Nintendo Coming to Universal Studios

[Pinkie-Dawn]

What was thought to be a dream can now become a reality, though I do wish it was an entire land rather than just one segment. Sorry if this section isn't the best place to post this thread, but it's something I must share to everyone else.

Nintendo Partners with Universal Parks & Resorts to Create World's First-Ever Theme Park Attractions Based on Nintendo's Beloved Games and Characters

KYOTO, Japan & ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nintendo and Universal Parks & Resorts today announced plans to bring the world of Nintendo to life at Universal theme parks – creating spectacular, dedicated experiences based on Nintendo's wildly popular games, characters and worlds.

The agreement brings two icons of entertainment together and represents a significant partnership for Nintendo as it expands the reach and popularity of its characters and intellectual property.

Universal theme parks offer incredibly popular, innovative themed family entertainment experiences based on compelling stories and characters – using powerful storytelling and innovative technology. Nintendo has created remarkable and imaginative worlds filled with captivating stories and beloved characters. Now, for the first time, those stories and characters will be brought to life in entirely new ways – only at Universal theme parks.

The immersive experiences will include major attractions at Universal's theme parks and will feature Nintendo's most famous characters and games. More details will be announced in the future, as the Nintendo and Universal creative teams work to create specific concepts.

About Universal Parks & Resorts

Universal Parks & Resorts, a unit of Comcast NBCUniversal, offers guests around the globe today's most relevant and popular entertainment experiences. With three-time Academy Award winner Steven Spielberg as creative consultant, its theme parks are known for immersive experiences that feature some of the world's most thrilling and technologically advanced film- and television-based attractions. Comcast NBCUniversal is a global media and technology company that owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news, sports and entertainment networks; Universal Pictures, a premier motion picture company; significant television production operations; a leading television stations group; and world-renowned theme parks.

Comcast NBCUniversal wholly owns Universal Studios Hollywood, which includes Universal CityWalk Hollywood. It also owns Universal Orlando Resort, a world-class destination resort featuring two theme parks (Universal Studios Florida and Universal's Islands of Adventure), four resort hotels, and Universal CityWalk Orlando. Comcast NBCUniversal also has license agreements with Universal Studios Japan in Osaka, Japan and Universal Studios Singapore at Resorts World Sentosa, Singapore. In addition, Comcast NBCUniversal has recently announced plans for a theme park in Beijing and an indoor theme park to be developed as part of the Galactica Park project in Moscow.

About Nintendo

The worldwide pioneer in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its Wii U™ and Wii™ home consoles, and Nintendo 3DS™ and Nintendo DS™ families of portable systems. Since 1983, when it launched the Nintendo Entertainment System™, Nintendo has sold more than 4.3 billion video games and more than 680 million hardware units globally, including the current-generation Wii U, Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo 3DS XL, as well as the Game Boy™, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi™ and Nintendo DSi XL™, Super NES™, Nintendo 64™, Nintendo GameCube™ and Wii systems. It has also created industry icons that have become well-known, household names such as Mario™, Donkey Kong™, Metroid™, Zelda™ and Pokémon™.

A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo's operations in the Western Hemisphere. For more information about Nintendo, visit the company's website at [URL="https://www.nintendo.com/."]https://www.nintendo.com/[/URL].

Source: https://www.businesswire.com/news/h...sal-Parks-Resorts-Create-World’s#.VUs5kPlViko


Thoughts on this news?

 

[Necrum]

Oh my god, Game Grumps were talking about a Nintendo theme park like 2 weeks ago or something! :O #conspiracy

 

[Kotone]

omg i've seen the news all over facebook. i'm pretty excited. i've been to universal studios and it really didn't interest me much. the only things i liked were the despicable me and harry potter world. can't wait to hear more information.

 

[Pinkie-Dawn]

they've seriously outdone themselves this time and if this nintendo section opens they'll gain a serious upper hand over Disney.

While this will largely benefit Nintendo by a long mark, this won't be helping Universal much with their overreliance on licensed properties rather than their own IPs. I'm still waiting for Disney to collab with Toho to make a Godzilla ride, since they aren't suffering the same issues Universal Studios is currently having.

 

[Sylphiel]

All I know is I see "Nintendo" and "theme park" in the same sentence, and even if it's not an entirely Nintendo-based park--

I wish I could check this out right now.

:(

 

[blue]

I love the Universal Parks, so this is great news! I can't wait to see what plans they have for the future, I can already think of so many creative ideas they might come up with.

 

[Pendraflare]

I have to say that this is definitely not an idea that I would come to expect from one of the most signature amusement park companies we have today. But that sure doesn't mean i'm not in favor of it! Bring on the Mario Kart rides!

 

[Pinkie-Dawn]

I'm not sure what you're getting at. Is there a specific problem here? The article that you linked basically says "not all of the attractions at Universal are owned by Universal" in which basically anyone who's been at the parks more than a few times already knows. If you're worried about Universal paying off licensing fees for their partners, then I still don't get the entire relevance of your point.

At the end of the day, Disney will always beat Universal in the aspect that they're a huge stickler for every one of their rides and attractions belonging to them, because that's Disney. You're not going to find a Harry Potter ride at Disney (even though JK Rowling tried but Disney blew her off) for that very reason. What makes Universal so unique is that there are many different worlds inside of the theme parks, even though not a lot of them belong to the company itself. Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade (I would know, I used to work in Hogsmeade) are huge hits and even Hogsmeade continued to be one of the busiest aspect of the park years after it opened in what, 2010-2011 or so? Diagon Alley is doing fairly well, though I haven't popped my head over there in a while so I can't really make any sort of educated guess.

In short, don't knock Universal for this; this is a great choice on their part. They are known strictly for their perfection and doing things the way that their partners want them to be done, while at the same time adding that "Universal" touch. With Disney, it's either their way or no way. This addition of Nintendo characters while at the same time adding their own specific touch to it would make them even more of a desirable vacation destination than Disney. Not to mention more third-party companies would want to work with Universal as far as creating their own attractions, because let's face it: Universal does bend over backwards for it's third-party companies, but it pays off majorly for them in the end, so I don't think they have anything too much to worry about.

I'm not going to too long of an essay over this, but knowing how many video game character enthusiasts visit UO pretty much on a daily basis, this is going to be a huuuuuge boon for them. They'd be absolutely crazy to turn their backs on this at any point in time.

The point I'm trying to make is that Universal should try making more attractions based on their own IPs rather than relying so much on licensed products. It's why Disney is still the better of the two theme parks, because almost 100% of Disney's attractions belong to them. Universal removed the JAWS ride, one of their own IPs, for more Harry Potter, which they do not own, and I've been seeing theme park enthusiasts speculating that the Kidzone, which contains several of Universal's own IPs such as their mascot, Woody Woodpecker, will be removed to make way for a Nintendo land section. This is a similar situation Sony and Microsoft is having in the video game market, as they're relying too much on third-party games to sell their systems rather than their own IPs, and I do not want this to happen with theme parks either.

 

[Pinkie-Dawn]

The thing is, I still don't understand how this is a bad thing? It's fine if you believe Disney is better (I've had Disney tourists tell me otherwise but ok that's a super subjective point), whatever floats your boat, but do realize that UO's biggest selling point is the fact that it's incorporating so many worlds into one theme park and it will continue to generate monster revenue for as long as it keeps doing this. Face it: Was the Jaws ride ever going to make as much money for UO as Harry Potter would? Yeah, I didn't think so, either. But it goes beyond the cash: it also provided the guests a huge opportunity to experience what Harry Potter was like and it became a huge boon for UO.

People are still ticked about JAWS getting replaced by Harry Potter, because let's face it, the original film was one of the most influential films in the history of cinema for not only being the first summer blockbuster but also brought forth interest in shark research from marine biologists to prove they are not the monstrous man-eating machines they were portrayed to be. Back to the Future getting replaced by the Simpsons was understandable, because the ride was slowly going to get outdated by the time 2015, which is this year, drops in and still no flying cars or hover boards.

UO's mascot is still Woody Woodpecker, but Harry Potter is the face for Universal and tbh it's really encouraged by the company itself because it's massive profit generator right there. Spiderman is also the face for Universal, because it encourages that "action/thrill ride" feeling, and Transformers is the same way iirc. Who cares if Universal doesn't use Woody Woodpecker in any of that advertising? I firmly believe that what my experience tells me is that UO is trying to advertise itself as a action-based theme park full of adventure and exploration and what better way to do that than partner with Nintendo?

What you're describing is Islands of Adventures, which was orginally made to be for licensed products (with the Lost Continent, King Kong, and Jurassic Park being the minor exceptions). Universal Studios Florida was originally intended to be both a theme park and working studio like its Hollywood counterpart.There's been speculation that if a Nintendo land section were to be built at Islands of Adventure, it would replace either Marvel, Toon Lagoon, or both if they want to provide more room considering how massive Nintendo's list of IPs are. Some would be happy to see Marvel Island gone, finding it long overdue, because of Disney owning the rights and will now be able to build Marvel attractions on one of their Orlando parks.

Also @ last sentence, I'm not sure why you're comparing the hospitality industry to the video game industry as they are vastly different things? oO If UO relies on third-party stuff, that's not a loss for the company, that's pretty much a gain. UO relies (kind of) on a bunch on third-parties as it is (I mean, have you ever gotten off a rollercoster and had your picture taken? You thought that photo booth was owned by Universal? No, they're a third party. Same way as most of its merchanise: If you go to Lost Continent and go into Treasures of Poseidon, you'll see a Jewelry store to your right. That's also a third party). UO has demonstrated time and time again that it accommodates its third-party partners rather well and for the foreseeable future it seems it will continue to do so.

Not to mention a lot of UO's third parties (like most places on CityWalk) actually lease off UO's property, so the theme park itself makes a bit of money off of that. It's not like this is a bad business move like what you're implying it to be, and they're not throwing their money into a toilet like what you seem to be implying.

I just want Universal to care about their own IPs, whether they're original or movies who have the potential to make good attractions like Fast & the Furious or Battlestar Galactica. I just want at least 75% of the resort to be Universal, while the other 25% belonging to licensed products.