Aielyn said:
I'm going to stop you right there, because you've made multiple fatal errors in logic right here. First of all, Nintendo's IPs often have much darker tones hiding within them. For a more obvious example, see Majora's Mask... but many others have underlying darkness. Second of all, fanbases are capable of enjoying a broad variety of games, and Nintendo fans raised on Nintendo IPs are capable of enjoying other styles of games, too. This is especially true when you consider that Nintendo fans grow older, just like everybody else. Third of all, even if none of the above were true, it is possible for Nintendo consoles to appeal to people other than Nintendo fans. It's kind of laughable, how people like you will deride Nintendo for not appealing to the kinds of audience that play on Sony and MS systems, and then when Nintendo does so, you mock them for wasting their effort. Make up your mind - should Nintendo be broadening their fanbase, or should they be catering more intensely on the fans they already have? What's "kind of silly" is coming into a thread about a Nintendo game selling well, purely to mock the idea of the game's existence. |
A few Nintendo games have darker themes to be but they are few and far in between. The average Harry Potter movie/book is darker and has more romantic/sexual tension than your average Nintendo game, Nintendo still skews an awful lot like a 1950s/60s Walt Disney.
Fanbases are capable of enjoying a broad variety of games, but on Nintendo platforms that seems far less evident, likely because over time the Nintendo fans that were more prone to buy a wider variety of content (like those who would buy Turok or Star Wars or NBA Courtside or GoldenEye on the N64) have been snatched up by Microsoft or Sony as Nintendo has kind of let those two have free reign over that style of gaming.
Nintendo does need to broaden their fanbase. So even despite Bayonetta 2 (probably) bombing I hope they continue with the IP and greenlight Bayo 3 for Fusion or whatever their next platform is. Unfortunately though I doubt they will do this.
That said they need to have a really frank and honest discussion within their ranks about why they aren't appealling to this audience, how they can change it, and what efforts need to be made. Because you can't just throw a game like this onto the market and think "well now the hardcore audience is going to support us". There has to be some kind of concerted, well mapped out long term strategy that includes marketing. Because Fatal Frame, Devil's Third, even Xenoblade are likely to suffer a similar fate.
One of the things I would say is the gap between Bayonetta and the average Nintendo IP is too large right now. You need something that's in between a pink marshmallow and a stripper witch with dual wielding handguns to cultivate an audience that's comfortable between the two. GoldenEye and Star Wars did that well on the N64, they were games/IP that appealled to adults without "soccer mom" freaking out over what her kid was playing if she ever walked in on them playing it. What's Nintendo's concept of what 'family entertainment' is is very outdated. Nintendo still thinks that Mickey Mouse is the formula for a character that everyone in the family can enjoy.
But that's really not true anymore. You force a family to go watch a Mickey Mouse movie and odds are mom/dad/older teenager brother-sister are going to be less than thrilled. "Family" entertainment today that truly appeals to all parts of the family is things like Marvel (Avengers, X-Men, Spider-Man, Iron Man), Pirates of the Caribbean, even Harry Potter does it better than Nintendo does anymore. You can have whimsy and fantasy and fun in games, but I think Nintendo needs to understand they need to move a little out of their comfort zone and give older players a little more to chew on if they really want to build a more diverse fanbase.
