Slashdot Mirror
Nintendo's Boss On Western Partnerships, Online
Matt writes "It seems Nintendo President Satoru Iwata has once again spoken out, in a talk to the Japan Economic Foundation, and GameCube Advanced has the highlights. Iwata downplays online gaming, citing the example of a PS2 golf sim which outsold its online counterpart [is this Minna No Golf Online, aka Hot Shots Golf Fore!, versus its prequel?] Also, Iwata speaks about Nintendo working with other non-Japanese companies (saying 'We are now holding negotiations with major Western game developers and will be able to conclude a deal by the end of the year if things go smoothly'), and about takeover speculation regarding Bandai [vague talk of 'a closer relationship'.] In addition, he warned again that the status quo in videogames is in jeopardy... 'We are facing a critical situation, in which the number of game players will decrease unless we change tack', Iwata said."
Notice how it's always Nintendo making dire predictions about the gaming market shrinking? Notice the story on slashdot a few days ago about how the Japanese games market is stagnant, despite impressive ongoing growth in the US and Europe? Want to hazard a guess whether there's a connection?
This is really an illustration of a lot of what's wrong with Nintendo's marketing strategy. Their Japan-centric attitude, more pronounced than Sony's, has essentially seen them get slaughtered in most of the rest of the world during this cycle, even by a console from a notoriously disliked OS developer who'd never made a console before. Here in the UK, when we hear of a great Gamecube title released in Japan, we don't usually assume we have a cat in hell's chance of ever seeing it appear in our stores. I guess the situation might be better in the US, but the UK alone is a large and expanding market, never mind the rest of Europe. Sony and Microsoft don't need to worry about the games market contracting; their sales are telling them something very different, as they're focussing on much healthier markets.
Don't get me wrong, Nintendo do have some good games. However, it's a pretty small number compared with number that have appeared for the X-Box and, in particular, the PS2. Somebody above mentioned Disgaea; that's a great example of a superb (really, it is, if you haven't played it, do) sleeper hit, of the kind of which Nintendo desperately needs. The Naval Ops games are another good example; almost zero publicity bar word of mouth, and yet I noticed them racking up impressive sales on this basis. By contrast, look at Eternal Darkness for the cube. A superb game, which would have been a hit on any other console, but which, due to the Cube's audience, never got anywhere in terms of sales.
As one poster above said, Nintendo are in danger of being killed by their own fan-base, who are driving them down a particular road, oblivious to the fact it's a dead end.