NightlyPoe said:
DarthMetalliCube said:
Tough to say.. Yamauchi seemed to be the more conservative, no-nonsense leader that helped establish Nintendo as a dominant force and largely keep them on that path in a steady manner. Yet, Iwata had more of a free-and-loose and creative sense coming from the background as a game designer, contributing greatly to their renaissance with the Wii, DS, and the early phases of Switch too I believe. Ultimately I suppose Iwata would get a slight edge, as Yamauchi, while he was a prominent and level-headed CEO, was less flexible and able (or at least less willing) to adapt to changing markets and try new things.
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This is so backwards. A conservative, risk-adverse, and inflexible Yamauchi would have kept Nintendo as a privately-owned playing card company. Instead, Yamauchi took the company public to raise capital and tested several markets ranging from vacuum cleaners, to instant rice, to taxis, to hotel rooms you can rent by the hour, to, finally, toys. The rest is history as Yamauchi discovered he had a hidden gem in his maintenance department in Gunpei Yokoi when he saw his "Ultra Hand" that he thought could be a successful toy. After the Ultra Hand became a success, Gunpei was moved out of maintenance and dabbled in electronics, setting off the chain of events that led to Nintendo entering the electronic gaming market.
But it took a decade of burning through capital trying to find new markets for Nintendo to discover this new niche. A niche that didn't even exist when they began looking for it in the early 1960s. The idea that Yamauchi wasn't willing to adapt or try new things is just a complete misreading of history.
Iwata took some chances, yes. But adding motion controls to a console and slapping a 2nd screen on a GBA is hardly on the same level as building an electronics giant out of a playing card company.
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Well of course, for his time Yamauchi was certainly a visionary and a pioneer. I suppose I should amend this statement in that I'm referring more to his final decade or so of his tenure as Nintendo CEO - which is what I'm far more familiar with.
I also think Iwata's innovation and vision is being very understated. It wasn't just the added tech with him but also the philosophies behind it - gaming with more of a mass-market appeal, unique ideas, Blue Ocean, etc..
