Companies that were basically told to go die

[Burst]

It seems any time you have a company that's either famous or powerful that winds up struggling for whatever reason, there always seems to be a mad rush of journalists, fans, bloggers, what have you, clamoring to write the company's obituary. It's like wanting the company to die to say "I told you so", but I feel like every time this happens, the company winds up recovering, sometimes with a vengeance.

Best examples I can think of are Apple circa 1997 and Nintendo circa 2006. Apple's probably the better example since they were pretty much completely written off before Steve Jobs returned and the whole iMac -> iPod progression began, but I can still remember around the time that the news broke that the Nintendo Revolution was renamed the Wii, that practically every game journalism website and magazine began rushing out "RIP Nintendo" variants and saying that Nintendo needed to pack it in like Sega and go third-party software only... despite the fact that the DS was running strong at this point.

I've been seeing this a lot lately in regards to Blackberry; full disclosure, even though it was the entry-level model, the Blackberry I had as my previous phone was by far the best phone I've had in terms of functionality and ease of use, and it was just the right one-handed size right before phones started getting huge again. Blackberry's releasing a new Android model? Blackberry's doomed. The Blackberry Priv sold out overnight on Amazon despite being $700? Blackberry's doomed. People are just so EAGER to write a death certificate for a company. I shit you not, "Let Us Now Bury Blackberry" is a legit headline I saw, from someone who didn't appear to have actually reviewed the phone in person, just the stats and his impressions. But that's expected, I suppose.

[A Platypus Rave]

People have been doing the RIP Nintendo schtick since at least the Gamecube possibly longer.

[Sparkybob]

R.I.P TNA

[Famous Rocking Chimes]

Nov 20, 2015 13:24:08 GMT -5 Sparkybob said:

R.I.P TNA

What I came in here to say. People have been predicting TNA's death for a good three years now, especially since the Dixie heel turn and Styles left the company.

[Deleted]

During the initial details of xbox one having to be online all the time and preventing used games and windows 8 being garbage, there was tons of people wanting Microsoft to die

[Dub H]

Nov 20, 2015 13:36:48 GMT -5 Famous Rocking Chimes said:

Nov 20, 2015 13:24:08 GMT -5 Sparkybob said:

R.I.P TNA

What I came in here to say. People have been predicting TNA's death for a good three years now, especially since the Dixie heel turn and Styles left the company.

to be fair,it is slowly dying since then.

[legendkiller1985]

TNA and I've seen a lot of RIP Best Buy a few years back

[Burst]

Nov 20, 2015 13:16:37 GMT -5 A Platypus Rave said:

People have been doing the RIP Nintendo schtick since at least the Gamecube possibly longer.

They were pretty much doing it for the entire existence of the Gamecube, from the instant that they announced they were going to use minidiscs instead of CDs.

I also admit I've been guilty of doing this to TNA, but I intended the topic more in regards to companies that still had a chance of turning the corner (usually on the eve of a big product announcement) when they were being pronounced dead, versus... Oh hell, do I really need to say anything about TNA's 'big announcements'?

[Push R Truth]

My bowels have been telling Arby's to die for decades

[legendkiller1985]

I also saw a lot of RIP Microsoft after Vista and the 360 Red Ring

[Lupin the Third]

Nov 20, 2015 14:15:58 GMT -5 Push R Truth said:

My bowels have been telling Arby's to die for decades

My stomach has been telling Burger King to die for about 5 years.

[Deleted]

radio shack

[Joe Neglia]

Nov 20, 2015 13:36:48 GMT -5 Famous Rocking Chimes said:

Nov 20, 2015 13:24:08 GMT -5 Sparkybob said:

R.I.P TNA

What I came in here to say. People have been predicting TNA's death for a good three years now, especially since the Dixie heel turn and Styles left the company.

Three years, hell, I've seen that call going on since the first year.

[Brood Lone Wolf Funker]

Nov 20, 2015 14:31:32 GMT -5 @personman01 said:

radio shack

It's weird that Radio Shack is still open but under the guise of being Sprint Stores

[DoubleDare]

People said it about blockbuster and it became true.

People are always saying it about kmart and Sears.

[Porky's Butthole]

Nov 20, 2015 14:31:32 GMT -5 @personman01 said:

radio shack

Radioshack.

[Father Dougal McGuire]

Not that I am wishing it, but I do wonder how long brick and mortar stores like kmart, sears, best buy, etc have left. I am not saying they will be gone in 5 years, but will they be around in 20-30 years? I remember when malls were the big thing, and for the most part they seem to be going the way of the dodo.

[rocket]

All this talk about big box stores, and it's got me thinking about Barnes and Noble, between Borders going under a while back and the state of print in general.

[Deleted]

Nov 20, 2015 17:18:34 GMT -5 Porky's Butthole said:

Nov 20, 2015 14:31:32 GMT -5 @personman01 said:

radio shack

Radioshack.

[BlackoutCreature]

Nov 20, 2015 13:16:37 GMT -5 A Platypus Rave said:

People have been doing the RIP Nintendo schtick since at least the Gamecube possibly longer.

In 1985 there were articles in various technology magazines talking about how the NES was a disaster waiting to happen and pretty much treating the home video game system as a fad that had passed with the collapse of Atari. I'm sure if we traveled back to 1889 we'd find people on the streets of Japan saying the same thing about their playing cards.