Reggie: We Don't Announce Games 5 or 6 Years in Advance Like Other Companies - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 23 June 2015 / 16,865 Views
Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime has told Kotaku that Nintendo does not announce games that won't be released for another five or six years:
"Look, we know that the fans want a straight Samus Aran game. We also know that the best way to launch a game like that is to surprise and delight them, to give them a launch date, in an environment like this let them play it vs. what other companies do which is to announce a project that you may not see for five, six years. It’s just not the way we do things. We know the community wants to see a straight-up Metroid game. We know it."
While it has not been five or six years, Nintendo's flagship The Legend of Zelda for the Wii U was announced in early 2013 and won't be released until early 2016 at the earliest, which is a three year gap at best, so Reggie's comments are probably ill-advised.
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A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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89 Comments
I don't like this guy. He always has the need to throw jabs at others companies to make a point.
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The gaming community always compares Nintendo to the competition, so it's not like he really has a choice.
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Just because the community does it, doesn't mean he has to stoop to that.
It's an exaggeration, and over all silly comment by him that I don't think any one would accuse Nintendo of. Not necessary at all.
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same. I use to like him but lately he just comes across like a jerk...
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Just to point, that Zelda HD will likely release at holiday 2016, so that's almost 4 years after announcement.
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The first glimpse of Zelda U was at e3 2014 (last year), the one we saw years ago was a tech demo. So 2 years is fair.
Anyone who thinks there won't be a Zelda on a Nintendo console is insane, so them showing a tech demo in 2012 then launching a Zelda game in 2016 does not equate to an announcement 4 years away.
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And the 2006 e3 tech demo that haven't release yet and some fans used to say Wii wasn't weak?
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Are they on a rampage of saying odd/stupid things since E3 or something?
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Lol, cause other game companies do that all the time? Besides SE I can't think of one company that does that a lot. Also SMT x FE, Zelda, Devil's Third... There's a saying in Norwegian, which goes as following "Don't throw stones in a house of glass". Maybe Nintendo should take that advice...
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Nintendo "announced" Devil's Third one year ago and it releases in a couple of months. It's not their fault Valhalla / THQ announced it years ago before the latter closed down.
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There is also The Last Guardian, which was announced who knows how long...
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Dengle, no you didn't. A thumb down on vgchartz means you posted something very correct and intelligent actually.
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I never liked Reggie. Sounds like sour grapes. He's not good for NoA. I hope they find a more suitable president. Lots of games that he could fight for localization on, yet let slip thru the cracks. Not to mention collectibles that never make it west. Now he's throwing darts at the competition (nothing wrong with that), but when you're losing...it looks desperate.
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Iwata is the president of NoA and has the final say about localizations.
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most companies don't announce games that far in the future and those that have don't do it on a regular basis.
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SquEnix does all the time. It's kinda their thing. Don't expect FF7 before 2019.
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Would need to be 2020 or 2021 to be 5 to 6 years. The guy exaggerated. There is no way around it. Had he said 3 to 4 there woulda have been more title that fit that window, though even that it's more than most game announcements from almost all companies. Had he just said 2 to 3 that would really catch most the games from announcement to release. Though Nintendo probably doesn't average much better than that themselves.
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It's not a big problem when you don't have nothing to announce, isn't it ?
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Honestly thats because you cant accounce anything 5years into the future, because by then support for the Wii U wont be there, you ll be working on the next console. Which will probably be out late 2016 or early 2017.
In Nintendo's 2008 e3, there was a lack of new Wii games. Then Shigeru Miyamoto said Nintendo was working on a new Pikmin game. Afterwards I remember there being an IGN poll about whether people would prefer Pikmin 3 to be on the Wii or DS (DS won the poll). At the earliest I will start to consider obtaining a game after I see a gameplay trailer (I say that with FF7 remake in mind).
What company announces a game five to six years in advance? Is this a jab at Sony´s The Last Guardian or something? How about how Nintendo announced the Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem game? The game was officially announced in early 2013 and we didn´t hear anything about it for two years. I think that Nintendo is as guilty as any company at announcing games in advance and releasing them years later. I love Nintendo, but Jesus Christ, you´re not a bunch of saints.
If you guys know gamers want it why don't you do it? Thats logical, isn't it? Let's give our consumers what they want. So simple. The "Nintendo way of doing things" is ruining the company. Have a nice downfall.
Reggie, please stop. You are a funny guy when you want. Now you are just stupid...
Just like how X will release 3 years after announcement. Don't even get me started on Zelda.
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I love Nintendo, but Jesus Christ, all of this can stop at any time... Please...
We know you want another genuine Metroid game, but we know what's best for you and instead of doing that we've been working on a metroid themed game that won't really satisfy that itch. But don't worry we may or may not be working on a real Metroid game as we speak, but we're not going to tell you whether we are or not because we have no idea when it will be ready and we don;t want to create any anticipation. What exactly is wrong with announcing an intended game 5 years out? As long as you aer open about the fact that the game has no scheduled release year it's all good. Better for Nintendo to say "Yes, we are definitely working on a proper Metroid game" than to keep everyone in the dark.
Just stop Reggie. My body isn't ready. I repeat my body isn't ready!!
Ok.. and what about announce games for the next year then, Mr. Smart Guy ? I like Nintendo games but I really don´t like their arrogant attitude towards other companies and towards their own fans
Reggie's always put his foot in his mouth. I'm not really sure why people are so fond of him. He's a complete drone, putting a positive spin on every bit of crappy news. He's firing a gun with no ammunition.
Why is Nintendo running their mouths off these past 3-4 days and upsetting people?
He is trying to throw jabs to distract from the real problem. Reggie, is there going to be a mainline metroid game coming to Wii U or not? Dont dodge that. That is the real question.
Lol they've told us a Zelda U game is in development since the announcement of the system.
You dont get to say shi* about others when your own console is suffering a painful death. This is like watching Fernando Torres talking shit about Messi and Ronaldo.
So, not only they told us that it takes 3 years to make a proper main series Metroid game, but they also tell us that they haven't told some development to drop what they were doing and to start as fast as possible a Metroid Game, and it seems like they won't do it for other 2 YEARS ??? Reggie, Iwata I'm waiting you two to drop your jobs NOW
Nintendo doesent do alot of things its competitors do and thats why their home conole is a failure.
This guy should work with third parties to let the Wii U have more interesting games, instead of saying this nonsense.
Reggie's always put his foot in his mouth. I'm not really sure why people are so fond of him. He's a complete drone, putting a positive spin on every bit of crappy news. He's firing a gun with no ammunition.
Please just stop appeasing the investors with this nonesense. Of course games need to generate hype years before so people know the game is indeed in production. If all games released a year before or less, people wouldn't care most of the times because they weren't informed so well.
The only company that announces games that far off on a regular basis are Square Enix. So it's hardly any kind of industry standart. I get what he's trying to say, you don't announce a game that is not in developement yet/has barely entered developement, that's why they only teased Starfox last E3, but the way he phrases it just serves to make him look bad. Don't bring up what other companies are doing, especially when said comapnies are doing significantly better than your own atm. Just focus on your own work.
Waiting for the release of the zelda they demoed for Wii launch, 5 years is just half the time they are taking to release that zelda.
Uh, that was a tech demo for the hardware... Not an announcement for the upcoming Zelda.
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He is referring to the Last Guardian. Everyone knows Sony did not intend for the game to be in DEV for 6 years. Nothing will be every as dirty as when Nintendo showed realistic Link at Spaceworld 2000 only to announce Toon Link 2 years later. Wind Waker turned out to be a great game, but no one wanted Toon link at the time we ALL wanted Spaceworld 2000 link.
Well, that's kind of your fault for expecting something that wasn't promised to you.
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As much as i love Reggie, he is really getting out of control. Take a chill pill man!
It's not an issue of when they are announcing it. The problem is they didn't even start development on it.
Heh. Maybe they should. It would give people a reason to buy a WiiU! What was even available the first year or two after launch?
I'm not comfortable with any company doing this: promising games several years in advance. People then buy a console for something they'll have to wait years for.
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Zelda U is announced in 2013. and it will be released in 2016., thats 4 years, not 5 or 6.
Give us some solid Zelda progress and 2016 Wii U release date soon Reggie!
Awe, reggie takes a little jab, if you can even call it that, at sony, and you guys come running to their defense. Well, announcing a game 5 years out is lame. 9 years is even dumber.
they dont want to do it because they need to announce their new console (where these games will be released on) first.
This article is like, 'Lets take a positive thing Reggie says, about how they know the fans want to see a straight up Metroid game but they want to surprise them rather than reveal it early, and spin it in the most negative way possible.'
That's true. And I'm grateful for that. ...I still don't like you Reggie.
He is exaggerating!!! Come on people its obvious. The point he is making is that Nintendo do not announce games that are more than a year out. Probably one of the biggest problems with interviews on the net is context.
Comments below voting threshold
Uh, Zelda's a pretty weird case. It really wasn't officially "announced," because it didn't have to be, because everyone already knew they were making a new Zelda game. They are always making a new Zelda game. But they didn't show it until 2014...
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It seems that rather than take his comment and acknowledge some of the truth behind it, people would rather call him upset or say he should step down. Sigh... :
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Don't worry cloudman, if you were downvoted you are in the VIP club of intelligent people.
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In that case he should have said "vs what some other companies do". Key word being some. And besides, TLG was intended to hit in 2011 afaik. Reggie should know that games can hit development troubles.
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people are mad because its true :P and they are all waiting for the last guardian, well he does have a point
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padib (on 23 June 2015)
He's obviously talking about e3, and he's mostly right. Nintendo don't show games that are very far, except when it comes to Zelda. That's the only exception. All others are at most 2 years away.
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So basically they have no big titles to show within the next 2 years your saying? And by then, Nintendo will drop support for this console anyway... so next big titles will be released for NX? no reason to expect any new big games for the Wii U?
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people are mad because its true :P and they are all waiting for the last guardian, well he does have a point
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While that may be true for Last Guardian, what else does Nintendo have up their sleeve? So others have a point when they he sounds...well jelly.
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