Miyamoto: “For A Lot of Us at Nintendo, It’s Difficult to Decide What Cool Is” - Long story short, excuses...

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And that would be completely fine, and Nintendo could go on making their, odd and goofy games and be the most successful console maker ever, if only the gamer demographic hadn't gotten older and matured and decided they wanted more from the hours they game than odd and goofy.

The market that buys a console for odd and goofy is diminishing. The market the buys a console for "serious" fun will also occasionally buy odd and goofy games and this is the dominant multi-generational gamer market. The market does not see Nintendo as a "serious" fun console maker, so the market does not buy Nintendo in large numbers; with the exception of Wii, which the market did not by for odd and goofy but it bought for social fun.

If you don't know and serve the market, the market leaves you. Nintendo was successful when the market wanted what Nintendo had to offer. When the market wanted something else Nintendo didn't move with the market so they got left behind, making the same games over and over to a diminishing audience. Nintendo cleverly went and sought a new market, but the market they found was never one that was interested in forming a long term relationship, and within the span of a generation that market moved on to other things, almost certainly never to return.

It's not about being cool or not being cool. It's about understanding the market and deciding whether to go with the market or go your own way. Nintendo has decided to go their own way and more power to them and their fanbase, but expect to have more down times than up times in the hardware sales department. They are fortunate that in the handheld space odd and goofy has remained as a market preference so their own way has been the way the market has stayed. Though perhaps the market has now decided that hardware wise a multifunctional device that plays games is preferable.