Hello Malstrom,
I’ve been somewhat curious – with Nintendo’s stock in free-fall, and
the greater market reacting incredibly negatively to the company’s
direction, I can only wonder how long it’ll be before Iwata is ousted
by angry stakeholders. To see a man who single-handedly gave the
revolution a kick in the pants, only to stop it short would be
incredibly satisfying. After all, SOMETHING needs to be done to stop
the free-falling stock. Somebody has to take responsibility for share
prices below the Gamecube era’s. Somebody has to fall on the sword, to
be pushed into the volcano, if only to show that things are changing.
Maybe then, we could see somebody who knows how to run a business
(instead of a playhouse) take the reins and bring Nintendo’s direction
back on track. Somebody who isn’t afraid to say “No” to Miyamoto, or
to tell Sakamoto that he’s incompetent. Someone who will punish
Aonuma for being careless with Zelda, and praise games that people
actually resonate with. Someone who knows that the market is king, and
the customer is always right.
Of course, this may end up being a pipe dream, all the same. I hope
that it’s not, and I pray that it’s not too late to turn things
around.
Yamauchi and his friends own the majority of the company. Iwata works at Yamauchi’s pleasure.
I’m convinced it will take another Gamecube disaster to wake Nintendo up. And I think we may see it with the 3DS. If 3DS keeps selling poorly and Sony’s Vita takes the handheld market, that would greatly alarm Nintendo and things would be shaken up.
Iwata would not be the first to go. He is at the top. The marketers would be removed first. People like Reggie Fils-Aime would be gone way before Iwata is. Nintendo tends to blame the marketers when their product doesn’t sell (see the 3DS as a recent example).
I find it alarming that no one in the company has blamed the poor sales of the N64 and Gamecube on the N64 and Gamecube games. The blame always goes to the marketing, to ‘launching a year late’, to everything and anything but the actual product. I find it alarming that developers like Miyamoto only receive credit but never receive any blame.
Why does this matter? Nintendo is currently talking like the Wii had no “hardcore” consumers, that all the “hardcore” consumers were on Xbox 360 and PS3. Apparently, only “casuals” bought the Wii. Therefore, the Wii U is to ‘unite’ both the “casuals” and the “hardcore”. This is what Nintendo is saying.
The ‘hardcore’ were on the Wii, though. They were the ones who bought the Mario Galaxy games. They bought Smash Brothers Brawl. They bought Zelda: Twilight Princess.So why is Nintendo suddenly saying that the Wii didn’t have the ‘hardcore’?
It means that Nintendo doesn’t believe their ‘hardcore’ games didn’t sell too well because of ‘disinterest’. They didn’t sell because the ‘hardcore’ were on other consoles.
Why didn’t Metroid: Other M sell? Nintendo does not want to believe it was because of disinterest (which would imply Sakamoto isn’t a “creative genius”). Instead, it was because the ‘hardcore’ were on another console. If Metroid: Other M was released on the PS3 or Xbox 360, it would have sold BIG. At least, this is what Nintendo is thinking.
Nintendo hates the ‘battle disinterest’ mindset of the Wii because it forces them to make games they don’t like. It is why the Industry hated the Wii as well. Nintendo is currently suffering a ‘famine’ of doing what they really want. The 3DS was made not to ‘expand gaming’ but as a license to keep making Gamecube games. The Wii U appears not to ‘expand gaming’ but as a license to make PS3/Xbox 360-esque games.
Do not be surprised if a Metroid: Other M 2 appears on the Wii U. Nintendo would lie to themselves and say, “Now that the ‘hardcore’ are on our console, this sort of game will sell now!” Miyamoto will say, “Now that the ‘hardcore’ is there, all my 3d Mario games will now sell!” You get the picture.
Just as the 3DS was made for selfish ends, the Wii U has been made for selfish ends. Nintendo developers are no different than the Game Industry. They, too, want to play in the HD sandbox. They don’t want to make games you want to play. They want to make games where they get to take in… themselves. They want to make games like ‘Heavy Rain’.