What are Nintendo's priorities?
Reggie Fils-Aime, the President at Nintendo of America, has recently given his explanation as to why there seems to be more ‘mature’ games coming from third-party developers on Nintendo platforms.
Let’s face it, whether you like their consoles/games or not, Nintendo has done a lot for the video games industry. Not only is the company one of the early pioneers in the market, it is still standing strong today; developing some of the most innovative products in an industry that is ever-evolving. Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of the Mario, Donkey Kong, and Zelda franchises (among many others) recently got awarded the Academy Fellowship at this year’s British Academy Video Games Awards, and rightly so. Not only has he led teams of developers in bringing us some of the most iconic games in history, he’s still involved with some of the most anticipated upcoming titles today.
Being in the industry for almost thirty years; he has undoubtedly seen many changes in how games are developed. However, games aren’t the only things that have changed. Us gamers that grew up in the 80s have also changed. Whilst we still enjoy games that have classic gameplay mechanics that hold everything together, our tastes have changed as much as they have stayed the same. This current generation of consoles has seen Nintendo come under heavy fire for not providing enough for the more ‘hardcore’ gamer and the ‘mature’ demographic .
Speaking to MTV, Fils-Aime states that Nintendo are not experts at creating ‘mature’ games and that their developers “don’t particularly enjoy making that content”.
“They probably could make stellar content, if they chose to. We choose to do something else. So it really is up to the third-party developer to create that great content and bring it to life on the platform.”
First of all, we have to wonder what one means when describing games as ‘mature’ in nature. If that term is used to describe the visuals as photo-realistic, then I suppose Nintendo are guilty of not providing enough titles that look that way. If we mean it in terms of cerebral interaction, I would say the company has done more than its fair share of bringing us titles with original concepts and lateral thinking. If it means games with sex and profanity in it, well, I doubt we’ll ever see characters like Princess Peach or Samus Aran stripping off whilst swearing and cussing like there’s no tomorrow.
Whatever the definition of ‘mature’ is, there seems to be more games catering to that demographic on rival systems like the PS3 and Xbox 360. So with Fils-Aime putting the onus of developing these types of games on the third-part developers, is that a fair course of action? Is that productive?
Even if first-party developers have “chosen” not to focus their efforts on ‘mature’ games, Nintendo still has to make it as easy as possible for third-parties to make decent games and get a good response from critics and gamers. One key factor is marketing. Nintendo has focussed so much on marketing the Wii and DS/DSi as family-friendly consoles, they seem to have completely ignored the so-called ‘mature gamers’. What use is it if third-party developers spend the time and effort to create ‘mature’ games if ‘mature gamers’ aren’t interested in the consoles they are on?
Compelling ‘mature’ titles from third-party developers like MadWorld, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, and Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles (among others) haven’t sold as well as they perhaps ought to have, mainly because of the lack of marketing. Nintendo has to start making more of an effort when it comes to helping third-parties advertise their games. Not only that, but the way they do so too. Stop using ‘celebrities’ like Ant & Dec to face marketing campaigns. Stop focusing the appeal of the Wii and DS/DSi to the ‘casual’ gamer and let the world know that the consoles are for everyone.
Simply shifting the responsibility to third-parties but doing little to help them does no-one any favours.
[MTV] Reggie: Nintendo Devs Don’t Enjoy Making Mature Games
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