Lessons learned from the Nintendo comeback
Last night i was reading about how The Big N is now the second most valuable company in Japan only behind Toyota and that got me thinking. Remember a couple years ago when everyone kept saying Nintendo was dead, living from their old days of glory and that only a miracle could bring them back? well, guess what, it happened and since i don´t really believe that much in miracles here are the reasons why i think Ninty was able to gain some momentum
* **They sticked with their company culture -** They didn´t let all the criticism to affect them and change the way they do games. They didn´t get carried away in the whole “more polygons and textures make better games” hype and that´s how they were able to think outside the box and bring new experiences to the gaming world.
* **Innovation trumps graphics -** While Microsoft and Sony were worried about how fast the CPU was and how much horsepower they could put on their giant monstrous boxes, Nintendo was thinking about how they would bring new experiences to the gamers so we would not get bored playing the same freaking games with more eyecandy.
* **Less is more -** I think all the comparisons with Apple are justified. Nintendo´s approach to the gaming world is very similar to the way Apple does software. It´s always harder to cut features than it is to add them, specially when all your competitors are doing it. By doing this Nintendo was able to offer great prices packed with a brand new experience in both the Wii and the DS without sacrificing the overall quality of the products.
* **Never rush to launch a product -** One of the main reasons why the Wii is doing so great is because the other options are flawed. I´d love to get a 360 to play some games like Halo but the only thought of the red rings of death keep me away from it. Microsoft didn´t care enough to test their product and is failing because of that huge mistake.
* **Worldwide plan -** It´s 2007, there is no reason to focus only on the Japanese market or to do separate launches for each region specially if you are a big company and have the resources to go worldwide, The world is so connected these days that having a local approach could kill your future opportunities.
What do you think? Are there any more reasons i might have missed? Don´t be shy and drop some comments.
September 26th, 2007 at 9:06 pm
It’s really the innovation that gets me. The thing with video games is that once you strip away the basic storyline, the gameplay is nearly identical withing gametypes.
In RTSs, you select units and tell them to do stuff. In FPSs, you run around, point your aiming reticle over someone’s head, and shoot. In RPGs, you run around, gather items, kill people, and talk to people.
Nintendo changed that with the Wii. With the Wii, you actually perform the motions on the screen instead if dragging a mouse, twitching a joystick, or tapping buttons and triggers. The game is more immersive, and therefore more fun, whenever you actually DO what’s being done onscreen.