Nintendo President explains Wii success - ‘We focus on consumers’
By Dave Parrack
Forget all that you have heard before about why the Nintendo Wii has succeeded so dominantly in the last year, Reggie Fils-Aime, President of Nintendo America has the true explanation.
I few weeks ago, I wrote an article discussing why the Wii has succeeded where the Xbox 360 and PS3 have ultimately failed to sell in large numbers so far.
In it, I put forward the hypothesis that it was due to Nintendo grabbing market share from markets which didn’t even exist in the gaming industry prior to the Wii being released. From preteen girls to old age pensioners, everyone and their mother wanted (and still wants) a piece of the Wii.
Now Reggie Fils-Aime, who frankly should know more about the whole than me being as he is the President of Nintendo America, has tried to explain why he thinks the Wii is such an outright success.
He told the San Francisco Chronicle:
“Our key fundamental difference is we drive our business through the eyes of the consumer. We are consumer-driven and we are insight-driven and as part of that, our objective is to create joy, wonder and a sense of enrichment. That drives everything we do.”
“It really is about recognizing the world is changing with the rise of the Web, the rise of even more power on the part of the consumer. These consumers today, they don’t just consume media, they want to get inside it.
I know he didn’t mention Sony and Microsoft by name but the obvious accusation is that those two companies and fellow console manufacturers don’t share Nintendo’s consumer driven company strategy.
And the facts do actually speak for themselves. Nintendo looked at where the gaming market was heading, which in Fils-Aime’s own words was becoming stagnant. They then went back to basics, creating consoles which everyone could and would want to play. Along with that they tried to add some innovation in to the mix right from the start, with an original and interactive control system on both the Wii and DS which would make gamers feel more a part of the games than a watching bystander.
Compare this to Microsoft and Sony’s strategies for this new generation of consoles… more power, better graphics and basically more of the same. I’m sure I’m not alone in starting to get sick of the yearly updates to games, and the high percentage of crap which is perenially released to cries of “meh”.
Microsoft created a piece of hardware that broke if you so much as looked at it, and Sony put out an overpowered low priced Blu-ray player, which just so happened to have the Playstation brand stamped all over it.
Yet again, I find myself praising Nintendo and wishing Sony and Microsoft would start to learn from their example in pushing gaming forward with more than just flashy graphics.
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October 30th, 2007
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October 30th, 2007
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November 1st, 2007
I completely agree with your opinion at the end of your article. Heck, I agree with everything in the article, and this is not a fanboy’s view.
November 1st, 2007
While the only current console I own is the Wii, and I really dislike Microsoft in general, I would dispute the idea that the “Xbox 360… has failed to sell in large numbers” at all. Sure, the Wii’s selling twice as fast, but I think the 360 still stands a chance of being this generation’s PS2. Like the PS2, which is still a great little workhorse of a console like the NES and Atari 2600, I imagine I’ll eventually pick one up after another price drop (with an extended warranty, if anyone’s still selling them by then.) It’s still the number one console in English-speaking territories, much as it pains me to say so. You don’t hear about people cancelling too many 360 projects.
The PS3, on the other hand, is almost done. With MGS4 being pushed back into next year, its Xmas prospects are looking pretty grim. I actually wonder if Konami’s announcement will cause more PS3 projects to be pushed over to the 360 or Wii. Nintendo can weather SSB being pushed back because the Wii’s on top right now. The PS3… isn’t.
November 1st, 2007
Good Review