| Mr Khan said: Wow this guy really gets it wrong, and fast. Nintendo is *not* a games company at heart. They make their games to sell hardware, that is their role as the hardware maker, to make games that push it. Their compelling first party library is created out of a need to sell consoles. Understanding as much is essential before one can move forward. |
I disagree. Nintendo is a toy company at heart. They want what they make to be played with. They only make hardware if it's so people can experience what they make like they want it to.
Sony and Microsoft are platform companies. They talk up hardware specs, media features, stores, accounts and subscriptions. Without the backlash I don't think Microsoft would have acknowledged games as the main purpose of their system at all. Their mission is a box in every living room.
Nintendo don't act like a hardware maker. They miss boats all the time on accounts or streaming or online. They only use the very best tech for whatever toy experience they're going for - 3D control (analogue stick), R-trigger, motion control, 3D screen, tablet.
I'm not saying this attitude is optimal for their survival. They'd do better financially doing what you say. In a vacuum they'd just make increasingly wackier toys forever. This is why they abandoned the DS and Wii before the end; they were personally done with making their games be constrained by them. They weren't really interested, creatively, in selling more of them.
