Iwata – ‘Games have stopped selling’
Nintendo president media onslaught delivers more shocks than playing with plug sockets.
As you will be aware, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has been on something of a media offensive in recent weeks, making all kinds of PR plan-busting comments about the future of Nintendo, its games and consoles.
The latest to hit is an interview in the Kyoto Shimbun, in which Iwata makes some absolutely shocking comments on his perception of the games industry.
Talking about ‘The Thing’ (mystical software/hardware/clown on a stick hybrid) he says, “In many ways, we have reached the limits of game development. For the past 20 years, games have evolved in a linear manner, become increasingly more complex and better looking. But that growth, and that success is now coming to an end, and the creators are worried. Speaking frankly, games have already stopped selling.”
This is an amazing outburst, and serves as perhaps the most insightful piece in recent times as to the mindset of Nintendo, without question about to face its darkest, PSP-riddled hour. To say that games have stopped selling also seems a little naive. The Pokemon-shaped hole in Nintendo’s balance sheets is quite clearly starting to weigh on the mind of the president.
Iwata continues, again regarding ‘The Thing’. “Nothing has changed up until now. We want to provide something that gives people a new experience, a new way of playing games. The question is, how much can we surprise people? We're already prepared for the fact that not everyone will be immediately excited by our announcement. If we can get a response where part of the audience think it's interesting, and later others would like to try it out for themselves, that will satisfy me.” This again is something of a bleak view of what is one of the most talked about forthcoming announcements in recent gaming history.
Iwata goes on, “We want to go back to the start of all this, where anyone can pick up a game and play it. Our business cannot be supported by a single machine which combines hardware and software. A platform is being used, but the current machines are just not suited for the task.”
What is it? It’s driving us mad!
Then, amazingly, Iwata casts a shadow of doubt on the future of GameCube 2. Believe us, we are as amazed in writing this as you are to read it. “There is this question going around within the company, ‘Will a new high-performance machine sell if we release it?’ With this kind of discussion going on in the company, it's likely we'll see big changes in our future approach.”
What is going on? The world has gone mad, the end is nigh, run for the hills! Or just bury your head in the sand and pretend it’s not happening.
We'll bring you everything Nintendo, right here, as it breaks.
The latest to hit is an interview in the Kyoto Shimbun, in which Iwata makes some absolutely shocking comments on his perception of the games industry.
Talking about ‘The Thing’ (mystical software/hardware/clown on a stick hybrid) he says, “In many ways, we have reached the limits of game development. For the past 20 years, games have evolved in a linear manner, become increasingly more complex and better looking. But that growth, and that success is now coming to an end, and the creators are worried. Speaking frankly, games have already stopped selling.”
This is an amazing outburst, and serves as perhaps the most insightful piece in recent times as to the mindset of Nintendo, without question about to face its darkest, PSP-riddled hour. To say that games have stopped selling also seems a little naive. The Pokemon-shaped hole in Nintendo’s balance sheets is quite clearly starting to weigh on the mind of the president.
Iwata continues, again regarding ‘The Thing’. “Nothing has changed up until now. We want to provide something that gives people a new experience, a new way of playing games. The question is, how much can we surprise people? We're already prepared for the fact that not everyone will be immediately excited by our announcement. If we can get a response where part of the audience think it's interesting, and later others would like to try it out for themselves, that will satisfy me.” This again is something of a bleak view of what is one of the most talked about forthcoming announcements in recent gaming history.
Iwata goes on, “We want to go back to the start of all this, where anyone can pick up a game and play it. Our business cannot be supported by a single machine which combines hardware and software. A platform is being used, but the current machines are just not suited for the task.”
What is it? It’s driving us mad!
Then, amazingly, Iwata casts a shadow of doubt on the future of GameCube 2. Believe us, we are as amazed in writing this as you are to read it. “There is this question going around within the company, ‘Will a new high-performance machine sell if we release it?’ With this kind of discussion going on in the company, it's likely we'll see big changes in our future approach.”
What is going on? The world has gone mad, the end is nigh, run for the hills! Or just bury your head in the sand and pretend it’s not happening.
We'll bring you everything Nintendo, right here, as it breaks.
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