Interesting piece on Nintendo’s keynote speech at GDC this week by Tricia Duryee at All Things Digital, covering Nintendo’s apparent distate of all this mobile and social gaming that’s going on :
“In the keynote, Iwata explained the games industry is no longer focused on building the highest quality experiences, but rather is narrowing in on free or very low cost titles.
“The majority of people here are creating games for social and mobile. I fear our business is dividing, and that threatens the employment for those of us who make games for a living,” he said.”
Is anyone actually going to second a statement like that?
“The closest Iwata got to talking about Apple, and probably Facebook too, was when he said that “these platforms have no motivation to maintain the high value of video game software. For them content is something created by someone else.” “
Because obviously, to maintain value, Nintendo never let EA, Ubisoft or Activision create content for their platforms.
While he’s right that the gaming industry is dividing (I’d just say evolving with time), It’s unclear who Iwata was trying to convince; the audience, or his own company.
There’s no denying that Nintendo is an important part of the gaming landscape, but it’s worrisome when the company figurehead’s best response to an evolving marketplace is making ridiculous rationalizations at a keynote speech.
(Via All Things Digital)