Opinion - Zelda: Breath of the Wild is beautiful, but can't save Nintendo on its own
By: MithrandielThe internet is abuzz with excitement surrounding the latest Zelda title, Breath of the Wild. Featuring a large open-world environment, a fun and vibrant art style, and promising an epic adventure for fans of the Zelda franchise, it seems to be hitting all the right chords within the gaming community. If you haven't seen the trailer yet, you can see it below:[iframe id="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1rPxiXXxftE"]Since the announcement this morning, people have been lining up for hours to check out the game. Check out the sheer size of this line!So, people are excited, and rightfully so. However, many people haven't forgotten that Nintendo's presence at this year's E3 has been muted for a few months now. While Microsoft and Sony had respective announcements regarding their latest consoles and hardware, the Nintendo NX has been glaringly absent, and many wonder how Nintendo expects to compete when their rivals seem to be sprinting out of the gate generation after generation.
Concerns regarding Nintendo's place in the console wars is hardly a new concept. However, now that we've seen multiple iterations of console wars come and go, with Nintendo often lagging behind their competitors, how much longer can they maintain their reliance on older intellectual property without pushing the envelope?We've seen some steps in the right direction, including their announcement to bring more of their intellectual property to mobile platforms. By tapping into the app market, which continues to balloon and is estimated to grow to $75 billion+ by 2020, Nintendo may very well unlock some additional revenue streams in order to drive research and development into new consoles and offer more compelling console exclusives. This revenue stream is desperately needed, as the company has experienced some significant decreases in revenue over the past few years.
Ultimately though, the question is: does Nintendo want to keep fighting the console war? After all, they have an iron-grip on the mobile gaming industry with their ever-popular Nintendo DS lineup; the handheld console recently broke 154 million units sold. Meanwhile, the industry shifts towards VR and a feverish race to the top in terms of hardware when it comes to the home console, so it seems hard to imagine Nintendo breaking away from its previous console strategies by going all-in with a "monster" of a machine.Whether Nintendo will continue to occupy its unique corner of the console market has yet to be seen, but if they wish to reclaim any of the ground they've lost to Sony and Microsoft since their arrival into the home console market, they will need to move beyond relying on the same intellectual property generation after generation. It's time for some fresh content...Nintendo fans are ready.What did you think of Nintendo's showing at E3 this year? Feel free to share in the comments or join us on our Discord server!
