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Nintendo President: Our Future Is As an 'Entertainment' Company (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Nintendo of America President and COO Reggie Fils-Aime appeared at Seattle's Geekwire Summit on Wednesday to speak broadly about the company's future, and, while the talk didn't include new product reveals, it proved illuminating about what to expect from the big N in the future. The short version: Nintendo would rather be defined as an "entertainment" company, not a gaming one. Fils-Aime says the company currently has three "pieces of business": a dedicated video game business ("the way most of our consumers interact with us"), a mobile gaming business, and "leveraging our intellectual property (IP) in a variety of ways." The latter includes previously announced plans for a Universal Studios attraction in Osaka, Japan (still slated to open ahead of Tokyo's next Olympics hosting run in 2020) and a Super Mario film produced by Illumination Entertainment (Minions, Despicable Me). When asked about Nintendo's future focus on a company-wide level, Fils-Aime said: "It's about Mario, Zelda, Pokemon -- all these wonderful intellectual properties. How we leverage these across a variety of entertainment platforms is how we're looking to grow the company."
He went on to say that he doesn't see Xbox and PlayStation as competitors. Ars reports: "He counted the exact number of minutes per day and said that outside of the time a consumer spends eating, sleeping, working, and going to school, 'all of the rest of that time is entertainment time. That's what I compete for, minute by minute. That time you spend surfing the Web, watching a movie, watching a telecast of a conference: that's all entertainment time we're competing for. My competitive set is much bigger than my direct competitors in Sony and Microsoft. I compete for time. When I do that, I have to be creative and innovative in order to win that battle.'"
He went on to say that he doesn't see Xbox and PlayStation as competitors. Ars reports: "He counted the exact number of minutes per day and said that outside of the time a consumer spends eating, sleeping, working, and going to school, 'all of the rest of that time is entertainment time. That's what I compete for, minute by minute. That time you spend surfing the Web, watching a movie, watching a telecast of a conference: that's all entertainment time we're competing for. My competitive set is much bigger than my direct competitors in Sony and Microsoft. I compete for time. When I do that, I have to be creative and innovative in order to win that battle.'"
What about Metroid, you insensitive clod?
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The internet doesn't want to hear this stuff, Nintendo, when you haven't even commented yet on the great job we did with Bowsette.
Indeed, the Sony and Microsoft controllers really suck.
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If I wanted to transition more to an entertainment company, one of the first things I'd do is start working with Netflix and Amazon to get their streaming apps on the Switch. It's basically a portable tablet that also doubles as a game console. Yes, phones/phablets/tablets, even plenty of TVs, can replicate these features, but none really have the gaming experience like on the Switch, and what does it really hurt Nintendo to have the apps available for the Switch? I might also approach the Kodi devs and work with them to get a port of Kodi to the Switch.
I would also work with Netflix and Amazon to come up with a few cartoons based on properties like Mario and Zelda, similar to the Transformers and Ninja Turtles cartoons over the years, or Netflix's Stretch Armstrong series. I think there would be quite a lot of interest in a high quality Zelda cartoon. Maybe Metroid as well. They could even revive something like the old Captain N show where they could showcase different games in every episode. Netflix is apparently looking to get into "choose your own adventure" style shows, so you could even make brand new Zelda or Metroid games kind of like the Telltale games.
Just a few of the things that I would do, if it were my decision.
a Super Mario film produced by Illumination Entertainment (Minions, Despicable Me).
Why not Sony? Ha!
Better known as 318230.
Well if that's your concern, simple solution, put a web browser and Netflix and Youtube on Switch, problem solved. You stupid stupid overpaid mouthpiece of a man.
Japanese game companies are always trying to branch out into multi-media. They've always been a little worried folks will give up on games. And games don't have the same allure as working on movies or even TV.
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I compete for time
We all know time is money.
Not sure if troll or not? Nintendo has basically given up on the home console business. The Switch is a handheld (a market Nintendo has always thrived at) with a dock. They dont have a dedicated home console anymore, they don't need one, they games they want to make work on their handheld which is hugely successful.
Why should they port games to their competitors? Because you dont like the majority of it's library? Many people disagree with you and are voting with their wallets. Welcome to capitalism!
Make SELinux enforcing again!
It's about Mario, Zelda, Pokemon -- all these wonderful intellectual properties. How we leverage these across a variety of entertainment platforms is how we're looking to grow the company.
In other words:
Our hardware is generations out of date, our continuously rehashed games are tired, we've run out of gimmicks and we still treat everyone, developers and users alike, like shit.
"The people kicking our asses aren't our competitors! And I'm not just saying that because they are kicking our asses."
Where is my,
Zelda, Metroid, Mario, Castlevaina, Megaman, live action, really invested films? The NCU?
Funny you should ask.
I always thought Nintendo EOLed the Wii and the Wii network services way too quickly. What would it have cost to keep Wii News, Wii Weather, along with the multi-player gaming, web browsing, movies etc. going on all those platforms? They were in so many households. A backward compatible Wii+ with just an HDMI port and a speed bump would have sold better than the Wii U (and even have sold fine as a complementary product along side the Wii U).
> a Super Mario film produced by Illumination Entertainment
Instead, how about you STOP with the fucking retarded copyright claims against "Let's Play" (YouTube) videos who are providing FREE ADVERTISING for your IP.
People have been predicting the death of consoles since the 90s, and the death of handhelds for at least 10 years. Yet the sales numbers and profitability continue to prove these people wrong every time. Look at the PS4. Handhelds is something that Nintendo always nails. Home consoles not so much, the Wii was lightning in a bottle, unless they know they have the next big successful gimmick like the Wii they should stick to handhelds. The Switch is the right strategy they need for now.
Make SELinux enforcing again!
You mean their underpowered, PLASTIC screen portable that was obsolete before it was released?
You know most people play game for the fun those procure, not for number of MHz that a peculiar CPU in the device has.
Since somewhere in the 90s when technical limitation stopped being to extreme for 2D and somewhere since the 00s when 3D quality was enough to not limit expression, the raw perf of hardware don't matter that much.
What matter is the quality of the games.
And Nintendo is a big enough brand to manage to attract a good number of developers. Thus ensuring to have a decent ecosystem of quality games that most people will want to play.
No matter what the specs of the actual hardware are.
There might be better tablet with more powerful hardware, but these might not have the games people want to play.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
So #1, skipping out on the Wii U was a good idea. But it's a mistake to dismiss the Switch out of hand. Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Mario Odyssey are both critically acclaimed, and Breath of the Wild in particular either totally re-imagined the series and/or returned it to its NES Legend of Zelda/Link to the Past roots. (As someone who was never to get into any of the earlier 3D Zelda games, including Ocarina of Time, i tend to view it as the later.) And most of the other franchise sequels have been pretty good too. It's also got a lot of other more unusual games (the Mario vs Rabbids tactical strategy game, the sports RPG Golf Story, the retro RPG Octopath Traveler, among others) and quite a number of high quality ports (most recently I'm quite excited about Valkyria Chonicles 4 and Valkyria Chronicles Remastered.)
Now maybe none of those games appeal to you, but there are a lot of other people that they do appeal to.
#2, the Switch is selling about as well as the PS4. Which also of course means that like the PS4 it's crushing the XBox.
So they're managing to produce critically acclaimed sequels, start new potential franchises, attract third parties, and are effectively tied for first in the console race at the current rate of sales. Giving up on console hardware could have been conceivable in the middle of the Wii U doldrums, by why would Nintendo consider that _now_?
All of this could change of course (sooner or later it always does in this industry, especially for Nintendo.) Maybe sales will slow down and not be revived by the releases of Smash and Pokemon. Maybe third parties will change their minds and stop making/porting games. But right now Nintendo is looking pretty rosy.
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