EA Exec: Shigeru Miyamoto "Falling Down on the Job"

[WeepingAngels]

try and get this through your head doc: Nintendo makes games primarily aimed at the same people it's always make games for.

you grew up. you have an iPhone now...yes we see that. how nice for you.

but it doesn't mean Nintendo needs to change its business strategy.

because, shock, horror, a whole new bunch kids will actually grow up "playing Nintendo" too.

and Nintendo will have had them pretty much exclusive to themselves for around 8 years before they even start "big school".

maybe you should get someone back at the lab to explain to you how that works...

Well, I can tell you that none of the kids I know (from babysitting and from my son bringing home from school) have any interest in the 3DS (or the Vita). My son has a 3DS, I could write my name in the layer of dust on top of it.

Look, I don't want to play games on tablets and phones either and I am not happy at the shift we are seeing but the shift is happening.

Nintendo out of touch with kids? They ARE Pokemon, which means they have the biggest title in portable kids gaming since 1996. And that is just ONE title.

That's right, it's just one title. What else do they have on handhelds that is setting the world on fire?

How do Pokemon sales compare that shitfest known as Angry Birds?

 

[Berny Marcus]

OK how much did Microsoft paid him to spout this none sense?

 

[weirdee]

yeah, he's going to be eating his wordshit when pokemon is released

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

Oh dear some poor person in EA's PR department is going to have to pull another all nighter on this one.

 

[Abomination]

Why the fuck does EA have to try and talk other companies down?

It's like they're hurling abuse from their glass house at the bottom of a valley at some other guy at the top of the valley... and he has a series of impressively sized and ridiculously rounded boulders resting on the precipice of the downwards slope.

EA, you are still considered "shit" in the industry. Not "the shit" in that quasi-bad-name-for-a-good-thing mode but "the biggest shit" in the no-really-you-have-no-place-to-talk mode.

 

[MysticSlayer]

While God knows I'll be the only one to actually agree with this guy, in the past decade I have found the big N's offerings less than stellar. I mean, the last Nintendo-developed game I actually thought was good was Super Smash Brothers Melee. I mean, Ninty's not exactly the more creative bunch of people, merely redoing the same IP ad nauseam. And while EA does it with their sports games (but can you really blame them for that, because you know...sports), at least they come up with a new game or series now and then. So I agree with Hilleman generally, just not his reasoning.

Yes, because Nintendo releases a new game from every franchise every year, just like Call of Duty and EA Sports. I mean, seriously: We had two 3D Mario platformers on Wii. Two! And all within a three year time span...OK, the math doesn't add up, but still, two! They are obviously just releasing the same game year after year...

Oh yeah, and then there's Zelda. It also had two games on Wii released over a six year period. Another franchise with the same game year after year!

And then there's Metroid, which brought it up to three over the course of a few years! And one even went so far as to include the first released in its package! Same game year after year! Damn Nintendo, you're just like EA Sports.

And...yeah, I'm done. I'll never get why people say Nintendo releases the same game all the time and then compares it to something like Madden. Granted, they tend to pursue the same set of IPs the most, but that doesn't mean they don't support new IPs[footnote]Look at Xenoblade Chronicles, The Last Story, and Pandora's tower, which all released within the last few years.[/footnote], that they don't take a break from major IPs[footnote]Star Fox and F-Zero have been missing for a while, and they just released Pikmin 3 after a long hiatus from that series.[/footnote], or that they don't innovate at all[footnote]Just look at the transition from Sunshine to Galaxy.[/footnote]. Could they improve on their creativity? Yeah, probably. But why would they do it when so many people still enjoy the core experience and already feel that Nintendo keeps things fresh enough to make each new iteration interesting?

I honestly just don't see why he would even bother saying any of this... it doesn't make sense. I remember a while back EA basically saying they have no interest in working on any of Nintendo's platforms (or something to that effect), so I would think that would be the end of it right? Two separate entities doing their own thing? If they were truly as disinterested as they seemed, why would they bother? I mean, as far as I know he wasn't even using the comments to bolster up some kind of point in favor of EA.

It seriously just seems like some kind of childhood rivalry where EA said that Nintendo was going down the wrong path and is doing its best to find evidence that they're right. Meanwhile Nintendo couldn't care less that EA exists.

Ignoring the fact that there might be a decent argument for EA wanting to monopolize the industry and Nintendo sort of gets in the way of that goal...(no, that comment isn't entirely serious)

EA's been trying to get establish a strong foothold mobile gaming for a while now. The biggest "competitor" (if you can even call them direct competitors) to iOS gaming is Nintendo with their DS line of systems. If EA wants to continue that path while continuing to make as much money as possible for what they put out, they do have some interest in convincing people to switch from Nintendo to iOS for their mobile gaming. And if the annual "EA bashes CoD" tradition is anything to go by, a major tactic of the company seems to be tearing down their opponents and building their success on the opponent's corpse.

OT: I just don't see iOS gaming really tearing Nintendo down in terms of appeal to children, or any audience for that matter. Both offer different experiences, and while iOS is certainly cheaper, Nintendo's games tend to be of a higher quality and last much longer. Not to mention, people get iOS to enhance their phone, which they already have for other purposes and which isn't dedicated to gaming. Someone looking for a dedicated gaming system can always look to Nintendo. That's not to say it can't do a minor dent to Nintendo, but I doubt Nintendo is ever going to have to seriously be worried about the iOS platform forcing them out of handheld gaming.

 

[Allspice]

Nintendo out of touch with kids? They ARE Pokemon, which means they have the biggest title in portable kids gaming since 1996. And that is just ONE title.

That's right, it's just one title. What else do they have on handhelds that is setting the world on fire?

How do Pokemon sales compare that shitfest known as Angry Birds?

Is that really a fair comparison when one costs $40 and the other is free-$.99 depending on the version you get?

OT: EA...I want to like them because they do make some good games but they make it so, so hard to. Why did he say this? What was the motivation? Especially since they don't make games for Nintendo consoles anymore.

EDIT: Oh...I just read the post above mine (MysticSlayer's). That make complete sense, and I hate that kind of advertising. Tell me why I should like what you're selling, don't talk about your competitors. I might just take a harder look at your competitor and decide not to bother with you at all. XD But that's just me.

 

[LordLundar]

"Bitter table for one at the Pity Party Palace!"

Sorry, I read that and that's pretty much what went through my head.

Why the fuck does EA have to try and talk other companies down?

Alternate approach to avoid being on the "worst company" finalist list next year most likely. If you can't improve enough to avoid the list, try to make everyone else worse to fill the slot instead.

 

[WeepingAngels]

Nintendo out of touch with kids? They ARE Pokemon, which means they have the biggest title in portable kids gaming since 1996. And that is just ONE title.

That's right, it's just one title. What else do they have on handhelds that is setting the world on fire?

How do Pokemon sales compare that shitfest known as Angry Birds?

Is that really a fair comparison when one costs $40 and the other is free-$.99 depending on the version you get?

What would you like to compare against Nintendo's most successful handheld franchise?

It's dying is what its doing. Developers are actually moving away from smartphone development now. The market is too crowded, the majority of games too poor in quality, and it's too difficult to get a ROI on games which people expect to play for free. GamesIndustry.biz did an interview with various developers, and the smartphone scene is not healthy right now. To quote one: "I wouldn't touch mobile with a ten-foot pole."

You know how people say another Gaming Crash is coming? They're right. But it's the smartphone gaming scene which will crash. The circumstances are almost identical: an overwhelming amount of cheap, cash-in shovelware designed to syphon money out of consumers, with developers being crowded out of an increasingly overpopulated market. Smartphone gaming used to be the gold rush, but now there are too many mines set up, and all the gold has already been found.

I hope you're right, atleast you aren't claiming that mobile gaming was never a thing.

 

[weirdee]

While God knows I'll be the only one to actually agree with this guy, in the past decade I have found the big N's offerings less than stellar. I mean, the last Nintendo-developed game I actually thought was good was Super Smash Brothers Melee. I mean, Ninty's not exactly the more creative bunch of people, merely redoing the same IP ad nauseam. And while EA does it with their sports games (but can you really blame them for that, because you know...sports), at least they come up with a new game or series now and then. So I agree with Hilleman generally, just not his reasoning.

i'd argue that EA is roughly as transitory given that they don't actually really come up with anything, but just purchase other companies that do, and then run them into the ground on their false belief system that relies on there being enough companies having ideas for them to continue doing that instead of actually making a worthwhile investment that will survive into the future

while nintendo also runs things into the ground, there are only a handful of titles that i could say aren't worthy of the quality standards they actually try to maintain, even in the face of other companies who claim they are the future but don't have any more legs to stand on than their competitors, and are also games i can actually consider to be worthy of replaying

those phone games aren't gonna last past a year or two before everybody's moved onto a new, fleeting thing with that brand new smell, and i mourn the loss of value that we pass on to each generation in succession

all we're doing is building a future with no past, so that companies can use our lack of cultural history to exploit our minds and wallets for their personal gain, giving us shit and telling us it's the best thing ever, and not investing that money back into games that are actually better, or worth playing, or teach us anything

this is why i resent the triple aaa industry, and why i am skeptical of sony being the messiah that people are hoping for

 

[Tanis]

"might be a bit too much more-of-the-same"

Seriously?
From E-A?
From *insert sport here* yearly, basically overpriced DLC
From CoD yearl, basically overpriced DLC.
etc/etc/etc?


Hah..no, it's not funny, it's pathetic and sad.

 

[Allspice]

Nintendo out of touch with kids? They ARE Pokemon, which means they have the biggest title in portable kids gaming since 1996. And that is just ONE title.

That's right, it's just one title. What else do they have on handhelds that is setting the world on fire?

How do Pokemon sales compare that shitfest known as Angry Birds?

Is that really a fair comparison when one costs $40 and the other is free-$.99 depending on the version you get?

What would you like to compare against Nintendo's most successful handheld franchise?

One of another handheld's would make more sense. Mobile and handhelds are so different they can't be compared. A phone is something almost everyone has and no one buys one specifically for gaming. It just also happens to have that functionality and a lot of good ones, like Angry Birds, are free (I only downloaded it because it was free). The same can't be said for a handheld.

 

[WeepingAngels]

Nintendo out of touch with kids? They ARE Pokemon, which means they have the biggest title in portable kids gaming since 1996. And that is just ONE title.

That's right, it's just one title. What else do they have on handhelds that is setting the world on fire?

How do Pokemon sales compare that shitfest known as Angry Birds?

Is that really a fair comparison when one costs $40 and the other is free-$.99 depending on the version you get?

What would you like to compare against Nintendo's most successful handheld franchise?

One of another handheld's would make more sense. Mobile and handhelds are so different they can't be compared. A phone is something almost everyone has and no one buys one specifically for gaming. It just also happens to have that functionality and a lot of good ones, like Angry Birds, are free. The same can't be said for a handheld.

Are you saying that handhelds and mobiles aren't in competition? I have Angry Birds on my PSP/Vita (I bought it because of the hype and was quickly disappointed). I keep seeing major Japanese companies putting their new games on mobile instead of handhelds. Here's an example:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Square_Enix_mobile_games

What JRPG fan can forget the slap in the face that is Breath of Fire 6. http://www.destructoid.com/breath-of-fire-6-coming-next-year-you-ll-be-sad-to-learn-259147.phtml

As I watch my favorite franchises get releases on mobile and not on my beloved handhelds...I think they are in direct competition.

 

[major_chaos]

Despite the fact that Nintendo has been very busy trying to make me not like them ever since the Wii I can still see that saying this was a horrible idea. Seriously, does EA even have a PR department at this point? Or have they all been long since driven to suicidal despair?

 

[Allspice]

Nintendo out of touch with kids? They ARE Pokemon, which means they have the biggest title in portable kids gaming since 1996. And that is just ONE title.

That's right, it's just one title. What else do they have on handhelds that is setting the world on fire?

How do Pokemon sales compare that shitfest known as Angry Birds?

Is that really a fair comparison when one costs $40 and the other is free-$.99 depending on the version you get?

What would you like to compare against Nintendo's most successful handheld franchise?

One of another handheld's would make more sense. Mobile and handhelds are so different they can't be compared. A phone is something almost everyone has and no one buys one specifically for gaming. It just also happens to have that functionality and a lot of good ones, like Angry Birds, are free. The same can't be said for a handheld.

Are you saying that handhelds and mobiles aren't in competition? I have Angry Birds on my PSP/Vita (I bought it because of the hype and was quickly disappointed). I keep seeing major Japanese companies putting their new games on mobile instead of handhelds. Here's an example:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Square_Enix_mobile_games

What JRPG fan can forget the slap in the face that is Breath of Fire 6. http://www.destructoid.com/breath-of-fire-6-coming-next-year-you-ll-be-sad-to-learn-259147.phtml

As I watch my favorite franchises get releases on mobile and not on my beloved handhelds...I think they are in direct competition.

No, I'm not saying they aren't in direct competition. They are. My point was that comparing the sales of a mobile game to that of a handheld's is pointless because of how cheap mobile games are and the fact that pretty much everyone has a phone. Of course Angry Birds "sold" more than the last Pokemon games, it's free.

I did hear about that abomination. Damn it Capcom.

 

[WeepingAngels]

Nintendo out of touch with kids? They ARE Pokemon, which means they have the biggest title in portable kids gaming since 1996. And that is just ONE title.

That's right, it's just one title. What else do they have on handhelds that is setting the world on fire?

How do Pokemon sales compare that shitfest known as Angry Birds?

Is that really a fair comparison when one costs $40 and the other is free-$.99 depending on the version you get?

What would you like to compare against Nintendo's most successful handheld franchise?

One of another handheld's would make more sense. Mobile and handhelds are so different they can't be compared. A phone is something almost everyone has and no one buys one specifically for gaming. It just also happens to have that functionality and a lot of good ones, like Angry Birds, are free. The same can't be said for a handheld.

Are you saying that handhelds and mobiles aren't in competition? I have Angry Birds on my PSP/Vita (I bought it because of the hype and was quickly disappointed). I keep seeing major Japanese companies putting their new games on mobile instead of handhelds. Here's an example:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Square_Enix_mobile_games

What JRPG fan can forget the slap in the face that is Breath of Fire 6. http://www.destructoid.com/breath-of-fire-6-coming-next-year-you-ll-be-sad-to-learn-259147.phtml

As I watch my favorite franchises get releases on mobile and not on my beloved handhelds...I think they are in direct competition.

No, I'm not saying they aren't in direct competition. They are. My point was that comparing the sales of a mobile game to that of a handheld's is pointless because of how cheap mobile games are and the fact that pretty much everyone has a phone. Of course Angry Birds "sold" more than the last Pokemon games, it's free.

I did hear about that abomination. Damn it Capcom.

So if we can't compare mobile games to handheld games even though they really are in direct competition....where do we go from here.

Let me repeat what you said...Damn it Capcom.

 

[Revnak_v1legacy]

I'm happy Nintendo exists. They make games I like. Their prices do take forever to go down though, but at least they're enjoyable. Every mobile game I have bought has at best served as a very short term distraction with level design and mechanics that do not come close to the games Nintendo has made. I care much less about price than I do about solid game design, and at least Nintendo has that. And buttons. Buttons are nice. Buttons allow me to play Sonic CD. Not having buttons makes that impossible. I WILL ALWAYS LOATHE YOU, SONIC CD FOR THE IPHONE. ALWAYS AND FOREVER.

 

[Allspice]

No, I'm not saying they aren't in direct competition. They are. My point was that comparing the sales of a mobile game to that of a handheld's is pointless because of how cheap mobile games are and the fact that pretty much everyone has a phone. Of course Angry Birds "sold" more than the last Pokemon games, it's free.

I did hear about that abomination. Damn it Capcom.

So if we can't compare mobile games to handheld games even though they really are in direct competition....where do we go from here.

Let me repeat what you said...Damn it Capcom.

I'm talking purely about sales numbers. It doesn't matter how much a free game sells because it's free, that skews the numbers. Almost everyone will try something that's free. It's more impressive when a $35 game sells 14 million copies, IMHO.

I do think the revenue they bring in is something you can compare between them though. Not specific games, but in general.

And I think it deserves to be said again, because I'm not happy with them in general: damn it Capcom.