Nintendo's entry into the mobile phone gaming arena was pretty huge news, and some fans suspected that the company would show off something at E3 2015 related to it. However, that didn't come to pass - and Nintendo of America's Reggie Fils-Aime has been explaining to IGN exactly why that was the case.
Simply put, Fils-Aime believes that the E3 crowd wouldn't have responded kindly to smartphone games leaking into the Digital Event presentation:
E3 is a console gaming show. And I say that despite all of the mobile entrants that are here. I say that despite mobile content that a number of publishers show. Like many folks, I watch a lot of the conferences. And you can hear the groan when a particular company talks about mobile in their presentation. That's not what the media and the attending consumer at the show really want to hear about. And so that's why we're focusing on console gaming here. We're focusing on our Wii U business and on our 3DS business. There's going to be lots of opportunities to talk about mobile, NX, and our IP expansion. We just don't feel that it's the proper venue to do that at the show.
Given that Nintendo spent a sizeable portion of its Digital Event talking about how Yarn Yoshi amiibos are made, we feel there might have been a little scope to talk about other projects - but perhaps you feel that Reggie is correct here? Is E3 the wrong place to talk about smartphone games? Let us know with a comment.
[source uk.ign.com]
Comments 47
This time I agree 100%. E3 is still a trade show (for now). I know a lot of digital only games get mentioned there a lot, but retailers can still use that to decide how many digital store front cards to buy in, or maybe it will lead to an increase in the amount of hardware they order. Mobile games... not so much.
There's lots of E3 decisions I don't agree with from Nintendo this year but this isn't one of them. Square's E3 conference was mostly cringeworthy because of the Mobile focus.
EA's whole segment dedicated to the Minions mobile game was received very poorly, it's absolutely the wrong place to showcase mobile I have no doubt there's absolutely an audience for this game.
They have said this so many times before E3. Are people so stupid that they still believed this was going to happen? Nintendo shouldn't need to explain their actions around mobile games.
It would have been better that those Developers Stories sections, to mention plans for an F-Zero mobile adaption or something. E3's for games, not long rants about yarn Yoshi's
Well, there's mobile, and then there's Nintendo Mobile. They are last company on the planet to go mobile. Who isn't eager to see what that looks like?
I liked the developer stories and I also think it was right to not show mobile stuff at E3. Personally I don't mind hearing about mobile games, but I know the "gamer" audience has a massive hangup about them, and since perception is everything in this market, skipping mobile was the right choice.
I heard on another website a suggestion for Nintendo to do their own "Nintendo Fest" where they can talk about & stream just Nintendo stuff and not have to complete with everyone else for attention. Still do E3 but give NX andmobile and other announcements their own dedicated thing, and then just have a special edition Nintendo Direct at E3 (kinda like how they did it this year).
What crowd? The Youtube crowd?
Pretty sure it wouldn't be worse than what they gave us...
Yeah; I don't think E3 was the right place to talk about the mobile stuff.
Anyway; so here's one of my ideas for what I think Nintendo's new console, the NX, could be: https://inceptionalnews.wordpress.com/2015/06/26/heres-the-gist-of-my-idea-for-nintendos-nx/
Have a wee read of it and let me know what you think
I would have liked to know some details, but I wouldn't want to watch twenty minutes of mobile game footage, that's for sure.
Yup, smart move. EA mistakenly spent too much time talking about mobile games. When Bethesda revealed the Fallout mobile title, the crowd was dead silent.
Yes, he made a good decision. Most of the people paying attention to E3 don't want to hear hearing about mobile games there. A Nintendo Direct dedicated to mobile games would be a much more suitable place to talk about it.
Not a surprise, as they telegraphed well ahead of time their intentions for the scope of E3. Though near the end of the Digital Event I did wonder if I'd hear "And our new mobile platform, exclusively for Blackberry..."
@Kirk - interesting concept. Would it need to be $300 or more though? I thought Nintendo made an error in judgement when the Wii U wasn't fully compatible with the 3DS systems. I think this maybe some sort of hybrid. I just dont think it will be related to Wii U other then the ability to play Wii U games via eShop.
I want to hear more about the successor to Club Nintendo! When will they decide to tell us anything about that?
"You can hear the groan when a particular company talks about mobile"
I coudln't hear that groan though, it was drowned out by th eFederation Force mob riots.
Show of hands - who would have been willing to listen to 2-3 minutes of mobile if we got Metroid Prime U rather than FF? Or a real AC game rather than amiibo festival? Or Zelda U rather than that 3DS game?
Nintneod had WAY too much groaning going on in their own camp to be talking smack about anybody else. Can you just IMAGINE how bad that NDE would have been if it was a live stage presentation?
Yes, E3 is NOT the place for mobile, but no where is the place for all the stuff Nitnedo handed us instead of the games everybody really wanted. NO place.
I'm filing this whole thing under - deflection or re-direction - it's been a while since I took Psych 101 so they may not be right.
@Spoony_Tech - Please understand, the new Club Nintendo has been delayed to coincide with the release of our NX platform.
Who knows, maybe the NX platform IS the new Club Nintendo?
I wonder if Reggie heard the groans of Nintendo fans during their digital event. It's hard to believe Nintendo gets something like this right but failed so miserably and showed things like Metroid Soccer and Animal Crossing meets Mario Party with a side helping of Amiibo. Not to mention games that have been in the past, what, two E3s (Xeno and Yoshi)? It's even more frustrating knowing they have several projects they haven't revealed to us yet (plus all that Zelda footage). I gotta admit, I really like the idea of only showing games that are coming in the next 6 months or so, but their E3 needed more than that. It must be a new rule too, because some games (Like the two mentioned above) were certainly shown years away from release.
I'm sorry. I'm still a little booty bothered by Ninty's E3.
@DreamOn
I am excited. I want to see series that are no longer justified to be sold for full price (sorry Warioware Inc, I still like you), or something all new.
I don't like mobile much but I disagree with him. There is a huge market now for mobile rather you like it our not, and you should have shown something that your working on to get those people excited. I don't like eshop and indie games, but people show those off, mobile gaming is still gaming, and that's what E3 is about.
@FragRed well, you know how it is. People feel that if anyone owes them an explanation (fan or no fan) it's Nintendo... Sony/Microsoft can showcase the same title from last years E3 and hardly anyone bats an eye, in fact, they cheer louder the second time around! Sure, THIS years E3 wasn't so hot for Nintendo, but hey, we got some nice titles coming down the pipeline (Still that freakin' game drought, again!). As for mobile at E3, yeah, from what I have seen there, it's all about console gaming... In fact the Mobile gaming area was open to the public a few years back.
@naantz how was the atmosphere? (I no longer have credentials to go) they closed out most of the outside vendors from what I could see. Friends told me overall the best looking (not best presentation) was Microsoft. Also, this years crowd was into hyper-violence like no other crowd... Eek.
The one thing they have said that I agree with.
And the E3 hate continues on EVERY forum now...
@Platypus101 I watched from my house, I meant that their crowd wasn't the same as the other presentations' because it wasn't a live presentation.
@hYdeks if you've been to E3 you wouldn't say that... Simply put, mobile gaming really doesn't require the same level of announcement that a console title requires... Many of the devs/publishers spend millions of dollars putting their display up for a single title. Mobile devs get a side table and what amounts to a podium (generally holding said mobile device) to demonstrate their title. All mobiles are in the same display area, no real differentiation from one pub/Dev to the next. Now let's look at the gymnasium sized rooms setup just for Miscrosoft or Sony or any other Console Developer...
That was actually a smart decision, mobile wouldn't have gone over well at E3.
You'd probably get more Nintendoomed comments if they revealed their mobile games at the Digital Event lol.
@Captain_Gonru - "E3 is a console gaming show." "And so that's why we're focusing on console gaming here." "There's going to be lots of opportunities to talk about mobile, NX, and our IP expansion"
I did notice that, but my brain wasn't quite awake enough to do anything w/ it.
But since it's Reggie, and I don't think Japan has even told him what NX is yet, they just handed him a script, I'd bet he meant to say - mobile, DeNA, and our IP expansion" - b/c that makes more sense. He just confused the 2.
Or at least that's what I hoped happened.
Reggie is saying whatever will keep him from getting beat up when he goes to the little boys' room where fans and/or ninty execs may be hiding in one of the stalls.
@Kirk So the true name of the NX would be another bad joke?
@KryptoKrunch Yet that app is the most downloaded one right now right? I resisted but every gamer at my jobs (yes plural) has it installed.
I agree with Reggie here. Nintendo Directs can handle mobile announcements. I can imagine Reggie coughing and muttering EA under his breath when he said 'a certain company'. XD
@Gerbwmu It doesn't have to cost that much if it's approached right, and I have ideas for this too, but even if it did; knowing you'd only have to buy one Nintendo console this time around, which would basically act as both your portable and your home console, would probably help people see it as a pretty good value proposition—especially if it has the full creation suite idea built into out-the-gate for free too
Ideally though; I wouldn't want to have to pay more than $200, or £200 for me in the UK, for this thing—regardless of how Nintendo has to figure out how to pull that off.
@PlywoodStick Of course. It only makes sense
@rjejr I hear ya man.
Yeah, that would have sunk it further. I don't think many people were disappointed at a lack of mobile games demonstrated at E3 and the way things went it could have compounded the messaging and made people think Nintendo was jumping ship for mobile.
"Nintendo Didn't Mention Mobile At E3 2015 Because It Was The Wrong Crowd"
Yeah, that goes without saying. Honestly, that's no news, that's something anyone with a brain in his head should've realized intuitively.
E3 = core gamers
mobile gaming = 100x more casual than (allegedly casual) Wii gamers
Thank goodness they didn't, if reactions to the direct were bad, if they had incluyed mobile the reactions would have been horrible (even more terrible than Federation Force)
I think Bethesda announcing Fallout Shelter actually built up some hype for their upcoming main series game, and kept momentum. Unlike EA, they didn't dedicate an entire section to it. Also, since it was released right after the conference, it had a very successful launch, overtaking Candy Crush Saga on iTunes. Not saying Nintendo should have done the same thing, but it's something that all companies should take home from E3.
the only smart thing I've ever heard Reggie say
One question Reggie: Do you realise what people mean when they call you a bunch of Muppets? If so why did you portray yourselves as Muppets?
If they really were sensitive about being heckled then that presentation would likely have never been signed off. More Reggie BS.
Wow, that's an actually intelligent choice from Nintendo. Who woulda thought they had it in them?
At least they understand something!
"Given that Nintendo spent a sizeable portion of its Digital Event talking about how Yarn Yoshi amiibos are made, we feel there might have been a little scope to talk about other projects - but perhaps you feel that Reggie is correct here?"
In other words, "with all the filler, they might as well as talk about mobile stuff". And you know what? I agree with you, @Damo. Although, then again, now that Reggie pointed it out I'm glad Ninty kept focusing on actual games, as few as they were.
I agree!
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