Nintendo Plans To Operate "Under A Next-Generation Collective Leadership System"

Seems like a good strategy

Well I hope it works.

I usually find that companies we work for who have a strong CEO with a clear vision - end up getting things done, and easier to work with.

Once we work on a project "by committee" - it is a fiasco. we literally wait around for months and nobody wants to take the initiative - or we spin our wheels going in different directions.

Sure, if he wants opinions - but you always need someone with a clear Vision at the top (in a creative project) in my experience.

Switch 2 reveal.

Good - hopefully this leads to no more 5-6 months software droughts. They burnt away so much momentum since December 1st. All hands on deck sounds good to me.

@rjejr "Freedom is irrelevant. Self-determination is irrelevant. You must comply."

All fine and good , but I also read some info on another game site the other day about how the new president wants to shift to a larger focus on mobile gaming-- it made me sight gag and shook my trust a bit in Furukawa.

Sounds like a sound strategy

@RobotReptile
Yeah i read that too. Bigger focus is ok as long as it doesnt effect their main gaming devisions.

As of now Furukawa seems to know more about the rest of the world so i hope he knows that Nintendo gamers dont play Nintendo on smartphones outside of Japan.

Ok as long as some fixes the voice chat and online features so we can play and chat to our friends.

"All fine and good , but I also read some info on another game site the other day about how the new president wants to shift to a larger focus on mobile gaming-- it made me sight gag and shook my trust a bit in Furukawa"

That sounds bad. And to think that Kmishima himself said that mobile didn't reap the rewards he hoped for. Just leave mobile already, and only focus on your own devices!

@RobotReptile

> I also read some info on another game site the other day about how the new president wants to shift to a larger focus on mobile gaming

I think you are misinterpreting the information, in that it's not a shift per se, as that would imply putting less effort in one place (consoles) to put more effort into another (mobile). It seems more about making their existing mobile efforts more profitable. It's just another revenue stream, not that unlike having Labo as another way to make more money off their products, in a way that doesn't have to detract from their core.

@Dang69 there haven't been any.
Jan: Celeste
Feb: Bayonetta 1+2
Mar: Kirby
Apr: Labo
May: DKCTF and Hyrule Warriors, not to mention every mega man and "most" street fighter games.
Jun: Mario Tennis, Wolfenstein 2
Jul: Captain Toad
2018: Yoshi, Super Smash Bros, Fire Emblem, Dark Souls
I won't be purchasing all of these, nor will you, but a drought there has not been. (It doesn't matter if many are wii u ports since so many switch owners skipped the wii u, didn't buy every good game for it, or are willing to double dip on great portable games.) I have a Wii U, but didn't buy several games when they came out due to my financial and home situation. Portable AAA Nintendo games are worth the money to me now.

@Alikan @Dang69 I don't even know what those people mean by "drought" this year. I mean, each month this year had at least one game for me to look forward to. January with Celeste, February with Dragon Quest Builders and Bayonetta 2, March with Kirby Star Allies and Atelier Lydie & Suelle (still mad about Nintendolife's review for both of these games), and April had South Park and Labo. This month, I'm getting Hyrule Warriors Switch and Mega Man Legacy Collections while the next month has Ys VIII and Mario Tennis Aces for me. I guess "droughts" are a matter of tastes...

Nintenborg 👌

@Lord

hahaha. yeah. now they just have a committee of bad decisions instead of a 1 man show.

Well if a system can have multiple screens, then why not have multiple executives as well? Lol all kidding aside, it's always good to have multiple people running the show because it can better represent the needs of the customers. Everyone can bring a different perspective to the table, which is always so needed in an industry like this where so many interests are being addressed.

@StephenYap3

agreed. plenty for me to play but i suspect some may be school-age and just play all day every day.

i mean the ps4 has had 1 game this year (gow) so not sure why N has to bring out 10 a month or something.

@SanderEvers exactly. I won't be picking up Octopath Traveler because I am awful at turn based RPGs (and gave the demo a shot) but I know many people are excited about it. Nintendo and 3rd parties are bringing us good fun games every month, but you can't please all the people all the time, which is why I'll be more than happy to just play Donkey Kong Country TF and Hyrule Warriors DE on the Switch to death, not to mention all the mega man and x games while waiting for Super Smash Bros and whatever other goodies are announced at E3.

@Henmii
If Furukawa wants shareholders to revolt and possibly vote him out of his upcoming presidency, then yes, he should stop Nintendo from making mobile games.

Drought is definitely relative. People use it to mean "no new games I want to play", which is absolutely fair enough. Otherwise we'd be counting the literal number of games released which is pretty irrelevant for most people.

For my tastes, there's definitely been a notable lull in the first half of the year. Celeste was great, but obviously doesn't scratch the same itches as something like Mario or Zelda.

I've mainly been plugging away at Splatoon, because it's brilliant (I really think it should be held up with Mario and Zelda as fantastic examples of modern Nintendo output) and keeps staying fresh. I also 100%ed Odyssey with the time. So I've not felt starved. But there's been a notable slowdown in the number of new things to whet my appetite.

There's definitely stuff on the horizon I'm looking forward to though. I really hope Aces lives up to its potential, and Octopath is intriguing.

@Agramonte "Once we work on a project "by committee" - it is a fiasco. we literally wait around for months and nobody wants to take the initiative - or we spin our wheels going in different directions."

So, pretty much current Nintendo.

@gatorboi352 Nintendo's profit margins disagree with your assessment, sir.

The 130-year shogunate is finally over. Here's to not recklessly attacking your competitors in the near future, Big N.

@Dang69 - The only droughts we experienced is directly from Nintendo made games and it was one month. And currently, as of May, Nintendo is releasing an average over 1 game a month. That's unheard of from any developer period.

Just cause your personal tastes aren't satiated every month directly doesn't mean Nintendo dried up one bit. It's hitting all markets in different variables and the profits reflect that.

@Alikan First off I'm not counting months that haven't happened yet. Second, you have to count December. 30 days went by in that Month with nothing big. Second, I love Celeste in Jan but it's not really enough to carry the console for 60 days (Dec+Jan). Feb Bayo is great, if you didn't have a WiiU, it's 4 and 8 years old and Bayo 1 really surprised me in showing it's age. March...that Kirby game was barely a "game". But yeah it was a release. April had LABO which isn't even marketed to people who bought a Switch, it's marketed to people who have kids to use it. SO, the fact even Nintendo lists it separately that doesn't count. May is good if you didn't have a WiiU or are already ready for another Warriors game (FE Warriors came out in OCT). MM collections have been available elsewhere, but will be fun, SF games are old but still fun, but come out at the end of May. The drought of new software is there, you go from Dec 1 to the middle of Feb for a "new" big retail release, that is only new if you didn't own a WiiU. The you get Kirby a month later, and that game is targeting the same LABO crowd for April. April has nothing (I loved Wild Guns tho). May has a "new DK game" if you didn't own a WiiU. It's been a drought, not a desert. April and March had nothing significant for it's core audience from last year. Feb had Bayo, The 1st Day of December is the last non-WiiU port-game targeting the audience that supported it last year. You can't ignore that. Essentially it's like this, XBC2 Dec 1st ..... Bayo Feb 16.....[if you count Kirby you get March 14]...DKCTF May 4th. How is that not a drought? If you're a WiiU owner you got XBC2 and Kirby since Dec 1st.

@Paraka Ok...what big 3rd party stuff have we got since December? Like honestly even the Indies on the eshop have gotten forgettable. Flinthook was great...but nothing has grabbed me since then. My tastes matter because I represent part of the core audience that supported the Switch since launch, and that audience has hardly had a bone thrown to them since February. BTW, I loooove Kirby games, and feel that Kirby games do fall within whatever my eclectic tastes are. But that game is a bad game, a joke that nearly literally plays itself. If it had another character in it, but everything else was the same, people would came down hard on it. As a kid getting Kirby's Adventure and Dream Land 2, if I'd gotten a game that played like Star Allies I would have been super let down. LABO is not targeted to me (and I support all of that), but it's been dreary until tomorrow. I didn't have a WiiU so I am excited for that game. But I imagine IF I had gotten a WiiU. I'd have nothing right now.

@StephenYap3 I mean, yup, you said so yourself - It's all a matter of taste. Although there are still a matter of factual droughts versus subjective droughts. Certainly the Switch hasn't really had a drought going by most definitions... However, if you're a Nintendo fan like me who wants exciting new first party titles, then certainly the Switch hasn't been delivering much of anything. (Super Mario Odyssey is the one and only first party exclusive that means anything to me, personally)

I mean we can talk all day about how there isn't factually a drought overall, but it's irrelevant in most discussions regarding people with opinions. It's like when I'd say that the Wii was the most disappointing console to me, and people would respond to me "The Wii sold fantastically". That's just so irrelevant, it's a fact that doesn't have anything to do the validity of my opinion. Pedaling that Nintendo is releasing games (mostly Wii U ports) every month and that alleviates the 'drought' is the exact same kind of situation. Yes, on some objective level they are keeping up a release of titles, but that objective level is completely irrelevant from my opinion, and seeing as I'm speaking on an internet forum for Nintendo fans, and not some serious objective analysis of what is best for Nintendo financially, it doesn't matter one bit to me.

@Dang69 - ... that Kirby game is barely a "game"...

Well not disagreeing that Kirby was depressing but I don't see Warriors games as games... Maybe remove them as well, I represent a part of a core audience and they should also listen to me.

Nintendo cannot force major companies to adhere to a development that they don't see a potential in. With large enough sales even Activision would not support if it meant that adjusting for a portable structure of their currently many years developed games could cost them a couple more thousand to make happen. You can blame Nintendo, but third parties have an ultimate goal to capitalize.

Not to mention several of these AAA games are feeling heat from long time fans for shady practices. Yet oft doesn't matter when making a case against Switch cause "games."

Nintendo is repeatedly firing off, cause they missed your target that apparently needs to be hit every two weeks, doesnt mean they haven't hit their own.

I don't mean to yabber on here like some pathetic dude, but my mind is blown that everyone on these sites seems to be constantly giving Nintendo this "free pass". It's always "it will get better", "they will eventually have good online and not constant super frequent disconnections in splatfest or voice chat", "Nintendo will figure it out", "those games they released aren't for me but it'll get better", "Kirby is always an easy, why complain about it?" It's frightening cult sounding rhetoric. Last year felt like "omfg Nintendo finally got it." And now...I'm grateful Captain Toad is being ported, Super Smash will be cool, that Tennis game could be fun...but like c'mon. I thought Nintendo was hungrier than this. Feels like 3 years ago again.

@Harmonie That was beautifully stated (about subjective droughts etc). I wish I could explain my self so eloquently. Glad I'm not alone in that opinion.

@gatorboi352 By "committee" I was assuming they meant like a braintrust, that gets together, spitballs ideas, lays out plans, bouncing concepts off each other etc. A lot of comic companies have done that well in the past. But what you're saying could easily be what he meant...to paraphrase "instead of one genius overseeing one game and taking too long on it, we'll drop a committee onto the game and micromanage it and make sterile strategy decisions." Comic companies have also infamously done that poorly! I wonder which it'll be?

@StephenYap3 As an aside I am super excited to play Ys outside on a lawn chair under the sun. Long wait tho. Same for Tennis

@Paraka Also when I say core audience I don't meant that in an elitist master race sense, "I'm such a pure and old Nintendo fan my opinion matters most". I like mean "I'm representative of the core of the audience that bought and supported the system last year and would love to continue to be interested in it, even if it's just one massive banger a month." Like the core audience of the Wii is completely different from this one.

@Dang69 - Games take dev time, something Nintendo tried to focus on with the Wii U (since it was unique in its structure) and we experience drought after drought after drought. Hell most of the major winners of that generation didn't even hit lifetime sales that some of their ported brothers have already eclipsed.

Ports are on the forefront of your mind is cause Nintendo is handling them separately, and in some cases, recouping lost costs the Wii U repeatedly offended. They're not made by the same team as the ones that originated the first release, but a smaller crack team to make the game releases feel constant, and the advertising fresh with constantly new products, and ports help this.

Nintendo also has an estimated, what, 20ish dev teams? And you're asking every single one of them to essentially develop, create and release a game a year to meet the "at least on banger ever month?" That can be troublesome, especially when you're adding in how many actual "banger" franchises Nintendo actually has.

@Dang69 I have 53 games for my switch alone. That’s about 1 a week since launch. More if you count the 2 other switches in the house and those games. Other then dark souls being delayed, I am not sure of the drought. I have too many games to play and not nearly enough free time. I game around 2 hours each day, which I think is great because I’m 36 with wife, 3 kids, 2 dogs and work. Thank you switch and 3ds before(and ds too). As much as I like my other consoles, those have been my main systems for years now because of the countless awesome games and portability of them.

@Paraka nintendo stores up cash and doesn't effectively use it - they could use it to have secured some 3rd party exclusives if they had wanted/then have good WiiU ports fill in the gaps. But at the end of the day Nintendo isn't my best friend, or buddy - they're a producer and I'm a consumer and all I want is product and releases approximating the initial year of experience of interaction with that device. I don't care how they do it, how many teams, how much is 1st party or 3rd party. Why excuse it? You are a consumer of their brand. If you're being sold on "5-10 year longevity of a device, you'd expect the sophomore year to have a few bumps, but to not neglect your specific "demographic". It's like, "ok we got you to buy Switch, let's not give you the games you bought the system for, for like 6 months".

@Donutman I don't beat every game I play - and that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the experience either or have to squeeze every single Korok seed out of a game to have had it be worth it. I mean I have a full time plus job, do DJing and KJing on the side most weeks and am pretty social but I don't have kids or anything so that's where my gaming time comes from, inbetween stuff. In the last year I've still managed to beat or "play enough of" the releases that interested me - and every month there was something from either Nintendo or 3rd party. But as of May 2018, I'm bored and feel let down by this console, and I'm sure it'll pick up, but I am not seeing a lot (Captain Toad I crave tho).

Variety means there's something for everyone, so while I might come down on the new Kirby or LABO I'm glad they're there - builds a stronger audience...but when you have 2 months in a row of a Kirby and a LABO, with no big release since Dec 1st except for Bayo and South Park, have a Dankey Kong plus just a couple things in May, but essentially the next BIG game is in late June...I think that's pushing the patience a bit when you look at that time as a whole. At the end of the day, all I'm saying is don't make excuses for Nintendo, they're a business. Expect more from them and get more from them. I'm one of the biggest fans of Nintendo too, I hardly would say I hate them, my first non-Nintendo console was purchased only 2 weeks ago. But when there are droughts (not deserts) like this let's not be SO forgiving because it's Nintendo. No one else gets that free pass.

@Agramonte I think Apple is a good demonstration of this. When Apple had Steve Jobs they were essentially a company being led by a person with a strong vision, and it was also the time when the company was at it's most innovative moments and gaining the most popularity. Before Jobs took over the company was far more collective in it's leadership, and that was back when it was tanking and rapidly losing popularity and support. After Steve Jobs the company is back to a more collective leadership, and it is little surprise how the innovation seems to have gone away.

This is actually pretty surprising for a Kyoto company. Top down authoritarian leadership is such a staple of the culture. Design by committee is what leads to the PS3 and XBox One launches. Design by committee gave us Vita. Generally design by committee is always a trainwreck of people trying to climb to the top while strategically giving the appearance of being merely a team player, and then exercising the power they feel they've claimed while not outwardly appearing to do so. In other words, office politics becomes the primary business of the company.

@Dang69 - But money hatting third parties have proven as effective as most Kickstarter campaigns. Once again, see Wii U.

Nintendo is a company first and foremost. Though yes, you are the consumer, they are also invested in maintaining and surviving. Blowing your money to increase development teams internally are probably going to be their biggest bet, but that can lead the way of THQ and blowing so.much so fast that one failed investment sank them. Nintendo doesnt want to sink, and you as a consumer does not want them to sink. So doubling the efforts is risky on just maintaining the flow.

1000 chefs don't make awesome soup instantly.

It's fine you have not been given to your satisfactory standards of Nintendos releases, but that is hella subjective when you're dismissing certain games as not games and ones not reaching a financial success as a solid example that they should continue to do. I mean, I also represent a core audience that you do, and I don't see Prime or Warriors games as good enough either, so what will happen to that list of "good releaes" when everyone who represents the same core audience you do removes a game they personally did not like? We're likely to see 2 games ever released from Nintendo that "mattered."

Nintendo also, in reality, has very few major franchises that make money. And that money funds other projects, and those franchises also take time. Like I have asked before in another thread; Would you have preferred the Mario Kart team to not work on ARMS and get MK9 out instead to avoid getting MK8 port? If yes, you're looking at potential waiting and droughts you're already clamoring to get everyone to believe. The port is actually been a solid business move. Not only did it sell much more effectively, but can serve as a placebo till MK9 can get released years later, reinvigorating the systems potential lifespan. Which success funnels to other ideas. You may like Bayonetta or ARMS, you may see them as worthwhile games, but they were definitely not funded by Ever Oasis and Xenoblade. My best bet is Bayonetta 3 is funded off MK8D (financially speaking).

Droughts like this has been happening since even the Nintendo 64, but seems like no one remembers it when they got the same few good franchises that have sold handedly on all their systems.

@Agramonte

this might be the first time I've agreed with you, but it couldnt have been said better. i've found the 'team' leadership approach as a way of disguising incompetence and diminishing responsiblilty.
If you take the big money you make the big decisions and live or die by it.

Are we talking one man leadership like Iwata leads the business side, or the one man leadership where Miyamoto says what he wants the developers to do and not to do, and how much time and money the business men have to give him?

@Paraka I stole that thought about the money from the board of directors for Nintendo actually. They've been concerned with all the years of Nintendo just storing up cash and not investing it properly - I mean they shouldn't be cray like Netflix, but that is how Netflix generates so much content. They invest every cent they make in producing more content and then exponentially increase their revenue. They also aren't some small butt company that's just starting out. They can easily survive investment failures, but in the long run, the faith in equity of their brand, once some of us older farts who either grew up with a NES/SNES/GB/N64 kick the bucket or finally lose interest, which has been their spine thru all the ups and downs, will kill that company eventually. So I actually disagree with you on "So doubling the efforts is risky on just maintaining the flow." Maintaining the flow eventually allows for natural attrition to set in. Responsibly taking risks and big investments is good. Buying Monolift Soft outright, for example, was HUGE in the long run. All the work they did on Breath of the Wild especially (most of that team became put on that game) saved Nintendo in the console market.

Also I've being dismissive of certain games in the context of "there was nothing else in those release months to help continue to support the much of the audience that supported the console in the previous year." The Warriors dismissiveness (I don't like those games, but did buy FE Warriors, and found some of the simple strategy elements in it to make the game a bunch of limited fun) comes from the idea that, there was semi-recently a Nintendo game in that franchise and when you take into account Hyrule is also a port, it feels very redundant. If Dark Souls was still coming out like a week after that, I'd have felt less that way (if that makes sense).

"Would you have preferred the Mario Kart team to not work on ARMS and get MK9 out instead to avoid getting MK8 port?"
No I wouldn't have. For one thing I think the inclusion of the battle mode and the massive amount of DLC really added to the game to make it feel new. For another, while I can see ARMS keeping some ppl at arm's length, there was an honest attempt there to have it appeal across a range of ages and tastes in both look and gameplay. Plus it's a brand new IP. Always worth it even if doesn't take off all the way. I bought and really appreciated it, but it wasn't really for me and didn't play it a lot. But I hardly felt shorthanded when it came out. The release schedule last year, even when there were waiting periods, felt really thought out. So you had to wait until the end of April for Kart, but in March you got a 100s of hours game. If you don't like action adventure, here's a Bomberman that has multiplayer until Kart comes out, etc, throughout the year. This years feels like, "okay we're comfy, let's not try hard to get some 3rd party stuff in the spring, and make some cash off some ports and children focused LABO and Kirby...adults will buy these things too because we won't be releasing much other content during then (to clarify I love Kirby, don't mind Kirby being easier, but this game minus nostalgic touches was like a PlaySkool toys aged experience).

I do remember those droughts, I dropped off during the N64 era. Janky games like DK64 and lack of new exciting content had me tapper off. I played a little Advance after, was given a GameCube when Twilight Princess came out and played a couple things, skipped Wii and WiiU (but would play with people), and just owned retro stuff. Switch and Youtube got me back into reg gaming a couple years ago. Never stopped following along what they were doing, what people loved or would complain about.

@Dang69 - The release schedule last year, even when there were waiting periods, felt really thought out. So you had to wait until the end of April for Kart, but in March you got a 100s of hours game.

I honestly feel that a good sum of February and onward is thought out, just not targeted to "the core audience" specifically. Labo is definitely an attempt to expand on the audience and target those that have left games and kids who love toys. That, essentially, isn't us for the most part. However, as a business they need to look to expand the consuming market, as the Wii U shown that the loyal market isn't loyal, cause it's how consumers work, they go where they want to enjoy what they want. Catering to this one group will only keep them from dying entirely, Labo is looking to expand on money flow, so is the mobile market.

We, as consumers may not like those games, but honestly if this game can grow legs and hunt whales enough to free up a team to make more games for our market, I can genuinely look the other way if Labo is a success. It's more concerning if its a failure, cause not only does it reflect that no one wants it (which is what we only see) but money isn't recouped and the potential for another game with no finances to back it up isn't there either.

I mean, it isn't cut-n-dry like this, but; If Labo was the reason I can get Wave Race by next year, I would sure as hell hope it succeeds, but it is way more complicated than that.

(to clarify I love Kirby, don't mind Kirby being easier, but this game minus nostalgic touches was like a PlaySkool toys aged experience).

As am I, in honesty I feel it is surreal for a game this.... Safe to play making such big numbers. I feel it insults me as a Kirby fan, just replicate Super Star's treasure hunting game for 4 players and call it a day, this was.... This was sad.

When did Nintendo become Switzerland?

@Henmii The mobile division more of a new form in advertisement so I wouldn't worry too much.

@Paraka To contradict my "hey we need more games faster" I think that Kirby game needed more time in the oven and they had some issues with the difficulty balancing due, maybe, having a hard time getting enough enemies to be on the screen at once, with consideration give to some players always having 4 players? A hint to this is the odd load times for every single door way. This game and the mostly positive response it's gotten makes me feel like I'm in "They Live."

I don't disagree with you on the LABO, I DO SUPPORT it, but was critical of 2 things: 1) the software was waaaaay too shallow for some of that stuff - the house being the biggest offender - as a kid i would been like YAY then whatever, 2) while they plan out strategy and releases for the new audiences they need to not repeat the Wii mistake. A lot of people forget, a lot of the WiiU's issue was not only it's marketing but the fact the Wii constantly went after the general public at the disregard of an older fan base. Of course, Nintendo would be boring if they did OLDER people games (whatever that means), but here in 2018 I find it unacceptable that Nintendo focuses months on a younger audience, while not throwing more bones to the older one. The back to back months of Kirby and LABO, then the wait until June for a BIG new release (Tennis) since XBC2 is...they're just lucky that everyone is so "understanding" about Nintendo these days. I'm just saying, they're running a lot on goodwill hard and well earned last year. I don't count the ports in that wait, because unlike Mario Kart's Battle Mode/DLC and astronomical popularity, if a lot of the Nintendo Spine Support fans had a WiiU and are older, December to June has been pretty abysmal in new 1st party or interesting retail 3rd party. I mean I'll have more fun with Captain Toad than I will with the Monster Hunter World I'm playing (because that's just my brain) but I'm imagining a version of me (diehard Nintendo) that got a WiiU.

@Agramonte Yeah. I don’t think Furukawa is the type of guy to have a vision for the product, though. I was hoping that would mostly gets put on Koizumi's shoulders and Furukawa would be more in charge of business development but it appears that’s not the case.

@Paraka I'd argue that N64 had considerably worse droughts than Switch. At least Switch has content releasing for it weekly. Consoles during the N64/PS generation did not have that. Yes, it's due to distribution, but the fact remains true.

@SanderEvers July: And Crash Trilogy!

@Dang69 - To contradict my "hey we need more games faster" I think that Kirby game needed more time in the oven and they had some issues with the difficulty balancing due, maybe, having a hard time getting enough enemies to be on the screen at once, with consideration give to some players always having 4 players?

Going to be perfectly honest, the only thing that more time would solve for that game is quicker load times, I feel Nintendo hit what they were targeting for function on the game and I feel miserable that this game wasn't at LEAST on par with Crystal Shards.

As a dude who mained Kirby in Smash Bros because I just simply love the guy, and his games, this game stings a bit. Like I would be willing to get Air Ride port just to wash out what this done to me.

I mean I'll have more fun with Captain Toad than I will with the Monster Hunter World I'm playing (because that's just my brain) but I'm imagining a version of me (diehard Nintendo) that got a WiiU.

The issue with that is also very subjective, I had a Wii U, hell I even bought Hyrule Warriors hoping it'd change things up on the Warriors games. It didn't.

That being said, I am a Wii U owner who now owns several of the Switch ports of them. Bayonetta, DKCTF and soon I am adding Captain Toad upon its release. There are quite a few people who are in the older gen market who has supported their older system and almost all felt crapped on because of those droughts, because of learning the HD development, because people like EA expected them to advertise their ports for them when they themselves release adverts of the games without changing anything to point they released it on the Wii U as well. A lot of Nintendo fans got shafted hard.

One of these reasons for overlap is the greater accessibility. When Ubisoft did a whole market sampling I was a part of it, and a LOT of people were in their mid-30s and loving the system's ease of pick-up-and-play being a major benefactor to why they have seen themselves buying more games than before. These are coming from people who owned PS3s, Wii Us, and several even admit they's want quite of few of the ports that Ubi -AND- Nintendo have both been putting forth (only one I have not seen is Child of Light out of the list).

I don't think Nintendo's genuinely focusing on the Not-Wii U-Owners and young adults entirely. Cause knowing how abysmal the GCN and Wii U release cycles were, this hasn't "changed" in terms of release rotations (though I can probably say it's been better now than the Wii U). The thing we're seeing more is that ports fill those gaps. And oddly enough, many third parties are practicing this for almost a decade, maybe even more.

To be honest; If we were to cancel all ports and repurpose the teams behind them to new games, I don't think we'd see much of a noticeable influx of new releases, maybe an additional 1 or 2 titles varying of quality. But Nintendo would also not see the larger influx of money they're already witnessing with these ports actually being genuinely successful.

Now not to say I don't prefer to have more NEW games (looking at my post history in a lot of places I do genuinely detest the abuse of ports), but this is also the sign of the financial times as well, not just laziness. Many developers aren't even hitting good profit margins to move to the next game with their first releases, it's why you see "Complete Editions" and upscaled games from older systems, some may be chosen to make even more money cause people buy them en masse, others is to make that game even remotely hit even. There is a lot of variables that tie into it. Do I like it? Hell no, but I understand why it exists.

And since I am a stickler about DLC, I like my releases of "complete" editions cause they don't make me feel so left out of a complete game experience.

@IronMan28 - Sign of the times, man, sign of the times. I remember when the only adverts for N64 games were games running close to 6 months old and they're getting NEW adverts.

@Paraka I guess you're right. People seem to expect an never ending stream of new, high quality "AAA" games. It's insane. During that time, it seemed like forever between excellent games, especially on N64.

@RC_Russ98 watch the profanity.

@Alikan Exactly. I've said it elsewhere, but there's been SO much great stuff on the Switch eShop too, I don't know how anyone can feel like there's any kind of "drought." I guess maybe for those who had Wii Us and have also spent hundreds of hours on Steam over the past year? I do know that I can't keep up at all these days. I have a huge Switch backlog already and at least a couple of dozen other titles on my eShop wishlist. Granted, the Switch is not our only system, but even if it were, we would have more than enough to keep us busy.

People talking crap on Kirby should have to provide pics of their 100% save files and complete puzzle completion. Star Allies is like all Kirby games: if you want a challenge, you can find it.

"If Furukawa wants shareholders to revolt"

Shareholders don't want money, it seems. As I said earlier: Mobile didn't reap the rewards!

@NIN10DOXD,

Yeah, but I rather have them not too. Games on other devices, cheaply made games, free to play, microtransactions, its all a gigantic crapfest if you ask me!

@kirbygirl,

Eh, no. Only challenge is the Ultimate choice. For the puzzle pieces I can just replay the levels over and over again.

I love it when the comment section turns into armchair business analysts.

@Agramonte Out of curiosity, were there any specific problems you can think of? The immediate issue that seems possible is that people step on each other's toes without consideration for other parts of the company. This seems like the kind of thing that works best if one person is focused on a specific set of sections and each of them consulting together, rather than constantly shifting between different pillars of the business.

@Henmii Yeah, the arena mode is usually where an experienced player can find the challenge in a Kirby game. Are you new to the series? This is typical. There's also at least a little effort involved in finding all of the switches and obtaining all of the special pieces along the way.

One of the best things about Star Allies, though, is the co-op, especially if you have a kiddo. It's fantastic to share with a less experienced player, and that accessibility has always been one of the things that makes Kirby games great.

@kirbygirl,

I played it alone, but yeah I can see that it is lots of fun when you play it with others. As for difficulty: The arena, of course. But you also had the challenges in Rainbow brush on the Wii u, or the later missions in Kirby's epic yarn. Or collecting the cogs in Kirby's return to dreamland. Overal other Kirby's had much more difficulty, that's my opinion anyway.

Overal I had fun with Star allies, but in my opinion its one of the weakest Kirby's. Very easy, very lineair, very short.

@KingdomHeartsFan Russia is Borg Cube confirmed.

@Andrew5678 I think the symptoms change from one place to another. But when we need to: Confer, Visualize, Organize, Create and implement (in that order). You have so many moving parts (and department overlap) that not having a clear target (or a timely response if that target moves)- can send a time line out the window. What always gets cut at that point is the time you have to refine the solution you visualized (all the way at the start). That is a team morale killer.

Also that is what the Executive Board is for - That is where you should have titans of industry who can advise and guide a CEO if need be.

Again, Nintendo is super old and has really talented people - I'm sure they will continue to do great things. I personally feel things take longer to get done in a collective - but hats off to anyone who does a CEO job... that is one stressful place to be.

@roboshort Yeah, And look at SONY. Hirai was always the Playstation and gaming guy. Kenichiro Yoshida comes from a COO position - number and development mentality. Not sure he can actually smile.

Interesting to see what Playstation becomes under him

@JayJ 100% agree. And not only innovation but just the level of refinement in the products when they came to market. You even had a time with in-fighting among the executive staff. I found that crazy.

"Nintendo Plans To Operate "Under A Next-Generation Collective Leadership System"

...that sounds like CODE to me for, you have a fiduciary responsibility to your shareholders-- BUY BACK your stock...

...you have TOO MUCH CASH, return it to the investors...
...stop spending so much investing in your games...
...you need to cut corners, shorten levels of play...etc..

...that's the proper business mindset, no?

...or am I just to pessimistic?

I'm skeptical...!