Late yesterday, we all sort of shook our heads in disbelief when we heard about Panasonic attempting to rejoin the games industry with a new portable called the Jungle. Can this really work, or will Panasonic once again shame itself like it did with the dreaded 3DO? Is there even room for another portable device in the market?
IndustryGamers reached out to a few of our favorite analysts, and the consensus was definitely that Panasonic is in for a major uphill battle.
Billy Pidegon, an analyst at M2 Research told us, "The Jungle is a highly specialized dedicated portable for a non-existent market. This is an unprecedented hardware strategy, and probably for good reason. If MMO players want to go more portable than a laptop, I guess this would be the way to go. Frankly, this looks like a non-starter."
David Cole of DFC Intelligence also independently decided to label it a non-starter. He commented, "Having followed Panasonic/Matsushita for nearly 20 years I can say they have looked at ways to get into content for years without much success. Their biggest competitor is Sony and going back to the 1980s both companies realized that hardware was becoming more of a commodity and content would be what drives sales going forward. Sony bought Columbia for music and movies and of course built a major game division. Panasonic bought Universal, invested in 3DO (but didn't own it) and started their own game division (both software and even working with Nintendo on a ill-fated hardware system). By the mid to late 1990s, Universal was sold, the 3DO platform was abandoned and the game division was shut down (although the launch of the Q, an expensive GameCube, followed later).
"Sony meanwhile remains a leader in movies, music and games. So given that history my inclination would be to say a system like the Jungle is a non-starter right out of the gate. Until they can show me otherwise I just don't think Panasonic has the right pieces to compete in this space."
Colin Sebastian of Lazard Capital Markets isn't too optimistic either. He said it "would seem like an uphill challenge to launch a new portable gaming device unless there is some meaningful differentiation or access to proprietary content."
As EEDAR's Jesse Divnich rightly told us, "It all comes down to software support, and with any hardware platform regardless of its quality, the absence of strong third-party support will most certainly end in failure."
Prove us wrong, Panasonic. Prove us wrong.
6 Comments
October 5, 2010
There are some great 3DO games like, Sex, The Coven, Immortal Desire, Panzer General, Jurassic Park Interactive... and more. So, what Panasonic should probably do is port these games in their new console as a start. And from there maybe they can make new and original games as they move forward.
October 6, 2010
I'm not sure why people keep thinking 3DO was a Panasonic-only thing. Sure, they manufactured the greatest number of consoles, but GoldStar also made quite a few 3DOs. I'm also sure Panasonic doesn't have the rights to most if not all games released on the 3DO.
What they need to do is hold off as long as they can on a hardware release and offer hookers, blow, cash and fast cars to as many great developers as they can so they have a decent launch library. If that doesn't happen, this thing is DEAD.
October 6, 2010
Matsushita must be looking for a tax writeoff, or someone in power is strongly disconnected from reality. This is hands-down the worst hardware product release, so far, of any I've ever seen in the game industry... and I've seen N-Gage, Gizmondo, Phantom, and Virtual Boy.
The best they can hope for is that it will sink so quickly that the memory of this fiasco will fade in a year tor two.
October 7, 2010
I think it's a good idea. Since it's browser-based, it can be used for any online game. So there's no need for Panasonic to have any games developed. If it's Linux-based, that'd be an extra plus, b/c that would allow updating and customization. But what it needs for online gaming is definitely fast CPUs and GPUs. Browser-based 3D online games (using Flash for a renderer or a custom plugin) are already being used and their market share will probably grow. There's not been a handheld console yet that can be used for that general field of online gaming. I think it does have lots of potential.
October 7, 2010
Well, if The Jungle has some spiffy hardware features, you'd think Panasonic might want to mention them, if they're trying to create buzz. Or get someone interested. Or avoid having analysts cough up a lung laughing.
October 13, 2010
I know Sony and Nintendo are laughing all the way to the bank that Panasonic put 2 analog controls on the Jungle. Cause every gamer has been asking for that feature for years..... Wait that does not work out for them.
Still Panasonic has an up hill battle with this unit, it could find a niche with the hardcore gamers the other companies thumb their collective noses at model redesign after redesign. But is that enough to make it work.