If there’s one thing I’ve learned as a videogame fan, it’s that you can always depend on being amused by what people in or associated with the gaming industry have to say during interviews. I usually look to names like Kutaragi and Pachter to get my daily dose of comedy gold for the day, but sometimes other sources make their presence known. Take for instance the following statements that the president of Nintendo, Satoru Iwata, said during an interview on Shigesato Itoi’s blog:
“Even if we make great products, if the number of new customers doesn’t increase, it won’t reach people. That was clear to us, so doing the easy was not an option. I think we can say ‘we won’t do the easy’ because we are currently making profit. If we were having a hard time, maybe we will choose the easy, so that we can make profit for certain.”
Now you may be wondering what is so damn funny about those statements. Well, I just don’t see how anyone can buy into it. For starters I can’t even remember the last time I heard the words “Nintendo” and “unprofitable” in the same sentence, so that part was nothing more than a waste of breath based on hypotheticals. That being the case, how can Iwata say that Nintendo takes the road less traveled? The Wii, even with its motion controls, was very much a safe bet on Nintendo’s part. I see a lot of titles based on mini-games, and familiar names. Fire up the virtual console, and tell me what’s so groundbreaking about the offerings. Can you honestly believe that the Wii is not a representation of taking the easy way out? If you lived in a vacuum, you might be tempted to say yes. However, when placed side-by-side with the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, it becomes obvious that the Wii took the path of least resistance.
What about the endless supply of sequels the Nintendo name has come to be associated with? Was the GameCube a big gamble on their part? The list goes on and on. I love Nintendo as much as the next guy, but I don’t try and kid myself into believing they represent anything other than being the name behind high quality consoles and great games. Had this come from Sony, who tried to design a supercomputer instead of a gaming console (and are paying the price), I might have overlooked it. Had this come from Microsoft, who decided to throw their hat in the hardware business for the second time even though they’ve never truly mastered the software side as it is, I might have overlooked it. Unfortunately, this came from the head of Nintendo — and it’s just not true.
[Via GamesIndustry –Thanks yet again, Justin]
