TheMisterManGuy

@OorWullie According to the Labo team, it actually didn't.

I'm going to go on a limb and say Project Giant Robot. It was a Wii U game that got cancelled shortly before the Switch launched. It wouldn't suprise me if Nintendo was reworking the project behind the scenes as a Switch title.

Usually with a major developer like Nintendo, you'd need to earn the trust of the higher ups by working on other projects first, before you can be trusted to create a game yourself. Being an already existing indie developer, it's possible Ojiro found the process a little too slow for his liking, and decided that he preferred working on his own time in the indie scene in the end.

Contrary to popular myth, Sakurai never hated competitive Smash to begin with. He simply disliked both how overly technical he made Melee (which in many ways, he's right), and how some people want to jam Smash into the same narrow box as other competitive fighters. When that was never really the point of Smash.

One of Sakurai's main design philosophies is player customization. The game should be played how the player wants to play it, not vice versa. Sakurai's point is that Smash is way more than just another competitive fighter, and if people only view it as such, it has no future.

Brawl was made the way it was because of the Wii's target audience and Wii Remote limitations. Ultimate is what Smash 4 would've been had it been on better hardware than the Wii U and 3DS.

@westman98 Well yeah, I don't think Nintendo ever really expected it to, at least not in the first year I don't think. It's a niche product that has an audience, but isn't anything to move console's with.

@westman98 "Nintendo promoting Labo in schools and other educational programs is cool, but it isn't really pushing any units."

I don't think Nintendo really views Labo as a system seller. They would've given it a bigger marketing push if that was the case. Nintendo's been hyping up Pokemon and Smash Bros. to be the system sellers instead. Labo is a toy aimed at kids who have a Switch already and non-gaming parents who's kids have, or want a Switch and want something to build with them. The fact that it did over a million with sales increases for the holiday so-far is enough evidence that there's a market for this stuff, even if it isn't boosting Switch hardware sales.

I'm interested in seeing where Nintendo takes Labo in the future as well, considering they've been very quiet on what exactly their expectations for it are. All we have to go by is Reggie's statement.

@westman98 But don't forget, Nintendo is also looking at sales of Labo collectively, not just individual kits. Combined, both the Variety and Vehicle Kits did over 4,000. There's also WW sales to factor in as well.

Nintendo sees Labo as a product line that grows as new Kits are released, who's sales then get added to the total Labo sales, which collectively should be over 2 million by the end of January. Some Kits will be more popular than others, but even the under-performing ones contribute to Labo's total sales. Admittedly, it's hard to say how much Nintendo really expected to sell with Labo this year since they've been pretty low-key about it ever since they revealed it. But if they released a new Kit in September and continue to promote it with educational partnerships and holiday spots, with even Reggie saying that it met expectations, it's got to be doing well enough for them to keep it going. And if it sold 1.39 million as of the end of July, with 2 million being likely for January, then that means there is interest in the product.

@westman98 Labo's not something that's meant to explode instantly. It's structured in a way to sell at a steady rate throughout the year with a large portion of its sales coming from holidays. The Variety and Vehicle Kits both saw large increases in sales during the holiday season in Japan.

While you could make the case that the Robot Kit under-performed, Labo itself is far from a failure. Not even the Vehicle Kit did too terribly considering that it had a significantly lower shipment compared to the other two kits.

This isn't like Smash Bros. which is expected to be a massive hit at launch, it's meant to be a long term product that can be expanded on for years.

@JackEatsSparrows I'd say it's probably at 2 million by this point. The Vehicle and Variety Kits got pretty big boosts in Japan recently.

@Ralizah Not everyone has a Pro Controller, and again, it's more limited in terms of utility. So you're better off starting with the default controller when making a game, rather than an optional purchase since everybody has both Joy-Con.

@Ralizah The Pro Controller shares much of the same technology. But the shape and design of the device limits its utility compared to the Joy-Con. The Joy-Con are small and thin, allowing the user to hold them from a variety of angles, and their detachable nature allows for more complex and dynamic motion controls. Pro Controller is only really good for Splatoon-esque gyro aiming, tilting uses, and basic shaking gestures, trying to simulate a pointer or a tennis racket with it would be a nightmare.

Why should it? The Pro Controller is ill-suited to applications like this despite having the same technology due to its design. The Joy-Con are small and detectable, making them better suited to pointing uses.

It was a barely advertised token release on a dying platform. Why should it have been in the top 20?

@sword_9mm Metroid Prime 4. Smash Bros. Ultimate. Fire Emblem: Three Houses, among others. Just because they're making games for casuals, doesn't mean that fans aren't getting games either.

@sword_9mm "it's Nintendo. don't expect anything for gamers. they just don't care anymore."

This is blatantly false.

@Not_Soos No, he was indeed talking about the Switch, saying that the full Fall lineup hasn't been revealed yet. But that doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be AAA software aimed at core gamers. It's simply going to be games that either round out the rest of the year, or are meant to maximize Switch hardware adoption. Labo Vehicle Kit is an example of this. It's not something aimed at us, but it's something that can potentially give the Switch a nice hardware boost come holiday.

@Haywired Labo did well for Nintendo, at least the Variety Kit did. Keep in mind, Nintendo wasn't expecting a huge launch, so meeting their expectations with modest sales is considered a success.

@Not_Soos Keep in mind, when Kimishima talked about more software this year, he didn't gaurentee it'd be games for core gamers. When Nintendo makes hints and teases like that, especially post E3, it almost always refers to games that they feel will maximize hardware sales, not just stuff for Nintendo fans.

The people complaining about Switch's 2018 are hilarious. Sure, it may not be as explosive as 2017 was, but it's not a bad year at all. Nintendo's at least releasing Switch games regularly, ports or not. And third party support is continuing to grow as well with a lot of great ports coming. People complain about Nintendo getting no third party support, yet when Nintendo has third party support, people want first party games?

The irony of this commercial is that the original version of this ad had Sega trying to play up Sonic and the Genesis as faster, edgier and more mature than Nintendo's offering. Now the roles are reversed, Sega is now trying to play up Sonic Mania Plus as more colorful, light, and fun compared to the edgy, mature game. Funny how times change isn't it.

@GKO900 The problem is that the live feed and social settings show up whenever you highlight a game, whether you care about them or not. And while the Switch's UI is similar to the PS4's, that doesn't mean it needs to adopt every aspect of the PS4's UI. Really, the Switch's UI is a much better version of the PS4's layout. It's simple, clean, and to the point, which I feel is way more important for a game console than adding as many features as possible. Of course, I want the Switch to be updated with more features, but it's simplicity and minimalism should be left in tact, and not end up as another PS4 UI monstrosity.

@GKO900 Social media integration isn't a bad thing. The Switch has basic social media features in its Album tab and that's fine. What I have a problem with, is the constant live feed of info and streams that are present on screen at all times. It feels needlessly cluttered, and it makes it less of your own personal device, and more like one big commercial for other users stuff.

Having useful functionality is one thing, but features for features sake is never good design.

@GKO900 It is cluttered. It's filled with a ton of useless social features nobody cares about. I mean, if I want to see a constant live feed of what my friends are playing, I'd go to Twitch or YouTube. I don't need that feature baked into the UI. The Switch could use more features, but it's UI is no nonsense and to the point, as it should be. Any features that are added in the future, should for the most part, only be those that people actually use.

This looks like garbage. Too much like the PS4, and filled with all the same useless junk nobody cares about. I'd be lying if I said I didn't want more features added to Switch in the future, but there is beauty in the simplicity of its UI. It's honestly refreshing to see a video game product, actually embrace the fact that its a video game product, and not an omni-present, all purpose entertainment/social hub like the other two.

It reminds me of a retro console in a way, and that's what's great about it.

@maruse They can still implement that.

@maruse "And then, they need to offer a “family subscription” for the online service so that family members can benefit from it with a single, discounted fee."

That's basically what they announced back in May.

@Cobalt "Or maybe, you think that LABO = METROID PRIME or XENOBLADE or FZERO ? O RLY ?"

Who is making this argument?

@Bondi_Surfer There is Toy-Con Garage, which is basically the same idea as Lego-like flexibility.

As I expected, most of the comments are from people who don't understand Labo and are trying to paint it as a failure in the hopes that Nintendo makes hardcore mature games for mature gamers like myself /s. Nintendo says it's meeting expectations and wants it to continue to sell. Not to mention that Labo is a Toy first and foremost, holiday is where its real sale potential lies.

@Agramonte Labo's not the only thing Nintendo's banking on this holiday, but it is going to be one of the key products for this Christmas.

@Agramonte And again, Labo's a toy, not a video game. If it's going to sell huge, it's going to do so around the holidays. No reason it can't do well in the holidays alongside Smash and Pokemon.

@Agramonte Except that Nintendo's viewing Labo in a completely separate light compared to their traditional game releases. They basically view this as a toy first, game second, thus will make most of its sales on Holidays. Nintendo France recently backed up Reggie's statements, saying Nintendo's only expects 20% of Labo's sales to be from launch to September.

@PALversusNTSC "nowadays you need both gamers and developers support to succeed.
So start listening to them, give developers the tools they are missing put your money there. release the 64gb+ gamecards. give them software updates, and dont act harsh."

What do you think they've been doing with the Switch? It's easy, cheap, and attractive to develop for, and Nintendo went out of their way to accommodate developers needs as much as possible.

"as for the gamers, stop listening to nintendo slaveboys that tell you to stay the same and not to change. "

Who the hell are these people? I've never seen anyone here argue that.

" listen to the modern gamer, give them at least more quality titles besides the one you make."

Which is what they've been doing with the Switch.

" a great online system with every modern feature.
let people stream your games via twitch(its promotional) dont be annoyed because gamers are annoyed. do something with it."

I want Nintendo's online to be competent, but I don't really need a bloated PSN clone. As for Twitch streaming, Nintendo seems fine with that. It's just YouTube they have a weird relationship with.

"eventualy you will get your wii numbers. im pretty sure."

They're already on their way to getting Wii numbers by doing exactly what they've been doing for the past year or so.

Is this a surprise? The Switch just came out and Ubisoft hasn't released many games for the console in it's first year to begin with. Never the less, they did say they were very pleased with the software sales so far in the past, so this doesn't mean they'll stop supporting the console. If anything, it might motivate them to improve that percentage given the console's runaway success and good software sales.

This is really where the Switch's true potential lies IMO. Fresh, new ideas brought to life by its unique hardware.

@EasyDaRon Shareholders. Like it or not, Mobile is huge in the gaming scene. If Nintendo can't get its smartphone pillar to stand on its own, then there's no point in being their when they're not as relevant as they could be.

@NewAdvent "Nintendo is a business and profit rules over 'making people happy'" it's more accurate to say Nintendo values both equally. Yes, profits are vital, but surprising consumers with new kinds of entertainment that could potentially change the world is just as important as well.

@NewAdvent Labo may not have the budget or production values of a big AAA core game, but it's not a cash grab. It's a product that genuinely wants to make kids happy in a new way. Sure, it's designed to be profitable as well, but there's still a lot of work and care that went into making Labo. It's not like they threw it together haphazardly and think kids will buy it regardless.

@electrolite77"However he passed nearly 2 years before Switch launched. 18 months before the first reveal. That's a long enough period of time to require a lot of decision making regarding manufacturing, packaging, release scheduling, third-party deals and especially marketing which has so far been excellent. All that nitty gritty will have been Kimishimas to resolve and he deserves great credit for the businesslike way Nintendo have gone about things."

That was all overseen by the team Iwata had put in place. Koizumi and Takahashi were key decision makers in regards to the consoles' marketing, PR, presentation, and software scheduling, and they were both hired by Iwata to make the Switch what it is. Kimishima's job, was simply to make sure things went according to plan. He never really made many decisions, he just crunched numbers and got the product to stores. Koizumi, Takahashi, Iwata, and Furukawa were the actual masterminds behind the Switch.

@NEStalgia Furukawa seems to be a very avid gamer. He grew up playing the Famicom as a kids, and mentioned that his recent favorite game was Golf Story. So even though he's not a developer like Iwata, he seems very much a gamer first, suit second.

@NEStalgia ""new heights" always make me wonder if it's required lip service, or an introduction to becoming more "profit oriented.""

Neither, I believe he's simply talking about leveraging all of Nintendo's strengths, while correcting their weaknesses, in order to make them more agile, more ambitious, more prolific, and more refined than they've ever been.

@electrolite77 No doubt he made some big missteps during the Wii U era. But he crafted the Switch and everything about the current Nintendo to fix all of that. The way the Switch ended up shows that he was willing to learn from his mistakes in order maintain profitability and quality at Nintendo.

"What you mean by "everyone" was the casual market, but hardcore gamers also playing those same games made for the casual market, which was much less likely to happen the other way around. As I said, as a gamer, to me this just means more games were more boring, and unnecessarily politically correct."

Not really. Casual gamers are simply people who aren't as into games as more dedicated gamers are. Many casual games are actually pretty niche. And your assertion that they have to be boring or politically correct isn't true either.

"As per your example of other media, I disagree with always marketing to the largest market possible, this doesn't breed quality, when you try to please everyone, you can't truly appeal to anyone. I enjoy movies like Logan and Deadpool, that stepped out of the norm for superhero movies, rather than always riding the line of mediocrity like the Disney Marvel movies (which I now find horribly boring because they keep recycling the same formula). And yes, Disney is a master as "marketing to the widest audience possible", I don't think their movies are better for it, even if they make the most money."

Understandable. However as I said, casual games are many times, very niche. Only exceptions like Wii Sports were able to bust into the mainstream. Iwata strongly believed in not only games that everyone can play, but also having a diverse library of titles for specific tastes. Iwata's Nintendo pushed to produce a lot of weird and eccentric projects such as Rhythm Heaven, or Pandora's Tower to supplement their mainstream franchises.

"You are blatantly ignoring examples I gave like Xenoblade Chronicles X and Tokyo Mirage sessions and just claiming censorship didn't happen."

That's on Nintendo of America and the localization teams. You have a problem with it, take it to them.

"You say Dual Audio was "under Iwata" but lots of games didn't have Dual Audio under Iwata, Xenoblade Chronicles X as already mentioned, Fates."

Awakening had a dual language option, as did Sin and Punishment: Star Successor, and the original Xenoblade. Again, that's the localization team responsible, not Iwata.

"You keep saying everything that happened under Kimishima was actually Iwata, but there is no evidence of that." Kimishima himself said that nothing about Iwata's strategy would change under him, and that Nintendo would continue the path he set forth. Planning and Developing the Switch took years to do, and it was all done by Iwata and the team he had already established.

@electrolite77 "the execution of the plan has been far superior to what we saw in the later period of Iwatas reign. Nintendo were becoming characterised by poor decisions."

Being a programmer, Iwata was remarkably adept at fixing errors when needed, and making calculated decisions to course correct mistakes, especially his own. The execution of the Switch wouldn't be too dissimilar to how Iwata would've handled it as many of the people who made it a success, including Furukawa were put in place by him.

@DarkKirby"You say this, but one of Iwata's core strategies for Nintendo was to focus on the casual market, or more than that, to not focus on making products for hardcore gamers, which he seemed to view as a dead end market (please don't cherry pick examples like Bayonetta 2, Iwata viewed hardcore gamers as a cherry on top to the cake that was the casual market)."

Iwata believed gaming should be for everyone. Casual and Core gamers alike. Nintendo always tried to please both under his leadership. True, their approach seemed misguided at times, but the core idea that gaming should be for experienced and inexperienced, young and old, and as valid of an entertainment medium as film or books, is one that should be appreciated, and one that still continues within Nintendo to this day.

"Return to focusing sales towards gamers, rather than trying to reclaim the lost casual market (and as a gamer I never agreed with the focus on the casual market even when it was making Nintendo tons of money with the Wii, before the entire market abandoned console gaming for smartphones)."

Wait, are we even talking about the same company? I'm pretty sure the Nintendo I know under Kimishima launched a Wii like face-to-face party game alongside the Switch, made a portable console with detachable motion controllers to share with a friend, particularly a casual gaming friend. And recently launched a brand of Lego-like Cardboard Construction Toys for children. Yeah that's "Hardcore Mature" gaming right there.

"Games seem to no longer be heavily censored outside of Japan to "suit local culture".

Which was almost never the case under Iwata. You're talking about 90s Nintendo.

"Dual Audio for many games that have a Japanese voice track."

Again, also under Iwata

"Nintendo seems to no longer be trying to be super politically correct in their games or their marketing (more notably outside of Japan)."

Who said they were? Look, you can ignore facts all you want, but Iwata was the one to laid out Nintendo's current map. Nothing has changed in terms of target audience, creative philosophy, or overall vision. Kimishima may have been captain of the ship, but it was the Ship Iwata had already built beforehand.

@DarkKirby You do realize that Kimishima was only following the roadmap that Iwata had sketched out before hand do you? True, Kimishima did a fine job taking care of Iwata's baby, but it was really Iwata who masterminded the current Nintendo. Furukawa taking over could signal some actual big changes for Nintendo as a whole.

@ShadJV Nintendo has multiple teams working on different stuff at different times.

@Biff_ARMStrong Motion Controls are a tool. They're not good or bad on their own. To continue to generalize them like this is derogatory.

@JaxonH "In the meantime as long as Nintendo is releasing 10 solid games a year on Switch, with 2 higher profile ones... that's all they have to do."

Why stop there? Nintendo on average publishes around 20+ games a year between handheld and home console. With 3DS development drying up, Nintendo can easily crank out at least 2 games a month. A big release, and maybe a download or budget release accompanying it.

To those who complain about Nintendo making casual games. Don't. Nintendo's not going to stop making their traditional titles, but don't sit there and try and dictate what they should or shouldn't be making. The gaming industry doesn't revolve around you.

@Nicolai Thing is, because Directs are more worldwide now, the chances of it being a general Direct increase, as Japan and Europe got a few general Directs in the past that skipped the US entirely. Of course, you are right, it may not be a general Direct. But there's still validity to the point.