how many more times can the Zelda fanbase afford to be split?

[Spirit]

Since Wind Waker the Zelda franchise has developed a knack for splitting/dividing the fanbase.

Not just home console titles like Wind Waker and Skyward Sword are responsible but the hand held consoles too with the likes of Spirit Tracks and most recently Tri Force Heroes.

Due to the aforementioned titles turning off fans permanently to the franchise there's less and less chance that the next titles of the franchise will reach the masses it used to. Case in point Tri Force Heroes didn't perform as well as it may have had the series not entered a state of fan disinterest in recent times.

The question is, if Zelda U further pulls an unpopular move (like SS's overworld, TP's Wolf, WW's sailing) and further alienates the few remaining Zelda purists, what will Zelda have left to aim for and what will it have to do to reclaim its followers?

 

[Dio]

OOT sales=8million+excluding 3DS remake
MM sales around 3 million excluding 3DS remake
WW sales 3million+
TP sales 8million+
SS sales 3million+

As you can see. WW had little effect on turning fans permanently off the franchise as they all pretty much came back for TP. When Nintendo refused to give more TP and OOT style Zelda with SS, which blatantly looked nothing like that type of game, half the fans said no to buying it. With Zelda U we have a different look again which I am not convinced the other 4 million who gave up on SS will want to go for and realistically, buy a Wii U for.

I'm gonna say here my estimate for Zelda U as around the higher end of 3 million in sales.


As to how Zelda can win back the fans? Go multiplatform. That's where all the rest will be.

 

[Lozjam]

OOT sales=8million+excluding 3DS remake
MM sales around 3 million excluding 3DS remake
WW sales 3million+
TP sales 8million+
SS sales 3million+

As you can see. WW had little effect on turning fans permanently off the franchise as they all pretty much came back for TP. When Nintendo refused to give more TP and OOT style Zelda with SS, which blatantly looked nothing like that type of game, half the fans said no to buying it. With Zelda U we have a different look again which I am not convinced the other 4 million who gave up on SS will want to go for and realistically, buy a Wii U for.

I'm gonna say here my estimate for Zelda U as around the higher end of 3 million in sales.


As to how Zelda can win back the fans? Go multiplatform. That's where all the rest will be.

Unless NX is a hit.... I mean, NX will certainly have JRPG fans with Square Enix on board. I think that is certainly enough to get old Zelda fans back. If NX is successful, and the game after Zelda U is good, then I can definitely see a revival of Zelda.

 

[Dio]

Those JRPG fans can play them on the PS4. FF15 and the 7 remake are coming to PS4. Square are a multiplatform developer.

Either the NX will be comparable to current consoles and not worth getting when the XB1 or PS4 will be cheaper. OR if it is much more powerful not many 3rd party developers will make for it and we will have the same problem we have now with the Wii U only we will have super powered Nintendo games on our Nintendo home console and no 3rd party support rather than underpowered ones on our home console with no 3rd party support. We will still have the issue of Nintendo's slow releases and delays. We'll see what the NX is all about at E3 but in my view Nintendo have exited the home console war and will eventually lose their handheld customers to mobile phones. The 3DS hasn't sold nearly as well as the DS and whatever follows will not fare any better. Unless they release the Nintendo Phone of course.

 

[Lozjam]

Those JRPG fans can play them on the PS4. FF15 and the 7 remake are coming to PS4. Square are a multiplatform developer.

Either the NX will be comparable to current consoles and not worth getting when the XB1 or PS4 will be cheaper. OR if it is much more powerful not many 3rd party developers will make for it and we will have the same problem we have now with the Wii U only we will have super powered Nintendo games rather than underpowered ones. We will still have the issue of Nintendo's slow releases and delays. We'll see what the NX is all about at E3 but in my view Nintendo have exited the home console war and will eventually lose their handheld customers to mobile phones. The 3DS hasn't sold nearly as well as the DS and whatever follows will not fare any better. Unless they release the Nintendo Phone of course.

It really depends on how many people buy the NX.
Not only that, but if NX is indeed a cross console platform, than the NX will have Bravely Default(The True Final Fantasy), Final Fantasy Explorers Series, all Dragon Quest Games. This, toppled with the NX having all of SE's game(FF15, and especially FF7 will likely come to NX as well), will make JRPG fans come crawling to Nintendo. We have seen this already with the 3DS being pretty much a dedicated JRPG system now. Really, the 3DS is a must have for JRPG fans. But not only that, but if the NX has Monster Hunter from Capcom, and Capcom's fighting games. Sega's SMT series. This along with the glory that is Monolith Soft's RPG's. This is going to make NX a must have system for those players.

We have already seen this happen for 3DS, so if they play their cards right, this will undoubtedly happen for NX as well. Furthermore, Square Enix is in this business for the money. If the NX wasn't a good idea, why the hell would they support it before it's even announced?

 

[Dio]

Nintendo will have thrown money at Square enix. Whether the NX does well or not does not matter to them. Their games will be experienced by those who want to, the square enix fans. The platform they choose to experience these titles with will be probably the PS4 and Xbox 1.

Final Fantasy 15 is coming next year. The NX is merely being unveiled. Those who want FF15 will not be waiting to experience it on the NX but on one of the existing platforms. The FF fans will have no reason whatsoever to buy a whole new console just to play games they could play on a console they already own (PS4,X1)

I dont see why a new console will take off. JRPG's will not shift huge numbers of consoles especially when a lot of those JRPG's are not going to be exclusive titles. Monster hunter 4 is a game that has sold 3+million copies on the Wii U. That is not a home console selling game. The only titles that will sell large numbers of Nintendo consoles are Nintendo titles. Mario and Zelda. Interest in Mario and Zelda has declined, therefore unless they somehow make them appeal to mass market again Nintendo has nothing to sell their NX with. They will release another console which hardly anybody will own because it is too late to break into the existing console war and it is too niche to make Nintendo huge money like its consoles used to.

 

[Lozjam]

Nintendo will have thrown money at Square enix. Whether the NX does well or not does not matter to them. Their games will be experienced by those who want to, the square enix fans. The platform they choose to experience these titles with will be probably the PS4 and Xbox 1.

Final Fantasy 15 is coming next year. The NX is merely being unveiled. Those who want FF15 will not be waiting to experience it on the NX but on one of the existing platforms. The FF fans will have no reason whatsoever to buy a whole new console just to play games they could play on a console they already own (PS4,X1)

I dont see why a new console will take off. JRPG's will not shift huge numbers of consoles especially when a lot of those JRPG's are not going to be exclusive titles. Monster hunter 4 is a game that has sold 3+million copies on the Wii U. That is not a home console selling game. The only titles that will sell large numbers of Nintendo consoles are Nintendo titles. Mario and Zelda. Interest in Mario and Zelda has declined, therefore unless they somehow make them appeal to mass market again Nintendo has nothing to sell their NX with. They will release another console which hardly anybody will own because it is too late to break into the existing console war and it is too niche to make Nintendo huge money like its consoles used to.

Nintendo has way more than just Mario and Zelda. However, it is tough to say whether Mario is actually declining. Mario on the Wii U was hindered by the system sales, however, the 3DS had a larger install base and still sold 10 million.

There's, that. Also, series such as Monster hunter 4(which combined sold 8 million copies), are clearly very popular now. Pokemon has sold 12 million.

You are also forgetting that nintendo still has more sales in a single game than with PS4's exclusive games combined. Skyward Sword still sold more than Bloodeborne as well, let that sink in for a moment...

Again, combining Nintendo's handheld, and home console fans, which will appeal to gamers when done correctly.

 

[Derek Francis]

OOT sales=8million+excluding 3DS remake
MM sales around 3 million excluding 3DS remake
WW sales 3million+
TP sales 8million+
SS sales 3million+

Twilight Princess' sales were the highest because it was a launch title on a system that sold like hotcakes. Zelda U's sales may not compete, and that's only because it's on a system with a smaller install base.

 

[Derek Francis]

Aunoma should just have maximum creative control and create the kind of games he wants to create. The fanbases can either choose to like it or dislike it. I'm open to a variety of different Zelda games: 2D, 3D, portable, console, realistic, stylized. If you only like a certain kind of game, that's only your limitation.

As it stands, I think Aunoma is doing a great job uniting the fanbase with Zelda U. It both has a colorful art style and is the most detailed looking Zelda game o date. And it doesn't look like it's going the controversial linear hand-holding route that Skyward Sword went through. If Zelda U offends you or splits you away from the series, I really don't know what you're looking for in a Zelda game.

 

[A Link In Time]

I don't think there is any complicated algorithm to get Zelda sales back on track. First off, new games need to be released on a more timely basis. Having to wait five years for a 3D console Zelda is too much. Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, and The Wind Waker had shorter development times and are regarded as some of the best games ever created. Second, Nintendo needs to stop diluting the franchise with constant remakes and spin-offs. Letting the series take a break for a few years is okay. Look at what Metroid did. The series lay dormant for over seven years before Metroid Prime and Metroid Fusion revitalized the franchise in both 3D and 2D, respectively. Zelda is one of the highest rated franchises of all time, and it should try to preserve that reputation. Third, and perhaps most importantly, Nintendo needs to market the franchise better. Let's be honest, Nintendo's advertising this generation has been a joke. Wii U ads are almost never seen and 3DS promotions only pop up here and there. Returning to the Metroid example, Metroid Prime had a fantastic commercial prior to release that showcased Metroid's signature creepy and isolated atmosphere and deftly showed the increased graphical power of the Gamecube. Nintendo needs to let people know their consoles exist. I know the modern Nintendo is still capable of doing this, because the "Wii would like to play" ads were a terrific success. I don't think it's so much the fanbase being split as people losing faith in Nintendo and not investing in their hardware to play the latest Mario or Zelda game.

 

[Ver-go-a-go-go]

Twilight Princess' sales were the highest because it was a launch title on a system that sold like hotcakes. Zelda U's sales may not compete, and that's only because it's on a system with a smaller install base.

Skyward Sword has literally no excuse to sell as comparatively low as it did with that logic. It had four years of massive Wii install base growth and didn't even come close to TP's sales just on the Wii. There's no explanation for that except that TP was just the better game, which critic reviews also support.

Zelda U will come no where close to either, if you ask me.

 

[ihateghirahim]

We're fans. We theorize. We Bicker. We love this series.
As long as effort is put into the next game I don't see the fanbase dying off. Countless gamers love the series's unique blend of action and puzzle-solving, Though we argue about TP vs. WW and what not, we all generally buy the games and enjoy them them. The fanbase is huge and avid, as Techmo Koei mentioned in their interviews about Hyrule Warriors and Dragon Quest Heroes. Many people outside the gaming community know and love this series by name alone, and would love to come back to it if the right game is made. The only issue with the series is the deplorable fate with the Wii U as of late.

Nintendo's games still get great reviews and are loved by many. The only chance of the series dying would be if Nintendo's poor decisions about streaming, hardware, and software release schedules ran the whole company into the ground. It must be noted Nintendo has a new president. He will likely improve upon many of the company's poor policies of the last decade or so, such as the accursed emphasis on motion controls and casual gaming. As long as Nintendo as a whole does better, the series should be safe.

 

[Linkmaster30000]

I thought LBW did a nice job of bringing fans back together in the series. That being said, it's probably the only one since OoT that wasn't met with "WHAT THE HECK IS THIS" besides maybe the Oracle games (which went unnoticed) and MC.

That being said, every franchise splits fans. Mario does it all the time. The fact that Zelda is still going is a testament to the fanbase at large, and I doubt anything that ZWU does (unless it becomes a FPS with guns and a modern setting) will do enough to drive Nintendo to drop the entire series.

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

Skyward Sword has literally no excuse to sell as comparatively low as it did with that logic. It had four years of massive Wii install base growth and didn't even come close to TP's sales just on the Wii. There's no explanation for that except that TP was just the better game, which critic reviews also support.

Zelda U will come no where close to either, if you ask me.

do you really think that the wii's install base was filled w/ people like us who are actually into video games? yes the wii sales were up the wazoo (shut up) but how many of those people would have actually been interested in the next zelda title? couple that w/ the drastic art change and it was sure to follow that dropping sales pattern
twilight princess was also an interesting case b/c not only was it a launch title zelda game,but it was also that so desired ocarina 2.0 that fans have been clamoring for since the the beginning of the gamecube
besides,like any zelda that wasn't ocarina of time or prior,it received a good a mount hate from the fans after it came