Is Nintendo placing heavier emphasis on the older demographic?
First Viewpoint
Kenny Lee
Despite the success Sony is experiencing with the PS2, despite the competitiveness Microsoft has shown, and despite the general common sense of catering to an older audience, I have serious doubts on Nintendo ever placing a heavy emphasis on the adult demographic. And I'm highlighting the word "heavy" here, because even Nintendo isn't stubborn enough to ignore the older user-base completely. Nevertheless, its presence towards its older community of gamers still lacks, and I see no changes on the horizon. I make my judgments solely upon what Nintendo has shown in the past, and the company's confirmed intentions for the future.
I think we all know that Nintendo hasn't been paying much attention to its grown-up fans for the past few years. Its reputation as a kiddy's system is certainly not unfounded, because repute like that doesn't just materialize out of thin air. Now Nintendo is fighting with Microsoft, cannot even detect Sony in the distance, and is still stubborn about its direction. That's its problem. The company is too damn stubborn, convinced it knows best, which might be true, but either way has given its fans a big ol' middle finger to think about whenever we express our interests.
But people still believe Nintendo is improving, and the question I ask is what proof do we have? There are things like the realistic Legend of Zelda, and those nice new commercials that in the very least make an attempt at mature style. But how is that a heavy emphasis? The first loss ever in company history was experienced almost a year from now, and only lately has the adult gaming community been getting a few bones tossed to it. Seriously, when did these new commercials start spouting out? A little more than a month ago. Sure I suck at math, but it doesn't add up when there exists eight months with little to no effort on Nintendo's part to make amends. Also keep in mind that the new mature Zelda is only coming after the fans were pansied up by Wind Waker. In all honesty, how well would Wind Waker 2 do if it were cel-shaded? How much of a gamble is Nintendo willing to make with the franchise? We're still seeing titles like Pikmin 2 and Paper Mario 2, which although are shaping up to be fantastic games in their own regard, are certainly not made to appeal to older gamers. I'd make mention of Metroid Prime 2, which looks to be a sure fire hit with adult fans, but the decision for its development was based on the success from the first; it just happens to conveniently push Nintendo's image for grown-ups. That one I call a no-brainer. That pretty much leaves us with Zelda, which I don't see making up for years of neglect. Injecting more maturity into Nintendo's style doesn't seem like a chosen circumstance to me, more like a do-or-die situation.
But let's forget about the games for a moment, ignore what Nintendo is doing, and rather focus on what it plans to do. The company has confirmed straight out that concentrating on a specific demographic is not the way to go. Instead, Nintendo is taking the industry to what it believes is new levels of entertainment by changing the way games are played. Here's an excerpt of the interview with Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, asking his opinions on how the battle with next-generation consoles will take place.
"... So just as we have established with handheld gaming with the DS, just for example, if we cannot change the user interface of the current home console system, and let consumers understand we are changing how the games are being played, then I am sorry, but it must be difficult for anyone to persuade people to purchase so-called next generation consoles."Doesn't sound to me like a spotlight on the adult audience. In fact, the company pretty much factors out demographics completely by pushing innovation rather than trends. The process has started with the DS, a perfect example of Nintendo's focus away from the audience and towards what it wants to do, which is whatever it damn well pleases.
There's no doubt in my mind Nintendo fully intends to maintain its mantra of unique games and unique gaming experiences. It's spelled out pretty clearly for us. The company may be right, or it may be wrong, but luckily for me that's not what we're debating right now. Fortunately not all business sense has left Nintendo though, a prime example being the quick yet complete visual overhaul of the DS since it was revealed at E3. But really, it looks to me like Nintendo submits when it is the only way to avert disaster. A heavier emphasis on the older demographic? Seems more like the bare minimum to me.
* * * * *
Second Viewpoint
Jared Thomas
Nintendo is an innovative company. It has been imagination-driven since the beginning, and it is very likely to remain an imagination-driven company for quite some time. That said, it is still a company, and a company that makes no money can't continue to bring imagination to the masses. I believe Nintendo realizes that while it will continue to march to the beat of a different drum, the company will have to learn to march in the direction of the times, which right now is to appeal to older gamers.
Nintendo's kiddie image isn't completely unfounded, but it is a bit skewed and unfair. A major difference between Nintendo and the makers of Playstation and Xbox is that Nintendo was the only company with a home console on the American market in 1984. It's been in the game for a long time, and it has achieved quite a lot of success with the franchises that have been accumulated since then. These franchises were created in a time when there was little recourse but to have a cartoonish look. They were also unbelievably successful, so of course Nintendo kept updating them, and seeing as they sold well in their current form, there was no reason to chance ruining the series by maturing it too quickly. Xbox and Playstation, on the other hand, due to their lack of foundation, have had to rely on very recently conceived characters, which means that while they don't benefit the way Nintendo does from an already-existing fanbase, they're more relevant to the current market.
In the Playstation/N64 era, you had one system that is incredibly easy to make games for, and one that is a nightmare for developers. I don't think it's a far cry to say that most of the best games on the Nintendo 64, and certainly nearly all of the best selling games, were first and second party. So Nintendo was in a position in which only its own games were selling, and all its franchises were, if not childish, certainly not earning of a "Mature" label. The company could either change everything to take a grasp at maturity, or keep true to the one thing it had going for them. Obviously Nintendo chose the latter. And obviously, it is not abandoning or compromising its time-tested franchises to fit the fashion of the day.
But look at what the company is doing. If you don't think Nintendo is for the adult market, maybe you should look again. Nintendo is still doing things its own way, but at the same time still going for the older market. You might not see it follow the crowd to the letter by pouring out trendy gangster titles and swearing, but you will see Nintendo doing what it's best at, which is honing and innovating long-loved franchises, to the company's advantage in the adult market. You'll see the classic Metroid series revolutionizing itself as a First Person Shooter while asserting itself from the cookie-cutter genre by bringing along everything the Metroid series is: challenging puzzles, upgrades that go far beyond simply bigger or better guns, and immersing exploration. You'll see Nintendo abandoning plans for a second Wind Waker Zelda game and, in black-and-white terms, giving gamers what they want with the return of the preferred Ocarina-styled Link, after many appearances in side-bar games such as the Smash Bros. series and Soul Calibur 2. You'll see the gore-intense, innovation-hungry Resident Evil series make landfall on the GameCube and bring itself out of its mold into a fully 3-D third-person adventure. Nintendo is giving older gamers a reason to consider a GameCube over, or in addition to, one of its competitors.
The Big N has to come to grips with the fact that many people who buy game consoles today aren't gamers. The kind of casual gamers who buy three sports titles a year and perhaps Halo or GTA are going to be a tough win. And while the company is taking steps to bring in these older guys who are new to gaming, it is also taking leaps to bring back the gamers who grew up with Nintendo and lost it sometime along the way. The "Know Your Roots" campaign (as I'm referring to it based on the trendy shirt bearing that title) is all over the place. Aside from Nintendo's hipster-fueled merchandise campaign of everything from t-shirts and arm bands to car floor mats and antennae toppers featuring popular Nintendo icons, those guys are also bringing back a deluge of games of old that made the company what it is today. Starting with the Super Mario Advance series, Animal Crossing's e-Reader mini-games, and the Zelda bonus discs, Nitnendo is moving a campaign to make more fans (and certainly more cash) off games that gamers might have forgotten when they left the Nintendo camp. Those who were gaming back in the first days of Nintendo with the GBA "Classic NES Series." Gamers can find Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros., Excitebike, Ice Climber, Xevious, and Bomberman in the series, along with a limited edition GBA SP tricked out in the original NES style. Says Nintendo of America's vice president of marketing and corporate affairs, Perrin "Mallrat" Kaplan:
"I mean, Donkey Kong and Pac-Man? These are, like, the best games ever, and if you aren't just dying to get your hands on the gnarly new Classic NES Limited Edition GBA SP, you're a total dweeb."Nintendo is turning what many have seen as its handicap in the adult market into its ace up the sleeve. Right now, the GameCube still has a young user-base compared to the other consoles on the market, at about fourteen-years-old compared to around twenty for Xbox and the PS2. It has a large user-base of children and young teens, and while it aims to get itself a stronger foothold in an older market, it would be incredibly foolish to simply throw what it has away in an attempt for more. It's going to be a slow process, but the company is certainly making headway, and what's impressive is that it's doing it while retaining the Nintendo quality. Will Mario ever sport a five-o-clock shadow and a Desert Eagle? Unlikely. Is Nintendo gunning for both the older gamers it lost to competition and older gamers that are new to the scene? Undoubtedly.
Agree or disagree, it's up to you who you felt had a stronger case against the cause. Within the next day, we'll be posting a thread on our forums for you to argue your point. We'd love to hear your feedback on our rationale, and to hear your own opinions of the discussion.
