Topic: Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime Says Gamers are Impossible to Satisfy

[UncleBob]

Nintendo makes plenty of games that appeal to core gamers.

Nintendo doesn't make a lot of games for niche gamers.  But they've never claimed to be going after the niche gamer audience.  That's what Atlas is for.

[Chozo Ghost]

Later [Sin and Punishment] sold well enough on the VC that it spawned a sequel [...]

...that bombed so low on the sales charts that most stores renamed their "Discount Bin" to the "Sin and Punishment Bin" about a month after release...

A bin they also share with Other M (another game Reggie had high expectations for, but fell flat on its face).

The bottom line here is Reggie can't pick a winner. The horses he bets on loses, and the ones he writes off as losers (Xenoblade) do surprisingly well. The solution is NoA either needs someone who can better gauge a title's worth, because obviously Reggie can't distinguish a treasure from a turd, or NoA should just not bother trying to guess what the market wants at all and just strive to deliver EVERYTHING and just let the market do the deciding itself. I would prefer the latter because it gives more choice, and choice is never a bad thing.

[broodwars]

Later [Sin and Punishment] sold well enough on the VC that it spawned a sequel [...]

...that bombed so low on the sales charts that most stores renamed their "Discount Bin" to the "Sin and Punishment Bin" about a month after release...

A bin they also share with Other M (another game Reggie had high expectations for, but fell flat on its face).

OK, I'm more than happy to harp on Reggie for his handling of the Operation Rainfall situation last year, but Metroid Other M?  C'mon...that game showed every sign of NoA having their hands tied by Nintendo Corporate and Sakamoto, I don't know what NoA could have been allowed to do differently to make that game a success.  Just look at how stiff and lifeless that localization was, completely unlike Treehouse's usual stellar work.  That game was going to under-perform no matter what Reggie did with it, because the damage was already done.

[UncleBob]

The bottom line here is Reggie can't pick a winner. The horses he bets on loses, and the ones he writes off as losers (Xenoblade) do surprisingly well.

Xenoblade sales numbers, pls.

[Chozo Ghost]

I'm not blaming Reggie for Other M's failings, what I am blaming him for is his high expectations for the game, and then his puzzlement when the game failed to by the million seller he thought it would be. Other M being a piece of crap is Sakamoto/Team Ninja's fault, but Reggie's fault is in not being able to see or understand why consumers rejected the game. Its his job to understand his market, but his puzzlement proves that he is out of touch with video game fans.

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2010/11/reggie_wonders_where_metroid_other_m_sales_went_wrong

The bottom line here is Reggie can't pick a winner. The horses he bets on loses, and the ones he writes off as losers (Xenoblade) do surprisingly well.

Xenoblade sales numbers, pls.

http://www.vgchartz.com/game/42966/xenoblade-chronicles/

[UncleBob]

If we're allowing VGChartz...

Xenoblade: Global Total as of 23rd Jun 2012 (units): 0.66m
MoM: Global Total as of 23rd Jun 2012 (units): 1.11m

Nearly twice as many sales... hm.  Between the two, looks like Reggie picked a winner.  Heck, MoM sold more in the US alone than Xenoblade sold worldwide.

[Chozo Ghost]

But its not a fair comparison because Other M didn't have the cards stacked against it with a limited Gamestop only release and with no marketing support. Other M had every conceivable advantage and yet it only managed to do twice as good? And how many of those sales came after it was in the bargain bin? Xenoblade has only been out a few months and has not hit the bargain bin, so any sales it has received is  at the full $50 price. This makes it much more impressive than thousands of copies of Other M selling at $9.99.

[Kairon]

We really shouldn't be using vg chartz numbers.

[broodwars]

Considering Metroid is one of Nintendo's Big Three core franchises; is from a more mainstream genre than Xenoblade; has had several years of sales to Xenoblade's handful of months; and it was released during a period of much better Wii software & hardware sales, I think Xenoblade has done pretty well for itself by comparison.  Assuming, of course, that those numbers are anywhere near the Truth.  I'm skeptical considering the source and considering Xenoblade hasn't been hard to find at GameStops since it released.  I'm kind of surprised that GameStop hasn't tried to do a sale promotion for it yet, actually.

[SolxBurst]

I think what Reggie said is so true, but this not only applies to gamers but to everyone.  The argument came up that at Nintendo's E3 2010 press conference everything went right and everyone was satisfied. But honestly there was a part of me that said, " what about Mario, i don't want Paper Mario i want a new 3D game". Now that wasn't a big complaint as it was an amazing conference and I was SO satisfied with it, but it didn't completely satisfy everyone of my gaming taste buds. Now I think that also people are acting like he is insulting us, no, he isn't, in fact he said he also loves that about us. Don't think he is putting you down and hating on you, he simply said something that is almost completely true.

[nickmitch]

and it was released during a period of much better Wii software & hardware sales, I think Xenoblade has done pretty well for itself by comparison. 

By the same token, you could just as easily say that Xenoblade had a bigger install base and less competition. Just saying.

[Caliban]

That's what Atlas is for.

Atlus.

[broodwars]

and it was released during a period of much better Wii software & hardware sales, I think Xenoblade has done pretty well for itself by comparison. 

By the same token, you could just as easily say that Xenoblade had a bigger install base and less competition. Just saying.

By the same token, I can easily say that Xenoblade had a smaller install base because Nintendo had spent several years killing it off through neglect.  For that matter, with core gamers driven elsewhere, Xenoblade was probably heavily competing with games on the HD consoles.

I HAVE FURY! 

[nickmitch]

I would argue that the Wii had saturated it's market by then. And all Wii games were competing with HD games. I wouldn't think Xenoblade would be competing any more unless there were more notable titles around its launch than Other M.

[Evan_B]

BORN INTO A WORLD OF TERRIBLE LOCALIZATION.

AGAINST THE ODDS.

WE CHOOSE TO FIGHT.

[marty]

Does Reggie think that ANYONE could be satisfied by information (read: hype)?  Regardless of how much information you provide on a system/game, satisfaction can only come from playing it (and, only then, if the customer is even satisfied).  Hype will never satisfy most people.


I don't know if Reggie's "gamers" want to be satisfied by hype or if they want more hype.  If it's the former, he can't really speak to it.  If, however, it's the latter, there is an argument to be made.  "Gamers" want to be more hyped (by a multimillion dollar hype event) and Reggie says they're not nor could they be.  Whether or not that's true, something Reggie would have no knowledge of, it's still seems like a dumb thing to say because Nintendo just spent money trying to achieve the opposite.

[Louieturkey]

I would argue that the guys in charge of the gaming divisions of Sony and Microsoft would agree with Reggie on this.

[NWR_insanolord]

I would argue that the guys in charge of the gaming divisions of Sony and Microsoft would agree with Reggie on this.

The difference is I don't think they'd say it publicly. As proven by this thread, no matter how true it is, saying that is just going to get people upset.

[Louieturkey]

I would argue that the guys in charge of the gaming divisions of Sony and Microsoft would agree with Reggie on this.

The difference is I don't think they'd say it publicly. As proven by this thread, no matter how true it is, saying that is just going to get people upset.

I agree.  I knew the moment I read it that it'd cause a huge ruckus and people would be calling for Reggie's head, even when he is pretty accurate with his statement.

[Chozo Ghost]

The customer may not always be right, but the last thing you should ever do is tell them they're wrong (even if they are).

[UncleBob]

I would argue that the guys in charge of the gaming divisions of Sony and Microsoft would agree with Reggie on this.

The difference is I don't think they'd say it publicly. As proven by this thread, no matter how true it is, saying that is just going to get people upset.

The only ones "upset'" by this are the same folks who have been upset with Nintendo for awhile
Thr vast majorty will never know it was said and the rest of us know exactly what he's talking about.

[NWR_insanolord]

Yeah, but if he's trying to do damage control it's probably not a good idea to make the people who are already upset more upset.

[UncleBob]

Nintendo's never been much for doing "Damage Control".  They've always been a "My way or the highway" company and that's how I like it.

[Chozo Ghost]

Nintendo's never been much for doing "Damage Control".  They've always been a "My way or the highway" company and that's how I like it.

Would you like it if "their way" was suddenly the exact opposite of yours?

[UncleBob]

On the off chance that Nintendo udoes a complete 180 on their entire corporate history, I'd take my dollars elsewhere.  I like Nintendo, but I love me more.  I'll pick myself up and move on. Like an adult.