Iwata: Nintendo Isn't Afraid of Failure

[Evonisia]

Well good for Nintendo, I'd almost say it was a brilliant business plan if we assume that the eight generation won't last eight years like this one did. The success of the Wii and the 3DS will always be in their favour. Besides, if they didn't do their own thing we'd have three PlayBox U's so that'd be boring. Or god forbid a 3DVita.

 

[oldtaku]

Well, this works for games...

On the system side there's being stupidly stubborn about the internet not existing till you're years behind everyone else and still haven't caught up yet. Friend codes were a failure with no upside at all. Hell, the entire online strategy hasn't been 'challenging the status quo' so much as 'desperately trying to pretend it doesn't exist, because we sure don't have a clue what the hell we're doing here'.

 

[Misterian]

I say amen to that.

Nintendo may have had some slip-ups in the past, but they always bounce back!

 

[Strazdas]

I wouldnt be afraid of failure if i had one of the largest working capitals in existence either!

 

[immortalfrieza]

Iwata cites the Pokemon franchise as an example of Nintendo making a strange call that paid off in the end.

It would be an even better example of a "play it safe" Nintendo franchise that's terrified of change and innovating in any way whatsoever. It's pretty much Nintendo's COD.

 

[BrownGaijin]

That's great Nintendo. Now if you could "take a risk" and send us some Mother 3 love?

 

[Nazulu]

I'd probably say the same after releasing that pile of crap The Wii, Other M, Skyward Sword, the 'NEW' (of all the fucking buzz words) Super Mario Brothers a couple of times, the other extremely safe titles, etc. Not to mention you have defenders everywhere that you don't need to pay.

Oh well. I hope they do better with the Wii U.

 

[MrBaskerville]

I'm glad Nintendo keeps doing what they do, there aren't really any other companies filling that niche. Alternatively they would be churning out first person shooters and story driven cover shooters, and i honestly prefer them being stuck in the past, to that. I think they are really good at innovating their franchises (apart from Zelda that is...), the new mario games always has some new gameplay element that shakes things up by having actual impact on the gameplay and level design. And they are generally really good at kerping things fresh with the way they design their levels.

I just wished they made new characters once in a while (the once they made for WarioWare seties were awesome), and i wished they had a bit more succes, cause they are a refreshing alternative to PS and Xbox, which are mostly similar to each other. I like that they don't really care about story and online features and i like that they care about gamedesign and level design.

 

[MrBaskerville]

I'd probably say the same after releasing that pile of crap The Wii, Other M, Skyward Sword, the 'NEW' (of all the fucking buzz words) Super Mario Brothers a couple of times, the other extremely safe titles, etc. Not to mention you have defenders everywhere that you don't need to pay.

Oh well. I hope they do better with the Wii U.

What? Zelda Skyward Sword? The Zelda with the best combat controlls, best graphics, probably best characters and story too? And rated 93.25% on Gamerankings?
New Super Mario Bros Wii was just one game. And it was just the second of the series.

I'll give you Other M.

I'm glad Nintendo keeps doing what they do, there aren't really any other companies filling that niche. Alternatively they would be churning out first person shooters and story driven cover shooters, and i honestly prefer them being stuck in the past, to that. I think they are really good at innovating their franchises (apart from Zelda that is...), the new mario games always has some new gameplay element that shakes things up by having actual impact on the gameplay and level design. And they are generally really good at kerping things fresh with the way they design their levels.

I just wished they made new characters once in a while (the once they made for WarioWare seties were awesome), and i wished they had a bit more succes, cause they are a refreshing alternative to PS and Xbox, which are mostly similar to each other. I like that they don't really care about story and online features and i like that they care about gamedesign and level design.

Except for Zelda? The only Zelda that played it safe and barely inovating was Twilight Princess since it was a return to Oot style. And even then it had the wolf and awesome dungeons.

I hated Skyward Sword (except for a good dungeon here and there), i've never played a game so padded and bogged down by annoying tutorials, they always tell you things 3 times, even though they are often stating the obvious. So frustrating to play!

Gameplayvise i thought it was fine, the wii controls were fun enough, but i don't really think it's that much different than TP, WW or OOT. The way the gameplay plays just makes it all very similar no matter how they try to dress it up. I don't think the level design has any impact on the combat system and the various items you collect don't really change things that much. It can be fun. and all the games has some neat puzzles and dungeon designs, but they still pretty much feel the same to me. The handheld versions is a different story though.

 

[Nazulu]

I'd probably say the same after releasing that pile of crap The Wii, Other M, Skyward Sword, the 'NEW' (of all the fucking buzz words) Super Mario Brothers a couple of times, the other extremely safe titles, etc. Not to mention you have defenders everywhere that you don't need to pay.

Oh well. I hope they do better with the Wii U.

What? Zelda Skyward Sword? The Zelda with the best combat controlls, best graphics, probably best characters and story too? And rated 93.25% on Gamerankings?
New Super Mario Bros Wii was just one game. And it was just the second of the series.

I'll give you Other M

You really expect that to convince me? Just forget it mate.

 

[SD-Fiend]

Iwata cites the Pokemon franchise as an example of Nintendo making a strange call that paid off in the end. "Will America accept cute monsters? No, they said. Some people even recommended to make Pikachu more muscular. If we followed their advice Pokemon would never have been the success that it was."

He's claiming that someone genuinely thought cute sprites would be wildly unpopular with people? Is the "they" he's referencing beings that had never encountered humans and had no knowledge of video games, or does Iwata just hang out with lots of people who hate sprites and inexplicably lack human emotions and therefore do not enjoy cuteness?

That sort of thing does happen. Americans have a different set of values when it comes to an interesting looking game. I remember an interesting horror game called "Nanashi no Game" was never translated to English because focus groups complained that "you couldn't shoot anything".

It's very possible that they thought the cute levels of pokemon could have driven away the consumers who would look at it and assume it's a kiddy game that isn't worth their time causing it to fail in the states.

 

[shrekfan246]

Edit: Cripes, I'm having a hard time making these damn things XD

Did you mean to quote me a second time in that other post, I didnt mention the Wii being a failure

And sure, the games are a bit different. But as I said, you have to wonder how many of those would fail completely if they didnt have Mario/Zelda/Whatever attached to it knowing that they will sell copies just because it has those characters attached to it.

It's interesting you say that.

Okami, widely regarded as cult classic and one of the best Legend of Zelda titles around, has been released for seven years, across three different platforms.

How many copies has it sold, you ask?

Roughly 1.5 million (because sales figures for the downloadable PS3 version are speculative at best).

How much has The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D--a remake for a handheld system of a game that has been released over and over again for fifteen years (not even making jokes at the expense of other Zelda games, Ocarina has probably been re-released more than any of them if you count the compilations)--sold?

3.14 million.

 

[Saltyk]

Is that why they made the Wii, the almost failest console of all time?

(inb4 people say because it made money it was a success despite failing in all other regards)

I don't see where the Wii was a failure, except maybe graphics.
It was the best console of the previous generation.

That seems really subjective. You can't declare that the Wii is the "Best" console of it's generation like it's a fact. In my opinion, it was the worst console with a crappy gimmick, no games I wanted, and tons of really bad games (especially when they did get Cross Platform games). At least the N64 had games I wanted.

I wouldn't call it a failure. But I certainly wouldn't call it the best console of it's generation. I mean it sold a lot of consoles at a profit. So, that was a thing.

Also, motion controls suck. So does 3D.

 

[Dragonbums]

Edit: Cripes, I'm having a hard time making these damn things XD

Did you mean to quote me a second time in that other post, I didnt mention the Wii being a failure

And sure, the games are a bit different. But as I said, you have to wonder how many of those would fail completely if they didnt have Mario/Zelda/Whatever attached to it knowing that they will sell copies just because it has those characters attached to it.

It's interesting you say that.

Okami, widely regarded as cult classic and one of the best Legend of Zelda titles around, has been released for seven years, across three different platforms.

How many copies has it sold, you ask?

Roughly 1.5 million (because sales figures for the downloadable PS3 version are speculative at best).

How much has The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D--a remake for a handheld system of a game that has been released over and over again for fifteen years (not even making jokes at the expense of other Zelda games, Ocarina has probably been re-released more than any of them if you count the compilations)--sold?

3.14 million.

Another thing Okami suffered from was a poor lack of any real marketing. I wasn't even aware of the games' existence until I saw it featured on Spike TV Awards (where it promptly lost to every single category to CoD and similar shooters.)

However the same thing can be said for their recent W101. Everyone cried for a new IP, and nobody actually went out of the way to buy a new IP.

So I can't really blame Nintendo for doing new things, but sticking a familiar old coat of paint on it.

 

[Lightknight]

Does this mean they do consider the WiiU a failure. To be talking about the philosophy of failure publicly with this threat looming out there is a serious thing for a corporation to do.

It's nice that Iwata got the blue ocean business strategy. I remember studying it in the college of business as well. However, Nintendo failed to realise that they were in a huge blue ocean when the Wii managed to capture millions of casual gamers young and old with the Wii and then immediately went back to the smaller red ocean with a more expensive WiiU requiring a small screened, $140, unnecessary tablet that was even mandatory for an update at launch (screw you old people who aren't technologically inclined...?) and focusing on AAA titles that it won't be capable of playing in two years without producing any serious first party games or even any features like a DVD player to convince buyers that this needs to be in their living room/rec room. Alienating both sides in one swoop.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

Is that why they made the Wii, the almost failest console of all time?

(inb4 people say because it made money it was a success despite failing in all other regards)

I don't see where the Wii was a failure, except maybe graphics.
It was the best console of the previous generation.

The Wii failed in a few more aspect than just graphics.

The Wii was a failure for melting away the last of a relationship that Nintendo had with a lot of 3rd party developers. The Wii also failed to implement its motion controls properly. The only game worth mentioning that used the motion controls well was Skyward Sword. Most of the other worthwhile games that used motion controls were released in the first 2 years of the Wii's life span.

Most of the Wii's library of games that isn't shovelware don't even bother with motion controls. Hell, most Nintendo titles barely had motion controls barring games that used the Miis. The Wii's online was also a complete mess with the friend codes.

Calling the Wii the best console of last generation? That's a hard statement to take seriously. I guess I'm just not a fan of a lot of most of Nintendo's 1st party titles anymore, and with that removes any reason to buy a Nintendo console for me. I did quite enjoy No More Heroes but worthwhile 3rd party games were rarely good and weren't promoted well when they were good.

I had the Wii, fell for the hype that was generated by us consumers. I bought it and got sick of waiting for games worth playing. And that's what's hurting the Wii U now. People are waiting for games worth playing.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

Is that why they made the Wii, the almost failest console of all time?

(inb4 people say because it made money it was a success despite failing in all other regards)

I don't see where the Wii was a failure, except maybe graphics.
It was the best console of the previous generation.

That seems really subjective. You can't declare that the Wii is the "Best" console of it's generation like it's a fact. In my opinion, it was the worst console with a crappy gimmick, no games I wanted, and tons of really bad games (especially when they did get Cross Platform games). At least the N64 had games I wanted.

I wouldn't call it a failure. But I certainly wouldn't call it the best console of it's generation. I mean it sold a lot of consoles at a profit. So, that was a thing.

Also, motion controls suck. So does 3D.

I was using the same type of arguments he did. So maybe he understands how to argue properly.

He wasn't making an argument, he was making a statement. A bit different.

If motion controls suck, why are there thousands of gamers that prefer to play with the wheel than classic controller in Mario Kart Wii?

According to who? You can't just pull arbitrary statements out of your ass like that and expect to be taken seriously.

The Wii's motion controls do suck. Nintendo sold people an attachment to make the motion controls not suck, specifically because they sucked. But that didn't retroactively fix the games that came out before the Wii Mote Plus. In the end there are only two games that implemented the Wii Motion controls well. No More Heroes due to its clever use of the Wii Mote and Skyward Sword for getting as close to 1:1 movement as any game on the Wii with motion controls ever got to.

Also consider this, if the Wii's motion controls were so good, how come the majority of the Wii's critically acclaimed games don't use them?