Reggie Fils-Aime, the President and COO of Nintendo of America, has been rather busy in the past week doing the rounds with the US media, primarily mainstream consumer and business outlets. With the absolutely vital Black Friday and Holiday seasons around the corner, it's an important time as the company plans to push the Wii U and 3DS — and their key releases — as far as possible.
For the most part Fils-Aime has done an impressive job of reeling out the company lines — confidence in product momentum and so on — and has been promoting releases such as Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, amiibo and Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. A recent interview with Forbes, however, did at least make the executive think on his feet. Emphasizing key points and repeating Nintendo's focus on unique content is important, but in this discussion there are some good questions on the respective threats of Steam on PC and Amazon's moves towards gaming; the answer given on Nintendo's strengths in facing those challenges is a pretty good point for debate.
Check out the video below and let us know what you think.
Thanks to Ryan Millar for the tip.
[source forbes.com]
Comments 52
How is Amazon a competitor? I can understand Steam being one but Amazon? I...literally can't wrap my mind around that...
@ColdingLight i don't get it either
Amazon sells Nintendoganes in Europe
@ColdingLight It's not a competitor right now, but there has been a lot of talk as of late, with Amazon hiring game developers etc., to release their own video game console with games. While there's not guarantee that it'll be a competitor, people are speculating regardless that Amazon will release a budget console with approachable games, that'll take away all of the casual market, thus jeopardising Nintendo with the taking away of that market.
I like reggie you can tell he clearly loves his company. It really saddens me that Nintendo aernt the highly regarded company they once were considering how generally consistant they have been with the quality of there games releases over the last 30 years and probably the only company that is these this consistent these days but I will always continue to support them. Long live Nintendo
It's true that almost every game Nintendo releases, be it in the past 2 years or in the coming years, appeals to me and makes me want to buy them all. No lack of games for me. I can hardly keep up.
ROFL.....Wii U is on a whole new level than the 3DS. Yes Reggie, you are right. Its 150 steps below where the 3DS is at. Then you go from talking about 3DS game sales....to the Wii U game metacritic scores lol?
As for Amazon they are using stuff like Amazon Fire to get their feet wet into the game/media world. That is why the question came up. They won't likely make any headways with it though and won't be a challenger anytime soon if ever. I'd rather see a question about why Nintendo continues to restrict the sale of Nintendo hardware sales with the biggest retailer in the nation which no doubt has cost a lot of sales.
I also like when he talks about new IPs and he has almost none to say and sadly one is just another branch off of the Mario series.
yea but i bet when the steamboy comes out, as long as its nice and plays most or all steam games, its going to take a chunk out of 3ds sales. or hopefully pushes them to make their next handheld better and sooner. i know i'm going to get one for sure when it comes out.
The problem with other competitors is they are really pushing for cloud based gaming and things that rely on Internet connectivity. I love Nintendo because they don't force that on you and allow you to just play really good games. Steam is over hyped and only good because they offer good deals. I would much rather play nintendo games and know that they are top quality.
Amazon is a competitor like it or not. FireTV gaming bundle, FireTV Stick. Amazon is getting serious about gaming, and Wii U isn't exactly flying off the shelves just yet.
But I just can't watch another Reggie interview. I haven't even watched the last 1 yet.
This is why Nintendo would always be the best company ever
I literally just got the last few parts I need for a gaming PC today, but I also got Smash Bros for Wii U. It's gonna be tough deciding which to play with first when I escape from work. (Spoiler: probably Smash Bros, for at least a little bit.)
@darthllama
What you said about Amazon is the kind of thing people said about Sony, Microsoft, and Apple in the past.
Amazon is getting their feet wet, but they have more money than Nintendo (and likely more than Sony), their own highly recognizable distribution chain, more influence than Nintendo, and have purchased at least one dev studio so far--Double Helix, who made Killer Instinct for the XBO.
Indeed, before launching their own consoles, both Sony and Microsoft started by buying up studios. One Microsoft snagged was Bungie. Amazon could full well be the next major console maker a generation from now.
But I don't think Amazon want to be a major console maker. There's too much risk, as Nintendo are experiencing right now. They want to make cheap devices people plug into their TVs and they buy cheap games for, like they do on mobiles and tablets. It's a competitor for sure, but not in the same way MS and Sony are, more like how Apple took away most of the handheld market.
@3dcaleb : I'll make one prediction about the launch of "SteamBoy": Nintendo will sick a team of IP lawyers after them for trademark infringement. Seriously, they need to re-think that name.
@Quorthon Thing about Amazon is they at least are a reasonable competitor most of the time (Or number one in some things).
@3dcaleb It will more than likely Stream from a PC for the full library and play indies and Valve games (Due to SteamOS). Thing is most of those indies are already on the Vita. At the moment there is Civilisation V / Borderlands 2 & Pre Sequel and Football Manger + Valve + indies.
Between 3DS and Wii U, we can hardly afford all the games we really want. No reason for our family to buy PS4 or XBox. I fill my other gaming needs on the PC, be it Humble Bundle or GOG downloads at great values.
Reggie for President!
He failed at a follow up question or even a statement. Captain Toad comes from Mario, and might seem like more Mario to the fans
Oh - and ...Amazon recently tried to bust into the Smartphone marker with the Fire Phone and totally failed. .
looks at Nintendo are you stupid Nintendo?!? I mean seriously, you think Steam and Amazon are your competitions?!? Wow....just...wow...
You see Nintendo, your WRONG in every way, Sony and Microsoft are your competition, rather you like it or not, and so far, they're kicking your butt so much in the console department it's not even funny -_- The way you guys are going, I would actually say android, apple, and LeapFrog is more your competition ¬¬
Nintendo strengths are its IPs.
It's weaknesses are like, everything else.
Why can't Amazon and Nintendo get along?
Value is lazy and evil and ignorant. Other than their awesome Humble Bundle's! I love!
But why can't Nintendo and Amazon get along?
I cannot stand that man. Watching him makes me want to slap him. He brings out the worst in this non-violent little old lady.
@pinkspider
He gets a pretty good paycheck to love nintendo.
@hydeks Steam is a competitor as they are a competing Video Game platform for PCs. Amazon is becoming a potential competitor because they are investing in gaming (hiring developers, etc.). While they are not console makers, they take talent from the industry and produce competing products (video games). Nintendo would be foolish not to at least pay attention to them somewhat.
Nintendo gets respect from me because they generally do not try to be an "also ran" company. They make decisions based on what they think will be unique and fun, not based on what everyone else is doing or current trends. To me, the other major console makers and publishers care more about playing on "pop culture" and flash in the pan profits than having solid gameplay mechanics that produces evergreen profits. Even when they manage to get the second correct, they hammer it with rapid fire sequels until players burn out on it.
was a decent enough interview, once you'd got past the obvious fluff (eg. "how confident are you?" not going to answer negatively to that) and it's good to see he realises that most people play on many platforms, but i would liked to have seen deeper questions, such as:
steam's pricing, game sharing, general added value that nintendo don't currently offer
oculus rift...surely he's had a go on one by now, and does he think it'll disrupt the industry or not
from his answers, it sounds like nintendo are content to do "just ok" for this generation, but then what choice do they have at this point? short of implementing a real account system, opening up development to people who can't afford to spend thousands on devkits, dropping region-locking, make game prices more competitive, etc... basically do what steam's doing, because it seems to work wonders.
Amazon should be 3rd party.
Also PC gaming is great but Nintendo is still awesome! If they ever go 3rd party I hope they keep all their staff and bring Miiverse with them to where ever they go.
These comments do not give me confidence in Nintendo's next console. If they ignore what Sony and MS are doing then again we are gonna get an underpowered console with weak online capabilities.
"and in the end a consumer who plays games, whether they're playing on Steam or even a competitor device. Playing games, growing that category is very healthy for us and we want to encourage that as much as possible."
Why can't the silly fanboys see the bigger picture like this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeVQTgnluaM
@1wiierdguy That would involve them taking off their blinders. And we both know that wont happen for many.
@rjejr
Spoiler: in this one he mentioned BOTH Hyrule Warriors and Bayonetta 2.
@sinalefa - Tomorrow I'll watch them both. Reggie should get his own TAG.
@Chubblings
They already released said console. It's called the Amazon Fire TV and apparently has exclusives made by Amazon's game dev teams.
LOL I notice in every interview he does when someone mentions Sony and Microsoft, Reggie does NOT say their name at all. He'll just say, "other platforms", "gaming outlets", or "the competition". Reggie said screw that! You ain't getting no shine off me! Hahahaha I really don't like the guy, but I liked this interview. He was to the point and focused on what Nintendo is doing and what they are going to bring to the table. Not what others are up to. Good interview.
@ColdingLight
If a company with the size and clout of Amazon, not to mention the established distribution channels, start moving towards your market it would be dereliction of duty not to consider them as a possible competitor. It may not work out for them, but Nintendo and everyone else in the games industry will be watching closely.
Nintendo should release a good Pokemon game for the wii u that will help the wii u grow!
@AVahne Ah okay, I'm only slightly informed on the subject, but thanks for the extra information.
A bonafide master in spinning anything to a positive.
And of course he isn't going to say anything about Amazon, they are one of the top retailers of Nintendo products.
@hydeks Yes, wow sony ans MS are doing great. cough Their first year on the market and they still haven't really showed any reason to own their systems if you have a gaming pc and a wiiU already Sony and MS are getting high on their own succes while Nintendo get smacked down generation after generation as doomed or lost or whatever yet still manages to secure a place in a lot of gamers hearts by trying (not always succeeding) to be more then a "populair" platform.
I don't mean to say Sony and MS are terrible but they are not any better if you disregard sales figures (sales figures are a poor mark of quality) But no one yells MS or Sony are doomed because their first year is about as mediocre as nintendo WiiU's yes there are a lot of 3rd party games that Nintendo is lacking but as I stated before if you own a gaming pc and a wiiU MS and Sony need to do more to make their system worth it's money.
The others companies are just like a campfire.After the time passes we all know which one console will survive with resistent hardware and awesome replayable and nostalgic games!
MS and Sony should be worried about Steam. Only their few exclusives will not be on it.
Amazon is more of a competitor with the US Military than Nintendo, seeing their full speed ahead focus on Drones... Amazon is even beating the increasingly militarized US Police Forces to the punch, even though the Police are gung-ho for drones!
Steam is a somewhat more traditional competitor, but their business model is very different. Nintendo doesn't need to be worried about Steam compared to GOG, Desura, HumbleBundle, and others. Now THOSE companies are constantly under pressure to survive under the sheer weight of Steam!
I, for one, am glad Nintendo no longer holds a total monopoly- there's no such thing as a good monopoly.
If there's anything Reggie could be doing better, it would be working to turn around this policy :
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/207218/The_brick_wall_No_close_encounters_with_Nintendos_indie_exec.php
"It's Nintendo's policy not to privilege the individual. It's Nintendo's policy to keep messaging corporate, not personal. These policies originate all the way up in the Japanese office, as staff members continually tell me, but this approach is not the way of things today, and it shows how far behind Nintendo is in terms of its relationship with third party developers, and how it operates as a company: keeping everyone in check, rather than letting innovation and new ideas lead, as its executives keep saying they want to."
@PlywoodStick
I gotta say that reading just the first two paragraphs of that article, Sheffield draws his own conclusions about a lot of things just becaue he isn't allowed to talk to Adelman. He says it perpetuates the image of Nintendo in general not being open to third parties, but Dan Adelman is not the guy the big publishers talk to, and Gamasutra is not a video game third party.
He might have decided to start off his piece on a slightly less bitter note, if he really has a valuable point in there, which I do suspect he does. Adelman is much more freely available now though, so I don't think I feel the need to trawl through Brandon Sheffield's ramblings.
@hydeks Steam are serious competition for Nintendo - why buy a Wii U port when you can get the superior and moddable PC version on Steam for 90% less?
@Pod He mentions later in the article that Dan Adelman, Nintendo's former Indie department head, knew Sheffield personally, and would have met with him if he could. Nintendo's corporate policy prevented that from happening.
And yes, I said former...
http://wiiudaily.com/2014/08/dan-adelman-leaving-nintendo/
About four months after that post on Gamasutra, Dan Adelman left Nintendo because he was fed up with the lack of freedom their internal policies allow.
@MadAdam81 Because someday, somehow, Steam may die out, and all those digital purchases will go POOF!
Okay, no. Reggie, don't make a terrible mistake here. Never compete with PC gaming. NEVER! Look what became of Sony and Microsoft when they were foolish enough to try: they resorted to building unoriginal powerhouses, and now they slowly lose track of what is the important thing about gaming - creative games.
And Amzon had a strong start with Fire TV, but the current game lineup is less than interesting (AC4 might've been interesting last year, but now it's too late), and the general focus is media streaming, anyway. So calling them competition is only true in a very remote sense.
As others have said Nintendo's IP is their biggest strength and it's a great strength. My partner's kids wanted a new console and the fact is that looking at the shelves of the Xboxes and Playstations the number of titles targeting the pre-teen market is very very small. They get to play in my Wii U once or twice a month at best and they barely scratch the surface, so a Wii U was a no-brainer because it has a far more inclusive software lineup. The fact that they have a Wii and therefore don't need additional gear (beyond a hard drive - £35) means it's also nearly half the price of entry (depending upon the bundle) of the other two machines.
I don't think Nintendo has anythjng to worry about: continue to deliver the quality and people will be there. December is going to be big for Wii U!
@PlywoodStick
I am fully aware of Adelman leaving Nintendo, hence why I mention I'd rather read some of his own writings than Sheffield's.
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