Speaking at a recent game industry summit, game business analyst Michael Pachter didn't have kind things to say about Nintendo.
Big-name video game business analyst Michael Pachter, who’s best known for his web show Pach Attack over on gametrailers.com where he answers questions about the business/financial aspects of the gaming industry, spoke at the annual Game Monetization USA Summit which was held in San Francisco last week. During his presentation, he spoke rather candidly about the future of the industry and he didn’t have many kind words to say about both Microsoft and Nintendo.
Pachter first touched on the “console sales war” that’s being fought between Sony’s PlayStation 4 and Microsoft’s Xbox One, saying that he felt Sony would come out victorious simply because of the PS4’s lower price point: “The reason Sony beats Microsoft is solely the price. Microsoft loses the next generation unless they cut price. If Microsoft drops its price to $399, I expect the sales to be equal to the PS4."
When it came time to address the floundering sales of Nintendo’s Wii U, Pachter had a little bit of advice and a healthy amount of criticism. According to Pachter, Nintendo has to find new ways to make up for the Wii U’s poor sales performance, suggesting that Nintendo should perhaps look into porting some of their more popular Gameboy Advance and Nintendo DS handheld titles to mobile phones and tablets to help reinvigorate fan interest and maybe bring some new fans into the fold.
Nintendo President Satoru Iwata has admitted in the past that poor Wii U sales can be linked directly to the console’s lack of a large number of blockbuster titles. Pachter saved his most scathing criticism for Iwata himself, boldly saying “I don’t know why [Nintendo President] Iwata is still employed.” A harsh opinion to be sure, but considering Pachter’s clout within the industry, one that carries a fair amount of weight.
