Nintendo World Report Forums

NWR Interactive => TalkBack => Topic started by: Br26 on July 02, 2014, 05:10:43 PM

Title: Iwata's Approval Rating Up, Miyamoto's Down
Post by: Br26 on July 02, 2014, 05:10:43 PM

Nintendo shareholders have spoken!

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/37989/iwatas-approval-rating-up-miyamotos-down

According to the latest shareholder's vote, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata's approval rating is up, while longtime developer Shigeru Miyamoto's approval rating has fallen.

Iwata's rating has risen from 77.26% to 80.64% this year, while Miyamoto's rating has fallen from 92.74% to 86.81%.

While Iwata's rating has risen in the last year, it's still relatively low compared to other CEOs in the business. The highest voting percentage went to Koichi Kitazumi, CEO of Nippon Ichi Software who scored a 99.6% approval rating with shareholders.

A full list of approval ratings, along with approval ratings of other CEOs can be seen here.

Title: Re: Iwata's Approval Rating Up, Miyamoto's Down
Post by: Oblivion on July 03, 2014, 12:14:50 AM

I laugh at all of those fools that wanted Iwata out of the hotseat. :)

Title: Re: Iwata's Approval Rating Up, Miyamoto's Down
Post by: pashaveliki on July 03, 2014, 12:30:46 AM

Agreed.  Who the heck could they find to take Iwata's spot that wouldn't immediately say "screw home consoles, we're a 3rd party iOS developer now!"

Title: Re: Iwata's Approval Rating Up, Miyamoto's Down
Post by: Spak-Spang on July 03, 2014, 01:59:46 AM

I think his numbers are solid for an off year.


And, I actually agree with Miyamoto's numbers dropping.  I wish Nintendo was trying to infuse there franchises with more originality, and I think Miyamoto may be to blame for some of those decisions.


I don't understand how we got a Mario Kart on the DS that literally added to the formula with challenges and finally moved the franchise forward, only to have the series move backwards for the next 3 iterations.  And all these copycat racers are actually making leaps forward into making Kart racing interesting again.  Then for the last 2 iterations of the franchise they have made horrible Battle Mode decisions that have made the series less engaging and enjoyable. 


I

Title: Re: Iwata's Approval Rating Up, Miyamoto's Down
Post by: Ian Sane on July 03, 2014, 11:50:41 AM

So Nintendo has their worst year ever and the CEO's approval rating goes up?  Huh?  Do they seriously think Miyamoto was to blame or does he actually have a lot more say in Nintendo's direction than we would assume?

I never really liked Iwata.  I guess I was pretty neutral on him at first but once he had enough time to establish a legacy I did not like the direction Nintendo was going.  I used to love Miyamoto but I do find that he's gone from being a cutting edge dev to an embarassingly conservative one.  As a game designer he's creative but as an exec he's safe and boring.  Frankly he's just become old.  He is no longer the young hungry dev that made Donkey Kong.  He's content with outdated technology and simplistic gameplay, the sort of mindless distraction that my parents would eat up but I find dull.  He's a former rock star making adult comtemporary music.  On it's own that would still be lame but the big problem is that he has his finger is almost every pie Nintendo makes.  He won't let his young teams cut loose or at the very least doesn't encourage them to.  It's ironic because I'm sure the Miyamoto of yesterday would never have been able to make Super Mario Bros. if he was under the thumb of the Miyamoto of today.  Nintendo has failed to raise a new generation of Miyamotos because they just don't allow for such a thing.

Though unless it was his idea to go with the outdated hardware/tablet combo for the Wii U and his idea to overprice the 3DS and his idea to go with a ridiculous glut of 2D platformers to kick off the Wii U and his idea to warn the industry of the extra development effort in HD gaming only to completely ignore their own warning then I don't see how he's responsible.  Of course while his approval rating went down it is still higher that Iwata's.

I want Iwata out but I do fear what his replacement would want to do.  It would be nice if we could find someone who wants to stick with consoles and handhelds and understands how to make great games but can also fix all of Nintendo's problems.  I want the good aspects of Iwata to remain but his flaws to be addressed.  I want someone to restore Nintendo to what they were in the NES/SNES era and what they should be capable of, not someone who will kill off the "real" Nintendo for good and turn them into something else.

Title: Re: Iwata's Approval Rating Up, Miyamoto's Down
Post by: Luigi Dude on July 03, 2014, 03:18:53 PM

Miyamoto's official job is Senior Managing Director, General Manager - Entertainment Analysis & Development Division and Representative Director.  That means he's the guy responsible for overlooking all of Nintendo's game development studio's and making sure things are running smoothly.

The reason his rating has fallen is because Miyamoto was the guy most responsible for making sure Nintendo's studio's were ready for HD development.  When Nintendo has publicly admitted to the Wii U having these huge gaps because there studio's are having trouble with HD development, that's why some shareholders aren't looking too kindly on Miyamoto.  He was suppose to know the problems the rest of the industry had with early HD development and made sure Nintendo's studio's would be properly prepared, which the huge gaps that the first half of 2013 and 2014 show, he clearly didn't.

Title: Re: Iwata's Approval Rating Up, Miyamoto's Down
Post by: Ceric on July 03, 2014, 04:36:48 PM

Plus I'm sure he had a say on how the hardware would shape up at some level.

I can see why Iwata's approval want up post E3.  Nintendo did a very good job and looks to be posed to make a modest profit this year.

Title: Re: Iwata's Approval Rating Up, Miyamoto's Down
Post by: Spak-Spang on July 03, 2014, 07:51:50 PM

Ian I agree with many of your points.


But, I am not too worried about making gaming more complex.  But, I am frustrated with Nintendo's project choices.  I have been playing Donkey Kong 94 again...and I love that game.  And it is quite frustrating that all the following Donkey Kong games are of the mini variety and the toys. 


I really hate puzzle games of direct control of the characters.  But OK whatever, some people like them, and therefore more of those games can be made.  But why have they completely ignored that interesting and fun game play of Donkey Kong 94.  I love the puzzle elements mixed with simple platforming.  I would love to play just this exact same game with updated graphics...but if I could get a new game in the series I would be even happier.


He states that he can't see where to take old franchises into new directions...like F-Zero.  Well, sometimes you don't need new directions, you just need fresh blood to see how the series could evolve.  F-Zero could have added more combat elements to the game play.  Mission style races.  Heck how about bigger jumps and boosts with some interesting free fall elements in your racer. 


I already mentioned how conservative Nintendo has been with Mario Kart.  And now it seems they are being conservative will all their franchises (except for Zelda)  Yarn Yoshi feels and plays exactly like the classic game?  The only innovation is graphics and art?  I love Yoshi's Island.  It is one of my favorite Mario games, but the series can evolve more than that.


I dunno...I guess I am being just like everyone else and holding Nintendo to a higher standard, because honestly, the gaming industry isn't really evolving or pushing the limits anymore.  I feel each game I see I have already played something similar...and the similar older thing was more entertaining and easier to pick up and play...so perhaps I have truly left the world of gaming behind. 

Title: Re: Iwata's Approval Rating Up, Miyamoto's Down
Post by: NWR_insanolord on July 04, 2014, 01:41:12 PM

It's been touched upon already, but as much as we might not always like the way Iwata goes about running the company, the kind of person who would replace him would be much worse from our perspective.

Title: Re: Iwata's Approval Rating Up, Miyamoto's Down
Post by: Luigi Dude on July 04, 2014, 03:38:16 PM

Yeah the majority of Nintendo's shareholders are Japanese who only care for whats happening in the Japanese market.  On the internet, Iwata gets most of the hate for not making a home console as powerful as the PS4 but in Japan, the home console market is basically dead.

If Iwata was to ever get fired, he wouldn't be replaced by Mr. Hardcore who'll make Nintendo release the most powerful home console ever made that makes the PS4 look like the PS1 in comparison, and fill it with 100 million plus AAA games every single month.  No, Iwata's successor in such a situation will make Nintendo drop out of making consoles period, and devote all resources to smartphone development.


Once again, everyone who want's Iwata fired needs to look at SquareEnix, Capcom, and Konami to see what happens to large Japanese gaming companies that have CEO's who are slaves to what the shareholders want. 

Title: Re: Iwata's Approval Rating Up, Miyamoto's Down
Post by: Ian Sane on July 04, 2014, 05:06:42 PM

Throughout their history Nintendo kind of does their own thing.  They were at their most conventional during NES/SNES days but they weren't following the trends but setting them.  When Nintendo is in sync with the rest of the industry it's when they're the ones steering the ship.  Sometimes doing their own thing works out incredibly well and sometimes it blows up in their face (it tends to do that a lot on the little things that are minor enough that everyone would prefer Nintendo just follow conventions).

Nintendo did their own thing with the Wii U and it blew up in their face.  Should they have just been slaves to the shareholders and gone with cellphone games?  Well that isn't what I wanted from them.  I'll gladly take the Wii U over that.  But couldn't they have still gone with a console, against the wishes of their Japanese shareholders, but have ended up with something more in sync with what the console audience wants?  Couldn't they still do that whenever a Wii U successor is released?  It doesn't have to be so extreme where we get either cellphone Nintendo or shitty console Nintendo.  Couldn't Nintendo releastically release a great console that attracts strong third party support and eats into Sony's and Microsoft's audience and is both critically and commercially successful?  And could they potentially achieve this without just copying the other guys?  They won't get there if they're slaves to the shareholders but Iwata sure as hell isn't leading them there either unless he is incredibly self-aware to all the things Nintendo did wrong with the Wii U and has been doing wrong for the last 18 years.  I'd assume if he was that savy he wouldn't have steered Nintendo in the direction he did.

It's like if I don't like the Wii U there is this attitude like this is all I can hope for or it's shitty cellphone games for Nintendo.  Seriously if Nintendo paid more attention to what third parties wanted when designing the hardware and actually listened to their own advice and beefed up their development teams the Wii U would probably be doing fine right now.  Surely Iwata is not the only person in the world that would keep Nintendo working on consoles and handhelds.  Why the hell couldn't someone else come in who would keep Nintendo on that path while avoiding all the stupid **** Nintendo always seems to do?  I think suggesting that only Iwata can keep Nintendo from getting worse is a lame cop out.  No one who wants him gone is suggesting to replace him with an idiot who will run Nintendo into the ground.  Obviously I want him replaced with someone good.

Title: Re: Iwata's Approval Rating Up, Miyamoto's Down
Post by: Adrock on July 04, 2014, 05:36:01 PM

Quote from: Ian Sane on July 04, 2014, 05:06:42 PM

Why the hell couldn't someone else come in who would keep Nintendo on that path while avoiding all the stupid **** Nintendo always seems to do?  I think suggesting that only Iwata can keep Nintendo from getting worse is a lame cop out.  No one who wants him gone is suggesting to replace him with an idiot who will run Nintendo into the ground.  Obviously I want him replaced with someone good.

The shareholders recently re-elected Iwata and the other board members. If ever there's a time they had so little confidence in Iwata and Nintendo's direction that they voted everyone out, they're probably going in a completely different direction, one that none of us on a Nintendo message board would be very happy with. You're not getting your Nintendo Stationbox One. You're getting Let's-go-third-party-and-make-smartphone-games.

We'd all like to see some changes, but keeping Iwata in charge is our best bet in seeing the changes we want. Bringing in someone new at the behest of shareholders is bad news bears.

Title: Re: Iwata's Approval Rating Up, Miyamoto's Down
Post by: NWR_insanolord on July 04, 2014, 10:05:37 PM

What I'm saying is if Iwata were replaced it would be because the shareholders disagreed with his direction, and that if that were the case there's pretty much no chance their problem with him would be that he wasn't appealing enough to people like us. This isn't about what I or anyone else here wants, this is a realistic(ish) analysis of Nintendo as a corporation. If they were ever going to to something our way, it'd almost certainly be under Iwata.

Title: Re: Iwata's Approval Rating Up, Miyamoto's Down
Post by: Urkel on July 05, 2014, 04:54:07 AM

Quote from: Ian Sane on July 04, 2014, 05:06:42 PM

I think suggesting that only Iwata can keep Nintendo from getting worse is a lame cop out.  No one who wants him gone is suggesting to replace him with an idiot who will run Nintendo into the ground. Obviously I want him replaced with someone good.

You might not want to hear this, but he's pretty much the only good one there is. No, seriously. Take a look at all the kneejerk dumbshit decisions that the rest of the game industry makes. Every last one of them is either trying to get "CoD-like sales", or is chasing the Mobile unicorn. How many of these people running these game companies actually know anything about videogames? Hell, how many of them have even played a videogame.

I see no reason to have any faith whatsoever that a potential replacement would be better than any other gaming CEO.

But none of this matters, anyway. He's not getting fired, he's not stepping down. The #FireIwata dream is dead.

Title: Re: Iwata's Approval Rating Up, Miyamoto's Down
Post by: Adrock on July 05, 2014, 09:22:04 AM

Quote from: Urkel on July 05, 2014, 04:54:07 AM

How many of these people running these game companies actually know anything about videogames?

He'll probably point to Sony (and possibly Microsoft though they're not looking too hot right now). The problem with these comparisons is that none of these companies have all the answers. There are things Sony gets right that Nintendo gets wrong. There are things Nintendo gets right that Sony gets wrong. Same with Microsoft. There's very little chance for a one-size-fits-all console because so many people want different things. Best case scenario, a company meets the requirements of most gamers with the choices they make. To that end, I suppose Sony wins this round. Despite its flaws, Sony collectively gets the most amount of things right (only because 3DS is missing some key features).

No hardware maker gets it entirely right or comes close, even if Sony is closest. To me, only Nintendo has justified releasing a new console so far and that's mostly because they were in most need of releasing one.  Wii U rectifies some (but not nearly all) of its predecessor's shortcomings just by being. I look at PS4 and I think, "I want one" not "I want one." For a lot of people, it took a year and a half to reach that point for Wii U, capped off by Mario Kart 8. That's unacceptable considering Nintendo sat on Wii for like two years longer than they should have.

Ultimately, I'm not ready or willing to praise any of these companies. I'm not awarding someone for average work or because they didn't outright fail. Do better. I defend Iwata because he's done an okay job (especially with 3DS) and a replacement would most certainly be worse, but still, do better. We've seen improvements, slowly but surely which is funderful and all. No gold star awarded for effort.

Title: Re: Iwata's Approval Rating Up, Miyamoto's Down
Post by: Luigi Dude on July 05, 2014, 04:45:58 PM

In terms of actual game development, Iwata is indeed the best president out there.  Despite having some terrible fiscal years, he hasn't shut down a single development studio, something that no other major gaming company can say the same.  He also treats his developers well, which is why we haven't seen a mass exodus of Nintendo devs like what's happened to companies in the rest of the industry.

Hell, the last major developer to leave Nintendo was Sakurai in 2003 which Iwata fixed by getting him back in 2005, by having him brought to his personal hotel room during E3 that year.  How many other company president are bringing developers to their hotel rooms to make them happy.?

Title: Re: Iwata's Approval Rating Up, Miyamoto's Down
Post by: Ceric on July 05, 2014, 05:16:07 PM

If Nintendo came up to me and said "Hey Ceric, we want to offer you a Job making what you make now or more."  It be Yes.  No real thinking.  It might be grueling at time but the most important thing would be that it was secure and interesting.

I really couldn't say that about anyone else in the Gaming industry.  Why I would love to work for Microsoft or Google I still shy away from there games divisions.

Title: Re: Iwata's Approval Rating Up, Miyamoto's Down
Post by: Adrock on July 05, 2014, 06:03:31 PM

Quote from: Luigi Dude on July 05, 2014, 04:45:58 PM

How many other company president are bringing developers to their hotel rooms to make them happy.?

(http://i.imgur.com/1Q24j2o.jpg)