They must know what they're doing...
Nintendo pays some very smart people a lot of money to promote its products, and it knows how to 'play' the internet and get our attention in the wrong ways. That must be the thinking behind this 1-2-Switch trailer, called "Fun for all the family this Christmas", released by Nintendo UK.
It's suitably cheesy, showing a typical household (albeit a surprisingly tidy one) on Christmas Day. But then the milking game comes into it, and our despair for mankind deepens.
You win, Nintendo.
About Thomas Whitehead
Tom has been involved in the games industry for over a decade, mostly writing about it or struggling to sell Indie games. Loves reading, writing, hunting Capcom’s fiercest monsters and watching baseball.
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Comments 51
Why? We had such a good thing going.
LOL
Take that PETA.
The game looks fun enough for a family party setting and some of the stuff has high comedic potential. The problem is the game should have been a pack-in title.
What's Christmas without a good family milking?
@JHDK Wouldn't have Christmas without it.
I so wish Benny Hill was still on just to see him do a take on that commercial.
Ooooooohhhhhhhh says the old man, being reminded of the days of his misspent youth.
Out of all the great first party games Nintendo could be advertising to sell the Nintendo Switch, they chose 1 2 Switch. Totally bizarre.
We pull that game out sometimes for 10 minutes or so with family, but Mario Kart, Arms, and Bomberman always end up being the stars. Just played Arms with family again last night.
A successor to Wii Sports couldn't come soon enough.
Grandad, your enjoying that just a little bit too much.
This Xmas commercial is so heart warming... it melted my heart and made me cry.
Milking a cow instead of the Queen! Disgusting!
Don’t ruins everything! It’s not too late to hangevthe commercial!
@JHDK I bet you and your family are extra close because of it, too.
Talk about milking a franchise...wait what ?
But seriously, i'll probably never get their own fascination for 1-2-Switch...
They've included Xenoblade, FE Warriors, Zelda, Skyrim, Mario, FIFA and Splatoon in their recent advertising. Why not this? Appeals to a different market potentially.
I mean, I understand. It's Christmas, families play games together at this time of year. But... this is so awful it hurts.
Still not worth more than £10.
Reduce the prices
@Yasaal Why? It sold well more than a million at its current price. It would be absurd for Nintendo to forego all that revenue just because a small group of gamers think it's overpriced.
I totally understand why Nintendo is doing this. They obviously got the core gamers in their pockets already, but not necessarily the casual gamers. Advertisements like this might appeal to households that usually don't spend much on gaming devices. Their advertisements for the Wii were a big success, and I think Nintendo is smart in trying to recreate that success with the casuals, selling more Switches in the process.
How about free Odyssey DLC to give Mario a Santa Cappy?
Way to milk it for all its worth Nintendo.
I'm really milking it.
Those who know about switch and want one have probably already purchased one. The casuals are still of interest to Nintendo. I can see why they’re using the chance to advertise to those who might not definitely know they’re gonna make that jump
@Nincompoop
You are my favorite guy.
I still don't get why everyone is being so dramatic about this. They're advertising this AS WELL AS all the other games I mentioned in post 18. They want to appeal to everyone, they aren't focussing on the people who will be tempted by 12 Switch, they're pitching to them as well.
If this helps little Jimmy who's asked for a Switch for Christmas get one because his parents think they might have a crack at milking some imaginary cows over the holidays, great.
Grandpa seems to be really good at this game. Certainly better than his granddaughter. I believe we can assume he's been naughty and she's been nice.....
@Yorumi To be fair, the only thing TV advertising is going to do at this point is entice the old Wii customers. Everyone that actually follows gaming already knows Switch is a thing by now.
Still doesn't excuse messaging that tells you "Now you can milk your Wii!"
I mean who among the core gaming audience watches TV commercials and learns about a console that way? Sony still advertises because they're A) selling satisfaction to existing customers (like car commercials....car commercials aren't there to make you buy a Dodge Caravan, they're there to make Dodge Caravan owners feel confident about their purchase and therefore recommend them. Same for PS4.) And B, sony IS advertising to casuals.....they just have a different group of casuals...movie watchers interested in their interactive movie style games. Neither is really advertising "gamers games." Gamers don't make buying decisions from TV ads. Gamer's make fun of Wii milking commercials on the intertubes.
(Personally I agree that I'd rather them ditch the Wii era messaging once and for all....I cringed at the Jan reveal....but I can see the merit of what they're doing at this point. And 1-2-Switch outsold FIFA IIRC )
Also, isn't this a UK commercial? NoA's been getting it more right for once
@electrolite77 Yes. Cows.
@Yorumi True, seeing what it can do and what the library can offer is a critical piece. But still, today, anyone looking for that is already seeing it on the internet, or in the case of Switch, possibly in public places soon. Holiday advertising really has to appeal to the lowest common denominator. They're selling to grandparents here...the Wii crowd. I mean they did Zelda for the super bowl so at least they know their audience.
I'm curious to know if this is JUST a UK commercial though. It's clear UK "gamers" don't care at all about Switch so maybe it's a desperate ad for an uninterested market. If the gamers reject you see if the Wii bowlers will bite. Meanwhile in US and Japan people are champing at the bit for Xenoblade. NoA (Reggie "gets it" for once?) has been doing a pretty good job of recognizing the market this time. But of course unlike the UK, US HAS a market for it
My own bias makes me dislike that it sold well, also. Japan contributed to that a lot though. Japan loves karaoke, and senran kagura, so whatever...
"George, what are you doing?"
Nintendo trying to get that wii casual gamer market thing going again. Hope this is a one off. Only beginning to shed the kids console image with the switch and don’t want it back. “I can feel it” I bet you can gramps, dutty git
I saw this come up on my subscription feed earlier. Tellingly they've disabled comments.
Nothing wrong with some good dairy on Christmas! Though I wonder how easy it was to get this commercial pasteur censors, Nintendo....
Bought this on launch day. Played it with my wife twice and my brother once. Not a great success with either. I had an okay time, but putting up with their pained expressions as they attempted to play a physical game with me was too much. Sold to Amazon for about half the price I bought it for. This is a fun series of games, unfortunately you have to have excitable friends to enjoy telephone answering, champagne bottle hot potato, and sword catching.
@NEStalgia
You realise don't you that, as a Brit, I've spent the last 10 minutes Googling who that is? 😁
@Yorumi
I don't think they're really focussing on 'casuals'. I just think for Nintendo there's no confusion now about what market their machines are aiming at. They have one machine, they want as many people as possible to buy it. I've always said that I think they should be doing new F-Zero, Wave Race, Advance Wars, Metroid and not just because I like them. It's because, even if they don't particularly sell hugely on their own, they might bring in half a million people who otherwise wouldn't buy the system. They the but more games. The same is true of 1-2 Switch. Other systems have Just Dance but they don't have 1-2 Switch and Mario Kart. So even if that 'casual' market is only potentially a million sales over the next 4 years Nintendo have to go for it. And given that it's the least clued up section of the market, TV makes sense.
@Yorumi People are responding you normally, stop overreacting. No one have to agree with you, and for the record, you are always here complaining like a spoiled child.
@Yorumi
It hasn't really sold that well though. 1.5 million is decent obviously, but considering it was one of their flagship launch titles (alongside BOTW which has kind of trounced it with 5 million) that they put a huge marketing push behind (and opened their Switch conference with), they must be pretty disappointed that it didn't have a much bigger impact (as they clearly wanted it to be a viral Wii Sports-style phenomenon), but then again, turns out the Switch didn't really need one anyway, so maybe they're not that upset.
As a UK Nintendo fan, the days of cheesy aspirational lifestyle Wii commercials/Jedward, etc. are still very raw, so to be honest, anything now is tolerable in comparison...
It's the best 1-2-Switch game
Nintendo Switch: Got Milk?
@Yorumi
It's absolutely baffling. I'd love to know what logic, if any, goes into which franchises get put on the naughty step.
@chardir that sounds so wrong dood now everyone here is going to bleach their eyes to get that image out of our heads.
Nintendo is still milking the success of Wii. Put Switch Sports out already Nintendo, and bundle it with the console for same price. It worked out before
@dimi "Nintendo is still milking the success of Wii"
Where have you been these last couple years?
Of course they are promoting it. It's geared towards a casual audience who are looking to play something when the wider family gets together for the trials of the festive holidays.
Haven't you ever noticed the sudden influx of advertsising for ill conceived board games that clogs television breaks in the lead up to Christmas??
It's called marketing, dhoy,
ie M O N E Y.
Obviously they’re trying to hit the Wii casual players, moms and dads, grandparents, etc. The game is the worst of the Switch titles, but I guess it’s not about 1 2 Switch, and more about making a Switch the central part of your family gatherings.
OH NO GRANDFATHER! NOT IN FRONT OF THE CHILDREN!
1,2 Switch outsold ARMs.
What the hell, World?
At least George has an excuse this year.
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