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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - Dromble: Dan Adelman Discusses Nintendo’s Culture, Third Parties, VC & More

Veknoid_Outcast on 21 January 2015

This is a great read: insightful, honest, impartial. I highly recommend this to both fans and detractors of Nintendo, if only to catch a glimpse of all the financial, cultural, and organizational strengths and weaknesses of the company.



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st0pnsw0p on 21 January 2015
zorg1000 said:
st0pnsw0p said:
Interesting interview, but I strongly disagree with the whole "3rd parties can't compete" theory. I stand by my explanation that Nintendo's consoles are simply aimed at a demographic that isn't very interested in 3rd parties' games.


It's not necessarily that the demographic isn't interested in 3rd party games, they just aren't interested in the AAA blockbuster style games like Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, Assassin's Creed and other games that appeal to a similar demographic.

Games that have a similar appeal as Nintendo first party titles seem to sell accordingly. Rayman, Lego games, Skylanders, Disney Infinity, Just Dance do pretty well on Wii U. 3rd parties need to see what demographics are on each console and put games on them accordingly. Expecting a console with a strong kid demographic to buy M-rated games in droves doesn't make sense.

Well yeah, there are some 3rd parties that make games that do appeal to Nintendo's audience. I was only talking about the ones that sell really well on other platforms but poorly on Nintendo consoles, like CoD, AC and the like.



Frogger on 21 January 2015

Absolutely eye opening.



Soundwave on 21 January 2015
Veknoid_Outcast said:
This is a great read: insightful, honest, impartial. I highly recommend this to both fans and detractors of Nintendo, if only to catch a glimpse of all the financial, cultural, and organizational strengths and weaknesses of the company.


Yeah, agreed 100%. For better of worse now you really know why things like "well why doesn't Nintendo just invest in more Western studios!", or "why doesn't Nintendo embrace online", or "MS or Sony are doing X! OMG! Why isn't Nintendo responding!" etc. etc. etc. ... a lot of these things start to make an awful lot of sense after reading this interview. 



atoker on 21 January 2015

If Nintendo had a trophy system and a proper voice chat/party system, I would be so happy. I wouldn't have gotten a PS4 if they had those options :P



http://www.whoisjesus-really.com/

Wii U + PS4 

Consoles>Mobile

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SkyHold on 21 January 2015

it winds up being that the most senior executives at the company cut their teeth during NES and Super NES days and do not really understand modern gaming
I have been saying this for years.Nintendo's style of gaming and ideas are outdated.They way they design their games and vision is outdated.They need to let the younger developers create their own franchises and have more input in decision making and let Western devs/execs have more control like Sony does.



The_Yoda on 21 January 2015
Soundwave said:
forest-spirit said:

And that's why I never supported the "Fire Iwata!" movement. Getting rid of one guy won't solve anything when you have that kind of corporate structure. It's harsh perhaps but someone at Nintendo needs to take one for the team and "get rid of" murder all of the senile old farts who are holding the company back.

They simply are never going to be able to overcome their issues because their corporate structure is such that they can't get out of ruts once they fall into one. 

 It would be far better if the issue really was centrally Iwata (though no doubt he is part of the issue, it's just that there are 10 other people at Nintendo also at fault). Then at least by getting rid of him you could see substantial change, but if the corporate culture is rotten to its core ... that isn't fixable. 

In a way though then what's happening to Nintendo now is pretty much 100% predictable. 

If they are so predictable then what do you see Nintendo doing in the next ten years?  If you are only talking about the here and now then that isn't a prediction it falls more along the lines of understanding cause and effect.



TheGoldenBoy on 21 January 2015

Very interesting read. If confirmed a lot of things people were saying and brought some new information to light as well.



Soundwave on 21 January 2015
The_Yoda said:
Soundwave said:
forest-spirit said:

And that's why I never supported the "Fire Iwata!" movement. Getting rid of one guy won't solve anything when you have that kind of corporate structure. It's harsh perhaps but someone at Nintendo needs to take one for the team and "get rid of" murder all of the senile old farts who are holding the company back.

They simply are never going to be able to overcome their issues because their corporate structure is such that they can't get out of ruts once they fall into one. 

 It would be far better if the issue really was centrally Iwata (though no doubt he is part of the issue, it's just that there are 10 other people at Nintendo also at fault). Then at least by getting rid of him you could see substantial change, but if the corporate culture is rotten to its core ... that isn't fixable. 

In a way though then what's happening to Nintendo now is pretty much 100% predictable. 

If they are so predictable then what do you see Nintendo doing in the next ten years?  If you are only talking about the here and now then that isn't a prediction it falls more along the lines of understanding cause and effect.


I mean the result is predictable, a company that conservative in a business like this ... well it isn't really stunning that they are having big trouble adjusting to changing market conditions. Especially a very conservative Japanese company trying to compete in what is becoming a Western dominated console business, both in terms of the consumer base (consoles is almost entirely for the Western audience now) and developer base. 



Jay70sgamer on 21 January 2015
Soundwave said:
The_Yoda said:
Soundwave said:
forest-spirit said:

And that's why I never supported the "Fire Iwata!" movement. Getting rid of one guy won't solve anything when you have that kind of corporate structure. It's harsh perhaps but someone at Nintendo needs to take one for the team and "get rid of" murder all of the senile old farts who are holding the company back.

They simply are never going to be able to overcome their issues because their corporate structure is such that they can't get out of ruts once they fall into one. 

 It would be far better if the issue really was centrally Iwata (though no doubt he is part of the issue, it's just that there are 10 other people at Nintendo also at fault). Then at least by getting rid of him you could see substantial change, but if the corporate culture is rotten to its core ... that isn't fixable. 

In a way though then what's happening to Nintendo now is pretty much 100% predictable. 

If they are so predictable then what do you see Nintendo doing in the next ten years?  If you are only talking about the here and now then that isn't a prediction it falls more along the lines of understanding cause and effect.


I mean the result is predictable, a company that conservative in a business like this ... well it isn't really stunning that they are having big trouble adjusting to changing market conditions. Especially a very conservative Japanese company trying to compete in what is becoming a Western dominated console business, both in terms of the consumer base (consoles is almost entirely for the Western audience now) and developer base. 


But to your point of Nintendo has to change with the times ..I agree they are behind the times in some things but Nintendo is doing something right, every generation their company turns a profit whereas Sony and Microsoft  gaming divisions lose money every generation.....You keep saying the gaming world ismore western focused but you are forgetting the point that Nintendo first party sells very well in all regions of the world ...not just in the east or the west ...as long as Nintendo First Party sells in the millions and makes a profit Nintendo will never panic or care ...they only care about profit not marketshare ....whereas Sony and Microsoft focuses on market share because they are more 3rd party base as far as profits are concerned and that's where a majority of their profits come from selling a lot of consoles to make 3rd party profit   ..just saying