Impressed by the recent Nintendo Direct, a reader explains why hes such a fan of Nintendo and tries to explain the secret of their success.
As soon as I heard that this weeks Nintendo Direct was going to be 40 minutes long I had the feeling it was going to be a good one. Like most of them it was announced with very little warning, so it was hard to know what to expect, but Nintendo dont tend to waste time with these things, so if it was going to be that long thered have to be a lot to talk about, and boy was there.
What company other than Nintendo would go to the trouble of funding a sequel to Deadly Premonition? Just as they did with Bayonetta, theyve plucked a critically acclaimed game from obscurity and given it another chance, even though they must know its not going to make them much money. They know itll given them kudos points from hardcore gamers, but as far as cynical decision making goes thats not exactly the worst this industry has seen.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Then they spent ages on Return Of The Obra Dinn, even though its a multiformat indie game thats also unlikely to sell well. But it is critically acclaimed and again they seem to think its important for the Switch to be home to such games, and I think thats great. Especially as they did the same thing for Divinity: Original Sin II Definitive Edition, a game that has had so many perfect scores and yet I dont think Sony or Microsoft have ever even mentioned it.
They also went to the trouble of remastering Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE Encore, which some might claim is just another lazy Wii U port but its clearly not going to sell any more than it did the first time, and yet they added in more content anyway. Ditto with Xenoblade Chronicles, which has somehow had two sequels despite not being anywhere near as big a seller as most of Nintendos other franchises.
Add in all the stuff about Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, with the endless, high quality fan service, and it all felt like a Nintendos fan come true. And I havent even mentioned their actual big hitters like Luigis Mansion 3, Zelda: Links Awakening, and Pokémon Sword/Shield. And then the day after they reveal a new controller thats actually a Pliates resistance ring. Talk about not going with the obvious!
Even if you dont like Nintendos games I think anyone would have to admit that they never go for the obvious and they have an amazingly consistent quality control. Not every game knocks it out the park but the number of low effort cash grabs are extremely small (Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival is the last one I can remember).
Advertisement
Advertisement
I am not a fanboy though. Even though youre reading this and maybe thinking I am. Nintendo isnt some benevolent charity blessing us with great games purely out of the goodness of their heart. They know theyre good at making new games and so, with only a few exceptions, they try to ensure theyre as high quality as possible. Just as EA try to fill theirs with microtransactions or Epic Games rely on constant updates for Fortnite. These are business practices that have a long history of success, so they stick with it.
That doesnt mean EA cant do good things (theyre very good about diversity and representation and EA Access is surprisingly good value) and it doesnt mean Nintendo cant be bad (their online policies and attitudes to things like digital ownerships are terrible, theyre very slow to own up to things like Joy-Con drift, and they can be horribly greedy in terms of pricing).
Its not a question of Nintendo being a good company its simply the case that they make very good games and they have Read More – Source
