Hello Sean.
I have news for you. I finally started as a game developer for a small company after so much time as a software developer. I have been reading the news about Nintendo’s moves and I think I have found one of Nintendo’s biggest mistakes: Nintendo is loosing to the pressure from the industry.
Nintendo didn’t want to fight the industry in the first place with the DS and Wii. They wanted the industry to jump in to the path they were following.
The case of the Wii.
Nintendo nailed it when they started with the system. The philosophy behind it was (and maybe still is) brilliant. Just what Dr Mario ordered for the sickness of the “industritis“. However one of their bets was wrong from the beginning : “attracting third party developers”. Nintendo started wrong when they wanted both new world/old school (core and expanded) games and industry games on their system. The Wii was not designed for industry games at all, the PS3 and Xbox360 are because they are industry-oriented. This is why Industry games sell poorly on the Wii compared to the HD consoles.
The majority of developer companies are industry companies. They got lost in the false hope that technology could get them closer to Hollywood that they lost their roots as game companies. Nintendo wanted them to make games for the Wii, but they mostly suck at it or aren’t interested of making games the Wii audience want to play. Industry companies make industry games.
The case of the DS/3DS
This case is different from the Wii for many reasons. One of them I think was that there hasn’t been a “handheld war” before. Nintendo dominated this market when many chose to compete against them but failed, (even the PSP). The industry adopted this easily and kept on making games on DS. However, the technology for handhelds has reached a point where industry games can be produced on phones (iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile, etc) and other devices (iPod touch, Zune, etc.). The 3DS is evidence of Nintendo’s fear that industry companies will jump off and leave them as they did with Wii. Why not leave them and let them
You mention the User Generated Content before. I think I found another cause of their fall: Nintendo does not know the difference between a core and industry game. If they did, there would be more bridge games from Nintendo by now and plans for moving upstream would be taking place, and giving the finger to the industry. An industry game is not accepted by the core and expanded audience that enjoy the Wii, and a game like Metroid other M is one proof (or many). And they approached the wrong companies asking for support. Why would you ask for support from companies that overshoot the market with their games instead of the companies with the potential of following a similar philosophy of a new continent?
As you said, Nintendo never wanted to fight the industry, but inviting it instead.
Third party games DO sell on Nintendo’s systems. Industry games DON’T
Much of the reason why a gamer becomes a non-gamer is because of The Industry. And the Wii was very much seen as combative to The Industry which is why it was so popular. Nintendo will never get The Industry onboard because The Industry, being made up of mediocre games, are made to look like turds next to Nintendo games. It didn’t use to be this way. I remember people buying the NES purely for games like Konami’s “Life Force”, “Contra”, or “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: the Arcade Game” (remember that one?). Some people bought the NES for Capcom games such as the Mega Man games or games like Ducktales. I can easily point to people who bought a SNES for Capcom’s “Street Fighter 2”.
Video games aren’t fun anymore. If they aren’t about some designer convinced with his genius, they are some soul-less bits and parts cobbled together from a mega company like EA or Activision. In that fashion, the soul-less bits and parts cobbled together have more in common with dog food as that, too, is left over parts and chunks all meshed together.
Every time Nintendo attempts to appeal to The Industry, Nintendo loses (which is what The Industry wants anyway). The NES was king because there was no industry to pander to. Nintendo was too busy trying to appeal to customers. SNES was made to combat the Genesis not so much with appealing to customers but appealing to The Industry that Sega was threatening to take away. N64 and Gamecube were made to appeal to The Industry (maybe not so much with the N64), and those did not work. The Wii was contrary to everything The Industry wanted, and it was a HUGE success. Even something like Mario 5 was something The Industry hated, but it was also very successful.
A while back, I said that I feared Nintendo would abandon their pursuit of the ‘mass market’ because the software developers at Nintendo and The Industry have no desire to become the ‘mass market’. What they wish to do is make games for themselves.
None of us should forget that the Wii was opposed by many, many people within Nintendo. The direction of the Wii was chosen because the N64 and Gamecube direction were obviously not working. After the Wii success, it is as if Nintendo got ‘too comfortable’, green lit tons of developer’s pet projects that should never have become published (like Other M), and put all their efforts on getting The Industry on board (while losing The Big Picture on the customers).
The Industry didn’t make the Wii. The Industry cannot destroy the Wii. Only Nintendo can do that. And Nintendo has been very successful in destroying their console with the rubbish software they have been putting out.
In order for gaming to become mainstream, The Industry must be destroyed. When Atari was destroyed, did gaming become more popular or less? It became more, much more and transformed into the current form of consoles we see today.
Nintendo seems more interested in propping up The Industry than to prop up gamers who are losing interest in gaming.
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