Iwata Responds to Nintendo as 3rd Party Developer Argument

[ksv]

For all I'm criticizing Nintendo and Iwata for lately, I must say that I agree with Iwata. Nintendo should never go 3rd party.

Nintendo's strength IS the integration between hardware and software, ever since Game & Watch! They don't design their games based on what the hardware can do, they design the hardware based on their software ideas.

Seriously, do you really wanna play a Mario game without a Nintendo gamepad?

Nintendo's problem is that they haven't been releasing enough compelling software on their home consoles for the past years. That's why the Wii lost momentum, and that's why the Wii U is selling poorly. The Wii U has the additional problem that for once Nintendo didn't have enough good software ideas to warrant the new hardware. The Wii U gamepad was a big mistake. It made an otherwise attractive console way too expensive. I hate that I am forced to use it even for menu navigation, when using a Wiimote was so much easier, and never ran out of battery.

The Wii U will not be a huge success. Software releases are too slow, and not compelling enough, and the hardware is not particularly innovative or even a good idea. But a bad few years does not make the answer "stop making hardware". You who are saying that probably said the same in the GC years, and then Nintendo struck back with TWO 100 million systems.

I have been saying Iwata should go because he is not running Nintendo well, not strategically, but from a managerial point of view. Nintendo aren't making good software on a timely basis, and it's making them bleed.