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N-Gage = Flop |
Super G
Joined: Mar 07, 2002
Posts: > 500
From: France
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a) Christmas is coming b) many buy phones subsidized. In other words i wouldn't call this a flop at this stage...
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ShibbyLicious
Joined: Jul 25, 2002
Posts: 290
From: UK
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hmmmm, the orginal post on this topic is a little misleading and out of context. its taken from an aritcle on www.theregister.co.uk.
the statement is true that the ngage has been a sales flop in gaming stores. but then thats not the ngages core outlet - yet. the ngage is till a nokia and those wanting to buy one wil automatically associate a nokia device (no matter what its function) with a phone retailer like CPW. this most likely the main reason for the poor figures.
until CPW et all release their own sales figures we will never really know how successful the ngage has/will be. in addition i wouldnt go by any stats given by nokia as they will stats based on units shipped compared to units old which will be a big difference.
one of the major problem for the ngage is that it has no installed user base unlike the gameboy. even if  releases a ngage-esque device it would be a whole different and more successful story as sony would most likely push its gaming and PlayStation brands behind it, nokia doesnt have this oopurtunity. they havent helped themselves either by giving out pr about how they aim to take gameboys market, this would piss off nintendo and the game developers i think will listen to nintendo over nokia if you get what i mean. all the ngage has in terms of games are ports of what are in fact farely old games.
for nokia to succeed with the ngage they need to do what sony did with the playstation - lead by innovation. nintendo sold well cos of mario and sega cos of sonic. ps sold well cos it had wicked games that had never been seen before and so people wanted it. nokia need to create the need for people to own an ngage and not hope that people will buy it cos it cool and novelty - that doesnt bode well for consoles, remember the neogeo, a lot of hype but after a while no sunbstance as there was no innovation.
just my 2 cents
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sn3ipen
Joined: Aug 18, 2003
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From: North-Norway
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I dont think its strange at all that N-Gage is selling bad. It look like crap and its like a 3330 with games and mp3. I would never in my life embarise myself talking in a taco on the street.  |
TheRealSpawn
Joined: Jul 03, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: Denmark
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AMSTERDAM, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Finland's Nokia (NOK1V.HE: Quote, Profile, Research) , the world's largest mobile phone maker, said on Wednesday it had sold 400,000 of its N-Gage portable game decks in the two weeks since the commercial launch on October 7.
"We've sold around 400,000 N-Gage in the first two weeks," Ilkka Raiskinen, senior vice president entertainment and media at Nokia Mobile Phones, told Reuters in a telephone interview.
The number refers to models Nokia has sold to shops and other retail outlets, but Raiskinen said sales to end-consumers were "very good in Europe and Asia Pacific". He added his company had already received follow-up orders.
Nokia has set itself a target to sell between six and nine million N-Gage devices before the end of 2004 as it challenges the dominance of Japan's Nintendo (7974.OS: Quote, Profile, Research) which controls the portable gaming market with its Gameboy Advance.
Nintendo has said it aims to sell some 20 million Gameboy Advance units in its current fiscal year which started in April.
Nokia also said that some 5,000 on-line game sessions were carried out every day by N-Gage owners. N-Gage is the first portable game deck on which players in different locations can battle against each other over the mobile phone network.
Raiskinen said Nokia would now extend its network of retail outlets for N-Gage beyond the 30,000 with which it has started. This could include electronics and gaming shops and web sites.
"We need to improve our retail presence. Most (consumers) still go the telecoms sales channels to buy an N-Gage," he said.
Most first N-Gage buyers were young men, with a big cluster of consumers around 20 years old, and a group aged around 30.
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http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3665516 |
specialk
Joined: Jun 17, 2003
Posts: 15
From: Philladelphia, PA, USA
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Exactly. Nokia's numbers reflect units sold to retailers, not to customers.
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GiantRobot
Joined: Oct 16, 2003
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From: California
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I think it is fairly valid to say the N-Gage is a flop at this point. Nokia seems to have totally misjudged the market for the N-Gage. The N-Gage is priced very poorly for a game machine, as such it is going to sell very poorly in game outlets. To people who buy console games $300 means an entirely new platform to buy games for. A $300 console is not a neat must-have gadget for most game buyers. The price of an N-Gage would buy a PS2 or GBA and a core library of brand new games, even more if you went for used games.
To people who drop down $300 even year on a new whiz-bang cell phone the N-Gage might be an attractive little toy to pick up however. I don't see Nokia really advertising to those people. They should be focusing on the people buying 3650s and T610s. Instead of pitting the N-Gage against GBA games they should be pitting it against the relatively crappy Java games on the 3650 or T610. The N-Gage is a phone with some cool games. It is being marketed as a game console. Game consoles aren't practically worthless without monthly subscriptions. The N-Gage is.
I think the N-Gage is going to flop badly, to the point where they will be given away with new wireless contracts just to get rid of them. Console game develors don't like moving targets. Cell phones are very dynamic, new versions are being released all the time. This is just going to lead to the current N-Gage games being entirely incompatible with a phone that comes out in 2005. A $40 investment in Tomb Raider now isn't going to be worth a whole lot when the N-Gage 2 with larger screen and different processor is released. |
Super G
Joined: Mar 07, 2002
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From: France
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Well, in fact I think you should read this news about 400,000 units sold to retailers again.
These are units sold SINCE october the 7th! Remember that on October 7th, it was already available worldwide.
I.e. there is obviously a real demand for them! |
obsixx
Joined: Oct 22, 2003
Posts: 173
From: USA, east coast
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You know, nintendo once tried to put a phone in their gameboy remember? Oh wait, nobody does. If somebody did we wouldn't have this tragity known as ngage.
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specialk
Joined: Jun 17, 2003
Posts: 15
From: Philladelphia, PA, USA
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Quote:
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On 2003-10-23 15:21:33, Super G wrote:
Well, in fact I think you should read this news about 400,000 units sold to retailers again.
These are units sold SINCE october the 7th! Remember that on October 7th, it was already available worldwide.
I.e. there is obviously a real demand for them!
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If there was a demand, more than a few hundred of the 400,000 units would be in consumer's hands - not on the retailer's shelves.
Nokia greatly misjudged the demand of the N-Gage.
N-Gage = Flop
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Quicksilver
Joined: Oct 18, 2003
Posts: 5
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well i don't like Nokia as well...I find them to be...toys...instead of mobile phones, but I think it is really early to call it a flop.
Besides...in Italy they seem to sell out fine. |
Super G
Joined: Mar 07, 2002
Posts: > 500
From: France
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@ specialk
"If there was a demand, more than a few hundred of the 400,000 units would be in consumer's hands - not on the retailer's shelves.
Nokia greatly misjudged the demand of the N-Gage.
N-Gage = Flop "
Well, I can see many GBA on retailer's shelves. Does that mean there's no demand for it? That would be a bit of a simplistic reasoning don't you think?
I'm sure you would likely be delighted if it ended up as a flop, but like a French saying goes "Don't sell the bear's skin before having killed it"...
@ obsixx
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On 2003-10-23 15:33:17, obsixx wrote:
You know, nintendo once tried to put a phone in their gameboy remember? Oh wait, nobody does. If somebody did we wouldn't have this tragity known as ngage.
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Oh and there's a very good reason for that: they didnt have the competence. Now they're working on it with Motorola.
Anyway, you might want to look up the word "Innovation" in your dictionary.
Every mobile phone around has game nowadays. NGage offers console-quality games and mobile gaming which was impossible until now!
Though you might be reluctant to it, fair enough, but it's not because nobody does something, that nobody should do it.
Take a simple example:
nobody did make fire before the first man did.
[ This Message was edited by: Super G on 2003-10-23 15:20 ] |
specialk
Joined: Jun 17, 2003
Posts: 15
From: Philladelphia, PA, USA
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Quote:
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On 2003-10-23 16:09:29, Super G wrote:
Well, I can see many GBA on retailer's shelves. Does that mean there's no demand for it? That would be a bit of a simplistic reasoning don't you think?
I'm sure you would likely be delighted if it ended up as a flop, but like a French saying goes "Don't sell the bear's skin before having killed it"...
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Nintendo sells every unit they make and have for years. Nokia has failed to generate widespread interest with the N-Gage. The reason you see so many GBA's on the shelves is because they continue to receive shipments every week. It's too feeble for real gamers and too inconvenient for people who want a phone (have you seen how you have to talk on this thing? It looks like you're holding a taco to your head.)
On top of that, it's marketed at the youth market. The majority of the youth market could not afford a $300 phone. For about $100 you could get a GameBoy Advance AND a good cellphone. Both of which will be better than the N-Gage.
I don't know how many of you knew this, but when Nokia first started developing the N-Gage they were doing it with Nintendo as a joint project. Nintendo realized early on that Nokia was intending to make a product that would not sell so they pulled out. That is why Nintendo is now working with Motorola on a similar project.
Go read some market research and sales figures of the N-Gage compared to any portable game console OR cellphone and you'll realize the N-Gage is seriously lagging behind.
N-Gage = Flop
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[ This Message was edited by: specialk on 2003-10-23 21:07 ] |
GiantRobot
Joined: Oct 16, 2003
Posts: 18
From: California
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Quote:
| Well, in fact I think you should read this news about 400,000 units sold to retailers again.
These are units sold SINCE october the 7th! Remember that on October 7th, it was already available worldwide.
I.e. there is obviously a real demand for them! |
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The number of units sold to retails is irrelevant. The numbers people are actually buying is nowhere near what has been shipped to retailers. This ought to tell you that no one is interested in buying the N-Gage. There is no consumer demand for the N-Gage, just retailer demand naively believing Nokia's ridiculous marketing. You bring up the fact Gameboys sit on store shelves. When the Gameboy Advance was released retailers could not keep it stocked! After the GBA was available for a week it was practically impossible to find it anywhere. I was at a game shop yesterday the there were several N-Gage's sitting in the case with no one doing much more than glancing at them. That is hardly consumer demand.
The N-Gage is being marketed to the wrong people and does not live up to the marketing hype. The games are jerky with poor graphics. Tomb Raider which I played yesterday was slow and looked more like a slideshow than an interactive game. The only thing that will sell the N-Gage is generous carrier subsidizing. If people can pick them up from T-Mobile and Cingular for $150 and a renewed or new contract they might sell decently. Game shops trying to unload them at retail price is going to fail miserably.
[ This Message was edited by: GiantRobot on 2003-10-23 23:29 ] |
obsixx
Joined: Oct 22, 2003
Posts: 173
From: USA, east coast
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@ Super G
It's not that I don't want to see the marriage of the cell and the console worlds, I just don't want it done half assed. The ngage is not innovation, nokia is just tring to cash in on a lucrative market. This is evident by the lack of originality in their launch titles. Nokia basicly grabbed up all the high profile franchises they could and put them on a device that can not handle them. Nintendo has the right idea now, mototorola knows phones and nintendo knows gaming that could be big.
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Super G
Joined: Mar 07, 2002
Posts: > 500
From: France
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@obsixx. I highly recommend you actually try these games on N-Gage (pandemonium, tomb raider, etc...) They put GBA to shame. Nintendo's in fact doing the wrong thing: GBA is a technically old device. And now they try to match what N-Gage offers in term of mobility. The game is already lost. They are obviously worried about N-Gage potential.
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Posted: 2003-10-22 17:12
