Nintendo: The Wii Was Never Meant to Be "Casual"

Mike Kayatta

Minister of Secrets
Aug 2, 2011
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Nintendo: The Wii Was Never Meant to Be "Casual"



Nintendo president Satoru Iwata thinks core players and casual players are more similar than you think.

When people speak about current day "console wars," it's no secret the Wii is generally perceived as being in a different category than its two major contemporaries. The 360 and PS3 compete on powerful hardware, robust multiplayer services, and large libraries of third party games that appeal to hardcore gamers, while the Wii has been successful offering unique controls, a friend code system, and multiple first-party classics geared toward the family. But according to Nintendo, just because it can thrive in the casual market, doesn't mean it should be defined by it.

In a recent Q&A session with Nintendo's investors, Iwata spoke about the Wii and the DS, claiming that people have a misconception of both consoles' purpose. "There was a misunderstanding that Nintendo was dedicated to such games at some stage of the lifespans of the Wii and the Nintendo DS," he said. "We have made efforts to develop video games that are in tune with various consumer tastes; however, we have not been able to gain adequate consumer understanding regarding our intentions, while in the common perception there are no or few core users playing Nintendo platforms, which is not the case."

According to Iwata, the question runs deeper than simply whether or not "core users" are playing these systems. He claims that the industry's entire perception of who and what a "core user" is, may be wrong. Iwata believes that gamers are not easily split into two groups, one preferring games such as Wii Sports and another only willing to invest time in Call of Duty. In his mind, a players' interest fluctuates and grows over time.

"Every avid game player was once a beginner, or in other words, there are no born advanced players," Iwata said. "Unless we create a flow from beginner to expert by offering an entrance for beginners and the processes for a beginner to become an intermediate user and from an intermediate to an advanced player, the video game industry will gradually shrink."

One of Iwata's ideas to bridge the gap is by working with more third party developers and networking Nintendo's gaming community more proficiently. By allowing gamers to communicate and share ideas, perhaps Nintendo would be better able to cater to the community at large. Iwata feels that Nintendo could meet that goal by "improving the coordination between video game systems and social media."

Nintendo has been on the defensive ever since posting its first financial loss [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/113858-Nintendo-Braces-For-First-Ever-Annual-Loss] in thirty years, with Iwata doing his best to assure investors that his company has big plans to reverse its recent bad fortune. Usually, that means good things for the consumer, as Nintendo will now try and hone in on what players truly want from it. Personally, I'm not sure that a simple communication network is going to eliminate people's belief that the Wii is meant for casual gamers. Anytime I hear about "coordination with social media" it makes me immediately think the exact opposite.

Source: IGN [http://wii.ign.com/articles/121/1211218p1.html]



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Imperioratorex Caprae

Henchgoat Emperor
May 15, 2010
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Mike Kayatta said:
"Every avid game player was once a beginner, or in other words, there are no born advanced players," Iwata said.
I wish more people would accept this as truth. Thats one of the biggest things in multiplayer gaming I see today, people downing on "noobs".
Everyone was once a noob.
 

FateOrFatality

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Mar 27, 2010
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I liked the part where he called CoD players "core" gamers. Does this mean Nintendo is so casual it makes CoD look hardcore?
 
Jan 27, 2011
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HAH HAH HAH!

Oh wait, they're serious. Let me laugh even harder!

BWAAAAHAAAHAAHAHAAAAAAAAA!

But according to Nintendo, just because it can thrive in the casual market, doesn't mean it should be defined by it.
Then DO something about it, Nintendo! We have not had any really good games on the Wii in A LOOOONG freakin time. Yes, Skyward sword is coming out soon. But really, The last time I got a new Wii game Was Sonic Colors. A YEAR ago. In fact, if it weren't for my GF wanting to play No More heroes, that would have been the LAST time I had turned it on!

You don't want to be defined only for casual games? Then keep making and publishing GOOD GAMES. I want another game to the caliber of Muramasa dammit!

By allowing gamers to communicate and share ideas, perhaps Nintendo would be better able to cater to the community at large. Iwata feels that Nintendo could meet that goal by "improving the coordination between video game systems and social media."
3 Words.

OPERATION !@#$ING RAINFALL!!!!!!!

We HAVE been communicating and sharing ideas! You CAN easily cater to the community at large! There is a HUGE base of people who want these games. You want an opportunity to acknowledge the gamer community? THIS IS IT. I don't care if reggie doesn't like it, go over his head and MAKE him release those games!


So yeah, go do that, and THEN we can talk about you guys not being purely defined by casual games, Nintendo.
 

Xanthious

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Dec 25, 2008
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Sounds like Nintendo is finding out the hard way that soccer moms and grade school kids are a fickle crowd.

Sad thing is though that if they plan on catering to both crowds with the Wii-U they will succeed at alienating both. That thing is going to end up with too much of the stink from the Wii on it that core gamers will want fuck all to do with it while the soccer moms and the rest of the casual market will be happily playing Angry Birds (or whatever the hot new fad that isn't the Wii-U is at the time) on their smart phones.

Before the 3DS I would have said it's time for Nintendo to focus on handhelds and making good games for Sony and Microsoft. However, after seeing the mess that is the 3DS it's probably best for them to get out of hardware all together. They are deliriously out of touch with the market and they keep finding new and interesting ways to screw up with each new screw up being a bigger mess than the last.

The times have passed you by Nintendo. You need to take a page out of Sega's playbook and just develop games for companies that know how to make hardware.

aegix drakan said:
I don't care if reggie doesn't like it, go over his head and MAKE him release those games!
Have you seen the size of that man's head? Christ you'd need a shurpa guide and a group of experienced climbers to go over that man's head.
 

Ignatz_Zwakh

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Sep 3, 2010
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You know Iwata, I'd have an easier time buying into "We have made efforts to develop video games that are in tune with various consumer tastes;..." if Nintendo of America FINALLY fucking localized Last Story, Xenoblade, Pandora's Tower and a slew of other games! GET SERIOUS!
 

42

Australian Justice
Jan 30, 2010
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*ahem* sing it with me chorus,

NOOOOOOOOOO SHIT!!!!!

but it just turned out you couldn't support third-parties which is why there are no games for the bloody thing. correction, not enough games.'

stupid weightless games, and other gimmicks don't count.
 

Chaos James

Bastion of Debauchery
May 27, 2011
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I think I would of spent a lot more time on the Wii then I did if they had a decent online system in place (like Xbox Live or PSN). If I could boot up SSBB and find a lobby with a game going (or just quick-invite someone on my friends list to a game) then I'd probably still be playing the game.

Right now the Wii just seems limited in what it can do compared to the other two consoles. If I could have a decent friends list instead of the Friend Codes, maybe some DLC/updates to some games (SSBB needs some more characters they couldn't finish beforehand and some tweaks to the engine) and finally just a few more games that rely on a controller (either Gamecube or Classic Controller) so that I don't have to wave my arms like an idiot (sideways Wii Mote like in NSMB:Wii would work too).

Perhaps the Wii U will have a better handle on some of these issues, cause as it stands now, Nintendo doesn't have anything new that I want to play.
 
Jan 27, 2011
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Xanthious said:
aegix drakan said:
I don't care if reggie doesn't like it, go over his head and MAKE him release those games!
Have you seen the size of that man's head? Christ you'd need a shurpa guide and a group of experienced climbers to go over that man's head.
They have Popo and Nana! They have no excuse!
 

Shadu

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Nov 10, 2010
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The only thing I see him saying is excuses and attempted justification. Of course this isn't completely true. It's just lip service to make Nintendo look better. With the hit they took, Nintendo will say anything to make themselves look like they have it under control.

And does anyone else feel like he's pushing some of the blame on us, the consumers? I mean, this whole bit about who the Wii wasn't designed to be a casual console, but that is percieved to be seems like a gentle, subtle slap to us since we have actually branded it as such. Or at least, it feels that's what he's saying.
 

AzrealMaximillion

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Jan 20, 2010
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amaranth_dru said:
Mike Kayatta said:
"Every avid game player was once a beginner, or in other words, there are no born advanced players," Iwata said.
I wish more people would accept this as truth. Thats one of the biggest things in multiplayer gaming I see today, people downing on "noobs".
Everyone was once a noob.
Well think of it this way. People who have been gaming for a while grew up with Doom, Quake, Wolfenstien, and Goldeneye. I remember being 10 years old when Counter Strike came out. There was no real casual marketback then besides Mario Party. I think what people are most mad at Nintendo for is its lack of 3rd party support. Remember when the N64 had Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, and other 3rd party games that many core gamers loved? That died with the Wii. It was kind of lacking on the Gamecube to be honest.

People are mad about the lack of choice for the kind of game they want to buy for their Nintendo console these days. For example, why play the Goldeneye reboot on the Wii when it will be in HD with extra content on the other two consoles now?
 

FogHornG36

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Jan 29, 2011
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AH! IT STOPPED PRINTING MONEY! well, now i guess we have a problem, i guess we should make an appeal and try to make it seem like we became a casual gaming system only by chance, and that we really really really, wanted to appeal to the hard core audience... it just didn't turn out that way... and we ran with it, for several years...

I already own a wii, but i only own like 3 wii games and a bunch of game cube games
 

RedEyesBlackGamer

The Killjoy Detective returns!
Jan 23, 2011
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Ignatz_Zwakh said:
You know Iwata, I'd have an easier time buying into "We have made efforts to develop video games that are in tune with various consumer tastes;..." if Nintendo of America FINALLY fucking localized Last Story, Xenoblade, Pandora's Tower and a slew of other games! GET SERIOUS!
This.
OP: No one is questioning the DS. I wonder why? Could it be the awesome library of games and excellent third party support?
 

Mr. GameBrain

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Aug 10, 2009
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I'd argue that there are 3 entirely different levels of gamer here.

There is the casual gamer, if you can even call them that.
These are people like my parents, who don't really like videogames all that much.
They kind of find it overwhelmingly confusing, but if they find out about a fun social game to play then they will play it.


Beginner doesn't even come into it until the second level, the what people seem to be calling the "core" gamer.
These are people that are either getting back into gaming as a hobby, (they may have been exposed to it as kids, but it didn't really stick), or people who just like playing videogames as a hobby.

They don't care about the industry, they don't care about the make-up of the games themselves.
They like to play the games their friends play, and they stick to series they know as "safe".

These guys may have 1 or two consoles, maybe 2 gen iterations. (Like a PS2 and a PS3)
They tend to play Call of Duty, Forza/Gran Turismo, Fifa and other games based on physical things in our world.

Nitendo USED to cater to this group, with Mario and Zelda, until they released the Wii and the DS,(they relied on the thrid parties to pick up the slack, which they did on the DS, but definately didn't on the Wii).
However, after realising the fickleness of casuals and the fact that they don't have the expertise to keep up with that market, they are going back to this area and the hardcore/enthusiast area (mostly enthusiast).

The final "level" is the hardcore/enthusiast.

This is a sort of fork in the road, but not exactly.
You see, at some point a certain genre will stick to someone and they will become almost obsessed with it.
This is where all the "hardcore" go.
(Like, Fighters, Real time strategers, and RPGers)
They will try to learn everything about that genre; the mechanics, the industry, and at some point even other players.
Communities form, hell, even tournaments and in some cases, dev studios that are tailored to the interests of these people.

I kind of border on the fighting game scene. I know OTG is off the ground, in the context of combo-ing, and I know about frame's for 2D fighters, but I'm no expert. I don't spend loads of time mastering techniques and strategies, its still a learn to play pretty well and have fun thing for me.

And here comes the other fork, where I mostly fit into. The enthusiast.
These people are very broad in terms of genres, consoles and games they own and play.
These guys actively research into the idustry and game making as a whole, and they frequent around a lot of general forums on gaming sites.

They will probably own a lot of games, maybe hundreds or rarely thousands, and they will talk about anything at any time.
They like to form groups and play for fun on games like Borderlands ect.
But they also take risks, and play lots of obscure games and genres.
These guys are likely to know the best deals, buy used games (especially retro stuff), and passionately argue about things.

Its a very broad area though, so specific characteristics are impossible to determine.

Of course, this is all a generalisation. Its more of a path or a road but with points where people can just jump on.
 

Hungry Donner

Henchman
Mar 19, 2009
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There's no reason the Wii can't cater to "hardcore" games. The limitation here isn't the hardware, it's the games being released on it. Nintendo seems very committed to pushing its family-friendly image - and a handful of games that fall outside of the standard isn't enough to sway me otherwise.

And really, what's wrong with this?

Just because a game is "casual" doesn't make it bad, doesn't mean that people won't remember it fondly, and doesn't mean that hundreds of thousands of people won't sink a tremendous amount of time playing it. Will COD4 be remembered as fondly as Ocarina of Time? I doubt it.

I'd say Nintendo needs to stop sending mixed messages. If they want to broaden the games they release that's great, but show us this rather than just saying it while muddling around. I think it would also help if their gameplay innovation could match their technological innovation, while classic gameplay has it's place it doesn't need to be so all-consuming.