You get what you pay for, I guess? (IGN.com):
[Wedbush Securities analyst Michael] Pachter was extremely skeptical about the chances of Wii U. “I don’t get it,” he said. “I think that essentially this is a solution in search of a problem. I mean, somebody had an idea – ‘let’s make the controller a tablet’ – and there aren’t many games that are going to take advantage of that.
[...]
He went onto say about Nintendo’s strategy in general: “I don’t think they suck – I just think that they really believe that, ‘If we’re still novel, everything we do will work’. This isn’t going to work.
“Hardcore gamers will buy them; hardcore Nintendo fanboys will buy it. They could put out a piece of cardboard and say that it’ll play Mario and they’ll buy it.”
Not the honest, intelligent considerations of someone who has actually made a good-faith effort to understand Nintendo’s competitive strategy in their industry. This is the kind of thinking that is being used to guide billions of dollars in investments in mutual funds.
Nintendo may have tough competition in its industry but I’m glad I don’t!
*UPDATE*
It gets better! More from the same analyst at the same conference (Gamezone.com):
“[The Wii was] gimmicky,” he added. For the record, I agree with him here. I never got into the whole movement-based gaming sensation. But I also recognize that it sold incredibly well and that it was a huge success. But why did it sell so well?
“It worked, they got lucky,” he said, adding: “I don’t think they’re getting lucky with Wii U.”
Ignorant and superstitious! A fortuitous combination for those in competition with such a person.
Filed under: Investing Tagged: $NTDOY, competitive advantage, innovation, outside observations, Wall St
