Renowned Wedbush research analyst Michael Pachter has admitted he doesn’t understand Japanese companies or their motivation for releasing games. The latest Pach-Attack comes after he defended Nintendo’s software strategy, but in a question submitted about a Final Fantasy VII remake from Square Enix, he appears to have slipped back into his age-old ways. Pachter said: “I don’t think Nintendo is unique in being inscrutable. I don’t get any Japanese developer, I don’t know what motivates them, especially in how they release games into the West. Final Fantasy is just one of those franchises I just don’t get.”

Moving on from Final Fantasy, Pachter answers a question deliberating whether it is a riskier option to become an ‘everyone’ console, or a specific ‘hardcore’ software. Turning a comparison from the Wii’s everyone and non-traditional market to the Wii U’s ‘traditional games market’, Pachter said it was a mistake made by Nintendo.

He continued: “Nintendo had a huge success in expanding into the non-traditional market – that’s 25-year-old women who play Guitar Hero, 45-year-old women who play Wii Fit, 65-year-old women who play bowling – that worked and they sold a lot of consoles, but those people didn’t really embrace other software titles [...] so I think that you can make money if it resonates with everyone but ultimately it causes you to make mistakes like the Wii U.

“Nintendo thought all these same people would line up and play the Wii U [...] and those non-traditional people didn’t embrace it. I think Nintendo is going to be lucky to sell 30-40 million Wii U’s, they might sell 20-25 miliion which makes it more like a GameCube, but we’ll see.”

http://mynintendonews.com/

What i love about japanese developers (not all anymore) is that they often try new things. Pachter can talk what he wants. I hate the average western aaa developer to be honest.

Gaming Community: "We just don't get Pachter..."

Ehum... I can only slightly agree with what he's said. Yes, it was ridiculous for Nintendo to think that all these casuals would fall in love the Wii U right of the bat, but to think that Nintendo can't provide any incentive would be ridiculous. Nintendo can get them back. It's just a matter of will they or not.

The problem isn't with Japanese developers, it's with the gamers. They only seem to want the same games over and over again. Whenever something new and interesting comes out, (that isn't some strange hentai title) it gets completely ignored in favor of the 27th Dragon Quest or the 3rd rerelease of a Monster Hunter game that came out 4 years ago.

Michael Pachter: "I don't get the video game industry."

what i don't get about the japonese is their lack of self investment in software technology.

the japonese seem to make 2 kinds of games now. stuff that looks dated/shovel-ware or high quality games that cost 100M when it should have cost 20M. the games themselves are fine but they really need to scrutinize their business models.

Every other Wedbush research analyst "I don't get how Pachter still has a job"

I feel like that is mostly Square Enix. They seem to over-predict their entire business model.

Japanese culture as a whole has a follow the leader mentality. They copy what is popular.

He doesn't get anything at all.