| Garnett said:
Casual games wont outsell hardcore games, but casual games with motion controls will. |
I don't buy that. Iwata became the CEO in 2002, long after the gamecube established its failure to gain a large market share (although it was still a profitable venture). It was Iwata that implemented the Blue Ocean strategy, starting with the DS games. He mentions this strategy in the Tokyo Game show in 2005 and how they started this with Nintendogs and Brain Age, both which had been recently released and showed great potential already. He wanted to appeal to an expanded audience by innovating something new that would appeal to more than just trying to be the best graphics. Then he unveiled the Revolution.
As for "Casual games won't outsell hardcore games" unless they have motion controls I have only this to offer: Tetris, which has outsold every "hardcore" game there is (even if you just consider gameboy sales and not sales of the same game on all platforms). With Nintendogs and Brain Age also close, no -- it isn't just about motion controls. It's about finding the thing that appeals to a broader audience.
edit: I will grant that the Nintendo development did games that were 'cartoony', but they were very specifically targetted at gamers whereas games like "Nintendogs", "Wii Sports", "Brain Age", are most definitely not targetted at the same group as Super Mario Sunshine. Prior to the Blue Ocean strategy, you find few games like those.
