises that made this transition are Final Fantasy, Castlevania, Breath of Fire, Metal Gear, and Mega Man.
Since Nintendo is my favorite video game company, I am very displeased by this change, and I regard it as a betrayal of a company whose systems helped those franchises first achieve greatness.
What does everyone else say about this? Why did those franchises switch systems, and will they ever return to Nintendo?
grumbledore says... #3
i think that nowadays, people buy nintendo consoles in order to play nintendo-branded content. not for 3rd party games. and thats all on nintendo, as UrbanAnathema articulated above
September 23, 2016 11:29 a.m.
Nintendo is like apple. They were cool at first and tried to innovate but then they started shutting out other people in the market to help them and people stopped liking them.
September 23, 2016 1:50 p.m.
One of the reasons is that Nintendo consoles are no where near as advanced as current consoles and PC's. Which limits a games potential.
September 23, 2016 5:09 p.m.
As well as the above points Nintendo seem to be stupid with regards to marketing their consoles and games. Games that should have been available at or near launch. Smash Bros, Zelda, Metroid, Super Mario, Mario Party, Mario Kart, Donkey Kong, and personal for me, Fire Emblem and Xenoblade Chronicles. And also Monster Hunter and a 3D version of Pokemon. These games, especially 3D pokemon, would have saved the Wii U and it would be a powerhouse in the market. Instead most of these games don't exist or are coming out on the NX which won't be powerful enough to compete still and eventually drive Nintendo to stick to handheld only. I love nintendo and the only next gen console i own along with my PC is the Wii U but thats mainly for Smash Bros and Mario Kart nights. But the Xbox has naf all games and now they come on PC mostly too, and Sony didn't include a 4K Blu Ray player with their Pro because they are FUCKING IDIOTS. So yeah, Nintendo don't know what games they should put on their consoles and it makes them less successful than they should be, and the rest make dumb decisions that stop them being even stronger than they already are. My two pence
September 23, 2016 7:51 p.m.
grumbledore says... #7
...people still buy dvds (or Blu-ray Discs)? When did that happen lol. i make a point of never buying physical media. Totally a scam. So to me I couldn't give two shits about the lack of 4K physical media capability on the PS4 pro.
September 24, 2016 12:52 a.m.
People still buy physical media because 6% of urban americans are unable to get broadband in their area along with a whopping 25% of rural americans. Many parts of web infrastructure cant support 4k steaming, plus you never know what compression netflix is putting on their content etc.
I mean i still buy vinyl so...
September 24, 2016 3:55 a.m. Edited.
Plus other places than the US exist too, im in the UK and love buying blu ray discs. Internet goes down, i want to watch a film, can't, brilliant. The internet is a little unstable, films is jumpy and unwatchable. I pref to own a physical thing, not just some Megabytes and Gigabytes in thin air. Plus, physical media gives better sound/picture than streams or downloads usually. Or with a tiny HDD like 1Tb a few films would fill it insanely quick, considering you lose a good quarter or third to the OS on the console too.
September 24, 2016 4:36 a.m.
UrbanAnathema says... #10
Not a fan of physical media ownership myself, but I understand the reasons why some people do. Personally between Kodi, Plex, and PS Vue, I'm never buying physical media again, but there is certainly a market for it.
There are some problems with the PS Pro, but I don't like the idea of fragmentation in the console space to begin with.
UrbanAnathema says... #2
That's a silly way of looking at the situation. A Company is going to make a decision that most benefits it's profits. There is no "betrayal".
Nintendo has been making it's own bed for quite some time when it comes to 3rd Party developers with the console decisions it's been making over the last two decades. Their censorship guidelines pushed Midway and EA away in the days of the Super Nintendo. Their sticking to cartridges with the N64 pushed Square away and gave Sony their first transcendental game in Final Fantasy VII. Their decision with the Wii and Wii U to go after casual gamers and launch technically far inferior systems with UIs that didn't work like any other system left hordes of 3rd Party Developers out in the cold.
I like Nintendo, and I root for them. They are the last true gaming company in the market, and as a 1st Party Developer, its games are some of the most fun I have had in this current generation.
Nintendo is an innovator in the space, but innovation has it's price, and the price that they have paid is turning off 3rd Party Developers from their hardware. It isn't a matter of "betrayal", it is a matter of a Nintendo making decisions that have isolated it from the rest of the gaming market.
September 23, 2016 10:55 a.m. Edited.