Even in Japan Mario Kart and Smash are two of their bigger IP, and Splatoon has taken off there big time. 

i didnt know the order was a massive success too.... judging by this post's standards.

Because every old man at Nintendo told him that "if it ain't got Mario or Pikachu it don't make sense". Splatoon was greenlit and the young devs did their thing and look at this... a fucking success. It's a shame it'll probably be the only new IP we get for many years because of blind, greedy, draconian old men.

...They're not even on the same level. At all.

I don't think this is true. We have been getting new IPs from Nintendo for a while, and that won't change. It's just that this is one of the first ones in a while that was a huge success.

In fact, I'd say that because of Splatoon, they may encourage younger devs to experiment more and create new concepts.

Just repeating the stereotype!

A reasonable theory though it's about just as likely to happen as the wigs telling the young devs to milk this new cow until she shrivels up and then it's back to Mario spin-offs for several years.  I don't mean to sound jaded but lately it's hard not to be with the facepalming decisions Nintendo's made recently.

Hopefully it will teach em that working on new IP's and ideas can be better then remaking the same games over n over

They couldn't have been that surprised if they approved this level of marketing.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/nintendo-plans-mario-kart-8-level-marketing-push-for-its-new-shooter-ip-splatoon/0149905

Nintendo is preparing a marketing campaign for new IP Splatoon that will rival last year’s Mario Kart 8.

That’s according to Nintendo UK marketing manager Chandra Nair, who says that the firm is confident in its colourful new shooter.

The platform holder is already pushing Splatoon with digital billboards, cinema ads ahead of Tomorrowland (for kids) and Mad Max (for adults), sponsorship of Cartoon Network, and a digital campaign that started in April. The firm is even opening a Splatoon-themed skatepark in Corby.

Last year Nintendo held a six-month long campaign for Mario Kart 8, from its launch in May 2014 right until the end of the year.

“We have a substantial campaign planned for Splatoon. To give you an idea of the scale, we’re matching Mario Kart 8 – that’s the potential we think Splatoon has,” Nair told MCV.

“We have the utmost confidence in the potential of Splatoon. It gives retailers a fantastic art style that stands out in-store or on-screen and it also offers various up-sell opportunities with the accompanying Amiibo. It’s a really interesting game for us because it allows us to expand out to a group of people who may never have considered Wii U before.”

All he said was that they didn't expect a million sales in under a month. Hardly anyone expected that. They could have expected it to leg out to 2 or 3 million over the course of several years for all we know, it doesn't matter. The game sold faster than they predicted it would.

I know this was over a week ago but it annoys me. Yes, fire Iwata and replace him with someone who expects 5 million+ sales from every game. That will solve all of Nintendo's problems.

Realistic expectations are healthy. They made the game, didn't they? Iwata's apparent skepticism about the game's sales potential (the extent of which is 'we didn't expect it to sell in the same league as freaking Mario Kart') didn't prevent the game from being funded.