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« on: June 23, 2015, 01:45:35 AM »
After reading a lengthy article on the development of the Game Cube and the transition into the Wii, I feel that I have a better idea of Nintendo's strategies at the time, something that carried into and most likely crippled the Wii U. Nintendo, or at least Miyamoto and Iwata, as well as a few other higher ups, seem committed to the idea that they need to bring new technology into people's homes at an affôrdsble price, while also catering to a Japanese market pretty extensively. The problem is, their market study often leads them to make design decisions that make little to no sense. In the case of the Game Cube and Wii, it was the idea of creating a compact, semi portable device. With the Wii U, the focus on power consumption and the similarities with the Wii brand were probably key factors that ultimately don't mean jack-**** to an American consumer. Also, the tech they hoped to proliferate with the Wii U was particularly difficult to convey and already existed in more popular forms. The form factor probably also hurt it a bit, as well.
Nintendo has often stated that they aren't really competing with anyone, and their business approach certainly reflects that. While they have been more aggressive in targeting and promoting third parties with collaborations they make little to no effort to cultivate the market for third party releases outside of leaving software droughts for them to fill in gaps. They create games on their consoles in that way, they aren't really competing either. But their refusal to include, and in the Wii U's case, support multimedia aspects in their consoles has been a bizarre and stubborn choice that they continue to stand by for two reasons, basically- they don't know how, which further supports their second reason, which is that they make toys. This was, for a long time, a personal belief, but after seeing quotes from Yamauchi and Miyamoto that enforce and flat-out state this, I think it clarifies Nintendo's business decisions and recent success with Amiibo. It almost surprises me that Amiibo wasn't a key focus of Wii U in the first place. From the the toylike designs of their machines to the emphasis on gameplay foundation over story and presentational aspects, it's clear that Nintendo products are supposed to be inviting and charming, which is the exact opposite of what many western gamers desire in their products.
Maybe I'm just talking out loud, but while Nintendo has made several drastic changes in recent months, I don't think we'll see a difference in the structure of their console development with the NX, or their video games in the future. If I've realized one thing about the company, it's that they take baby steps towards any ideas that aren't their own and remain firmly roped in their ways.
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