Wii U Won't Get Twitch Streaming Because It's "Not Fun," Says Nintendo

[Steven Bogos]

Wii U Won't Get Twitch Streaming Because It's "Not Fun," Says Nintendo

Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime says that "Joe Blow's 30 minute stream" probably isn't going to be very interesting.

I'd like to preface this post by saying that Nintendo is currently enjoying a pretty close relationship with Twitch, and is most definitely not against the concept of streaming. What Reggie Fils-Aime means when he told Polygon that the Wii U won't be getting Twitch streaming because it's "not fun" [http://www.polygon.com/2014/6/12/5802560/nintendos-fils-aime-wii-u-wont-get-twitch-gameplay-streaming-because] is that 30 minutes of just straight gameplay from an average player is probably not going to be very interesting.

"Your specific question of just purely streaming gameplay, what we've got to think through is, so what's fun about that? From a consumer standpoint, what's fun about it?" asked Fils-Aime. He went on to say that initiatives like Mario Kart 8's Mario Kart TV where a much better option, as it allows users to upload "highlight reels" of their best moments to YouTube.

"Kart is fun because its a highlight of the race," he said. "You can make some choices as to what parts are going to be shared. We think that makes it interesting, and obviously the meme of the Luigi death stare is wonderful when that comes out of that type of experience. But in the end we've got to make sure that it's fun."

That's not to say Nintendo doesn't want its games streamed at all. Fils-Aime said that high-level competitive streaming is a very good thing that has value. "with the Smash Invitational, we loved that streamed because that's where you are able to see how these players perform, the moves they make, you can learn something," he said. "That has value to us. And you can expect us to do more of that type of activity, highlighting our games and providing a forum for players to learn how to play better."

"That's different than watching Joe Blow's 30 minute stream, which may or may not have something that's all that interesting," he added.

So while we probably won't see Twitch streaming added to the Wii U like the Xbox One or PS4 features, we'll probably see less of the crazy attempts to ban competitive streaming [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/125837-Nintendo-Tried-to-Block-Evo-Streams] of its games.

Source: Polygon [http://www.polygon.com/2014/6/12/5802560/nintendos-fils-aime-wii-u-wont-get-twitch-gameplay-streaming-because]

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[Fasckira]

This seems to be more an attempt to push their own bespoke streaming than to actually be thinking of the player, but we'll see how it pans out.

 

[weirdee]

I think they'll focus more on inserting media options into specific games than creating an overlay, and while Nintendo doesn't grasp the concept of convenient access very easily, it doesn't make a huge impact on my enjoyment.

If I were being more cynical, I'd point out that most of these features seem designed to convince users to do most of the advertising for the company.

 

[Rednog]

I really don't get how or why Nintendo seems to be so out of touch.

When it comes to online interaction between gamers Nintendo keep pushing against it. In the GameCube days, PS2 and Xbox were pushing on-line Nintendo is like lol no one wants to play online. Wii days oh man people actually like playing online...fine we'll allow it, but here's a stupid system of friend codes. Oh no youtubers are showing our games shut that shit down. Hey our fanbase is playing Smash Bros competitively SHUT IT DOWN. Now tell people that unless they're a well established star they should just piss off?

Seriously Nintendo stop it, you don't understand the gaming fanbase, you think you have your finger on the pulse of the gaming fanbase? Your finger is on a corpse in the graveyard halfway across town.

 

[Meinos Kaen]

I really don't get how or why Nintendo seems to be so out of touch.

When it comes to online interaction between gamers Nintendo keep pushing against it. In the GameCube days, PS2 and Xbox were pushing on-line Nintendo is like lol no one wants to play online. Wii days oh man people actually like playing online...fine we'll allow it, but here's a stupid system of friend codes. Oh no youtubers are showing our games shut that shit down. Hey our fanbase is playing Smash Bros competitively SHUT IT DOWN. Now tell people that unless they're a well established star they should just piss off?

Seriously Nintendo stop it, you don't understand the gaming fanbase, you think you have your finger on the pulse of the gaming fanbase? Your finger is on a corpse in the graveyard halfway across town.

It's like Nintendo is becoming Japan during the Sengoku era. Isolationist and prone to infighting.

 

[Mahorfeus]

On one hand, the vast majority of streamers are not all that interesting. I've seen my fair share of "Joe Blow" streams, and they were not "fun." I find myself enjoying highlight reels a lot more than undiluted gameplay. Kind of like Nascar - you go to the race in anticipation of the car wrecks.

Now on the other, taking that option away from the individual kinda blows.

What's good here is that Nintendo is at least trying to push its alternative.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

Personally I couldn't give a crap about the Twitch integration on consoles just for the same reason Reggie mentioned, it's not fun to watch.

And besides, anyone that is a regular Twitch streamer with an actual fanbase is probably going to buy the equipment needed to stream any games they want, everyone else, no one cares. Waste of time.

 

[J Tyran]

Watching streaming on Twitch isn't for me, its not appealing to me personally but here is the thing its objectively, undeniably obvious that huge numbers of people do find game streaming on Twitch entertaining. They find it "fun", even to the extent that they will pay and subscribe to watch their favourite personality.

As with any media or creative content the quality and appeal of individual streamers varies, some are just bad while others are popular to an astonishing degree. Some streamers attract small/medium niches of dedicated followers that like an approach or attitude that doesn't appeal to a majority but some people do like it. So while some streamers might be bad or put out bad content the concept of streaming itself is obviously appealing and entertaining, I.E fun for huge numbers of people.

Saying its "not fun" is pretty disingenuous, the dishonesty and insincerity of these claims is transparent to anyone with half a brain. Its obvious that Nintendo want their own service, knowing Nintendo they will want it carefully (draconian some might argue) curated like all of their other social and community features as well. Why not work your explanation around that and be honest rather than being disingenuous and dismissive?

EDIT:

I don't like it/do it therefore its completely useless and no-one should have it!

You don't like streaming? That is fair enough, I don't find it entertaining either but why should our preferences drive everything? What about the new streamers that are starting up and nailing down their approach and beginning to attract fans but don't have equipment yet? What about the ones that have a small group of followers and do it as hobby but cannot really afford or justify the expenditure of the capture devices and other equipment?

From the biggest personalities and the ones that have made huge sums of money to the ones that make a steady and decent income they all had to start somewhere, do you think that they wake up one day and said "I want to a live streamer/lets player" and all the (sometimes expensive) equipment poofed into existence? No they used what was to hand and experimented before finding out they had a talent and where popular and began to get what they needed to improve the production value of their content.

Lowering the barrier to entry gives more people the opportunity to have a go at streaming, maybe some of them will be good at it. A small few may even become so popular they get the kind of influence that will make significant numbers of people rush out and buy your game or system when they are seen using it, Nintendo going out of its way to maintain a higher barrier to entry is short sighted.

 

[Genocidicles]

Yep I agree.

If for some strange reason I wanted to watch some twat play through a game instead of playing it myself, I'd rather watch it on youtube than have some bullshit streaming service hogging resources on my console.

 

[The Wykydtron]

What is it with Nintendo lately? Who are they to just say it's not fun to the entire gaming community as their only reason with a straight face. I know that some people don't particularly like streams but you only need to look around on Twitch or just the Internet in general to see how popular gaming streams are, regardless of what the actual content of the stream is. At least add an excuse on price or hardware restraints or something.

Still at least it's not their bizarre anti-fun attempt at shutting down competitive Smash Bros because they're not playing the game properly as the creator intended. Dear me.

 

[Living_Brain]

A lot of let's plays and streams aren't carried by the game, they're carried by the personality(ies) of the player(s).

Nintendon't get to decide what's fun about streams.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Personally I couldn't give a crap about the Twitch integration on consoles just for the same reason Reggie mentioned, it's not fun to watch.

My thoughts exactly. Games bring enjoyment through play, interaction. Maybe trashing it with friends, but not one part of me feels like i should totally start recording what im playing due to the fact that its utterly fckin depressing.
Though some younger members of thy family like watching youtube gamers, so maybe its a kid thing. A dumb kid thing.

Actually, lets drown out is alright, but its more a humorous intelligent podcast as opposed to a sweaty teen trying to show how much life they wasted getting good at a game.

 

[VG_Addict]

It's worth noting that the article also says:

?We?re looking to do a lot of great things with Twitch,? he continued. The Nintendo Treehouse Live at E3 that we?re executing through Twitch is doing fantastic numbers.

Reggie even acknowledges that the Treehouse event did well on Twitch.

 

[jayzz911]

Whilst i don't like the way reggie said it, I'm not sure he's wrong. Streams are watched a lot for the personality. I regularly watch the League of Legends LCS streams and AGDQ but the few times I watched some person streaming live from his ps4/xbox one. It was a snoozefest and they generally had about 20 viewers at most. The only one that was an exception to that was AngryJoe and that was because I was watching for him and not for the game. I agree that Nintendo has been behind the times recently, and that they have no idea how to keep up with the current gaming culture. I do believe that streaming on consoles is heavily overrated and I'm not sad that the Wiiu doesn't have it.

 

[whycantijustdeletemyaccount]

.

 

[bluegate]

In other words;

It is impossible for us to integrate Twitch streaming on the Wii-U and have it work retroactively on our already released games and games already in development. So, here is some bullshit reason why you shouldn't care about us not being able to do it.

Same thing as with cross game party chat on the PS3 last generation; they didn't have enough wiggle-room in the os to implement it properly, but they at least never came out and openly dismissed the function.

 

[seditary]

Who is even watching people streaming straight off their consoles, anyone worth watching is doing it properly with capture cards for good quality and other options and chat interaction you can't do straight from the console.

 

[Kungfu_Teddybear]

How about you let the consumer decide what's fun and what isn't, Nintendo.

 

[Ipsen]

I really don't get how or why Nintendo seems to be so out of touch.

When it comes to online interaction between gamers Nintendo keep pushing against it. In the GameCube days, PS2 and Xbox were pushing on-line Nintendo is like lol no one wants to play online. Wii days oh man people actually like playing online...fine we'll allow it, but here's a stupid system of friend codes. Oh no youtubers are showing our games shut that shit down. Hey our fanbase is playing Smash Bros competitively SHUT IT DOWN. Now tell people that unless they're a well established star they should just piss off?

Seriously Nintendo stop it, you don't understand the gaming fanbase, you think you have your finger on the pulse of the gaming fanbase? Your finger is on a corpse in the graveyard halfway across town.

My guess is within their ideology. Nintendo has a core target demographic in kids, yet time and time again, treat their entire customer base as such.

OT: Yea Reggie, it isn't fun for anyone when Joe Blow streams for 30 minutes and has little ability to control, edit, or present the stream. Console integrated streaming is virtually always a dumb idea, unless you're going to give your users matching, if not better tools and control than what's out there for user streamers now. But see if that'll happen any time soon.

Convenience is the base selling point of consoles, but in the case of producing streams, it's no boon.

 

[And Man]

"Your specific question of just purely streaming gameplay, what we've got to think through is, so what's fun about that? From a consumer standpoint, what's fun about it?"

I gotta agree. Unless it's at the absolute highest level of gameplay, Twitch streams pretty much need interaction between the streamer and viewer to be entertaining at all.