Nintendo of America President: Gamers Always Want More - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 25 June 2012 / 5,266 Views
Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime in an interview with Kotaku which took place on the final day of E3, feels that gamers are always craving for more.
"One of the things that, on one hand, I love and, on the other hand, that troubles me tremendously about not only our fan base but about the gaming community at large is that, whenever you share information, the perspective is, 'Thank you, but I want more.' 'Thank you, but give me more.' I mean, it is insatiable," Reggie said.
"And so for years this community has been asking, 'Where's Pikmin?' 'Where's Pikmin?' 'Where's Pikmin?' We give them Pikmin. And then they say, 'What else?'" Reggie continued. "For years, this community have said, 'Damnit Reggie, when you launch, you better launch with a Mario game.' So we launch with a Mario game, and they say, 'So what's more?'"
"I have heard people say, 'You know, you've got these fantastic franchises, beyond what you're doing in Smash Bros., isn't there a way to leverage all these franchises?' So we create Nintendo Land and they say, 'Ho-hum, give me more.' So it's an interesting challenge."
Reggie was asked why there were no new IPs and game experiences shown at E3 for the Wii U. "When we show a game like Brain Age or when we show a game like Nintendogs, what's the fan-based community reaction? 'Ho-hum.' Until it sells millions of copies," said Reggie.
"It's not a question of understanding," Reggie added. "I think people understood what we showed. It's the question of, as a gamer, 'Is this for me and something I can get excited about?' And Wii Fit did not get that reaction. And yet 43-million copies around the world, it's a phenomenon. And so I would argue that the gaming community actually is unable to differentiate between a phenomenon and something that is 'ho-hum.'"
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That is actually a pretty good synopsis. Plus the Internet community likes to get hyped up about rumors that may not be even true and wonder why wasn't this or that announce and the thing in question might not even be in developer or it is so far into the future that it would be pointless to spend time on.
Negative's flood incoming.
Wow, Reggie is right. Even in the comments here, people are STILL asking for more.
For the most part, I agree. People are never satisfied.
I only want a new F-Zero Reggie, please make it happen :D
Reggie seems to mix up Nintendo fans and other gamers. I'm not sure the latter asked for either Pikmin or more Mario. His last market study must go back to ages. Gamers are playing Call of Duty, Battlefield, Skyrim, Mass Effect, Uncharted, Assassin's Creed, etc. does he see demand for Pikmin here? Anyone would want more if they're presented Nintendo Land, because Nintendo Land is the level 0 of video games.
What he says at the end of the interview is alarming. So Nintendo doesn't care if their fanbase is bored as long as they achieve stellar sales? Gamers can't differentiate between a phenomenon and ho-hum? Someone tells Reggie that gamers don't give a sh** to sales phenomenons, they want good and ambitious games, a thing that Nintendo has obviously long given up to...
While I do agree with him in many ways, I think the gaming community is justified in some of their concerns.
Kicking @ss and taking names
I agree i have seen so much for WiiU and 3DS at E3 and at Nintendo Directs and people are saying for real that is not enough. Men one it's even a new console give them time, they are doing so many first party titles like Nintendo did only when the SNES came out, it's hard with new consoles.
The gaming community still knows what's ho-hum. A lot of the "ho-hum" became successful because of all the non-gamers brought in by the Wii and mobile gaming. It would be nice if Nintendo would show more loyalty to the true fans - the ones that made Nintendo successful back in the NES days...
That's it? That's all you have to say, Reggie?
What do you mean, that's already alot. Did you want him to say sorry? He doesn't understand what he did wrong, how could he apologize? :(
This is the usual PR spin. Instead of talking about their poor E3 presentation (which is what all the hubbub is actually about), he's skirting the issue.
"We have a Mario game", he says. Yeah, except it's a second-tier downloadable title of an old franchise (NSMB) that no one was asking for.
"We have Pikmin", says Reggie. True, but it's an upscaled Wii game that Miyamoto said even works best by using the Wiimote and Nunchuk. Again, not a full-fledged Wii U title from the ground-up. As well, both Sony and Microsoft showed games that looked far more advanced graphically.
And I call BS on Reggie for saying that no one was interested when they announced Brain Age and Nintendogs for the NDS. They were NEW IPs, something that the Wii U is sorely lacking.
They based their entire press conference around Nintendo Land, and he's going to try and turn our disappointment in THEIR shtty show against us? Saying that we're spoiled and can never be satisfied? F him.
Lastly, he goes on to say that the public fully understands the idea. Then why did CNN and Jimmy Fallon publicly say that they thought it was a Wii peripheral? Because in 2 Fng years Nintendo hasn't held up the actual console and said that it was the Wii U. Their message has been nothing but confusing, and they simply can't put their egos aside to think for one second that they've blown their entire marketing campaign for this thing. Man, just take some responsibility for something when you do a shtty job.
I just got severe deja-vu. Copied from the thread, or thread post copied from here? hehe Anyway, yeah he did do a shit job, but he's also right in what he's saying, most of it at least. And no, most people didn't really care about Nintendogs and Brain Age when they were first announced to be totally honest, and especially no one expected them to sell to such heights. I don't think many gamers in the regular community actually bought them. They sold to the extended audience. I understand you're pissed (as I also was), but you're not looking at this completely objectively either. Yes they made mistakes, but yes the gamer community is an insatiable one, and very anti-Nintendo in general. Sure, the onus is on Nintendo to fix that, but gamers should be tired of whining at this point, imho.
"They were NEW IPs, something that the Wii U is sorely lacking."
Nintendoland is a new IP.
runs for cover
"the gamer community is an insatiable one, and very anti-Nintendo in general."
What actually represents this “Gamer community” in question? Sony console’s public, Microsoft’s one or Nintendo’s one?
Nintendo’s public has never been completely united; there are those who liked the Nintendo’s licenses and those who preferred third party games. Among the Nintendo fans, there are those who give priority to 2D Mario games, for some others it’s 3D Mario games, The legend of Zelda, Pokemon, or Tetris games, while others prefer minor franchise games and some who like every franchise… Some prefer Dr. Kawashima or Wii Sport/Ressort‘s style of games, play it thoroughly in order to score the highest (and believe my experience it’s not an easy thing to accomplish…). Therefore, I do not see why they are less than Call Of Duty players on autopilot mode! I who have played the video games for almost 20 years, specialized in the Nintendo/Sega (and Square Enix in a less extent), and have mastered at least a dozen of gameplays styles; who doesn’t even have the time to play all the new released games that catch my eyes as much as i would like to because of so many there are. I don’t recognize myself in that definition, and I shouldn’t be the only one…
Maybe gamers were expecting games that don't look as if they are a few years old before release?
I think the people shouting "Where's Pikmin?" were hoping it might have made an appearance on the Wii like it was initially designed as, not being the game to launch a new console.
QFT. The expectations at Nintendo are often mismanaged. They really have to work on that.
