01Net Strikes Yet Again: Iwata near firing

[gumby_trucker]

LordTheNightKnight said:
"Nintendo is a business, not a charity."

That's a great rebuttal to such a mindset. Art is not charity. Casablanca wasn't made out of Warner Bros. wishing to bless the world with such a film. Neither was The Godfather, which wasn't even something Coppola wanted to make, but his small studio was going under.

Art is business, not a charity.

I think reviniente hit the nail on the head with this one as to why it's such a delicate issue. When your business is art there really does exist a fundamental conflict of interest at the very core. Personally I think there is very little correlation between good art and good business - for every "Godfather" there is a "Blade Runner", for every Michelangelo there is a Van Gogh. Good art is about making money just as much as running a good business is about artistic expression; Sometimes the two work together, sometimes they don't.

Thankfully the industry is smart enough to realize that long-term growth is important enough to account for some short-term losses. Hell, even Little King's Story is getting a sequel!