Nintendo And online for a long time they have been concepts at the antipodes and even today the company finds itself having to catch up with its competitors. Well, the former president of the American division, Reggie Fils-Aimerevealed the because of this situation.
“First, Nintendo’s philosophy has always been that of do things differentlyto innovate in ways that could leverage the strengths of the company rather than those of its competitors, “explained Reggie a few days after his words on the Game Boy Micro.
“So, for example, with regard to the multiplayer Nintendo excelled at what we internally called ‘couch play’: sitting next to someone to play Mario Kart or different experiences like Wii Sports together. That kind of local multiplayer was something the company was very strong on and paid a lot of attention to. ”
“In order to implement online multiplayer, the company needed to think of a new kind of game or experience to be created so as to be able to excel even in that type of entertainment. And it must be admitted that it took some time before they came to imagine something they thought was different than usual. “
“I would say that Nintendo’s success in that regard began when they took a flagship franchise like Smash Bros. and they brought it online, achieving great results. From there it then came to a halfway between first and third person shooter with a called series Splatoonwhich has also done very well on the market. “
“So the point is this: Nintendo is always thinking about how to enter new market segments in a peculiar, different way, and leverage their strengths. However, there is also a question linked to cultural differences, because from this point of view the company did not see great opportunities related to online. “
“The American and European divisions tried to make the Japanese office understand the importance of this area and the need to invest in online infrastructure in order for the experience to be positive. In this respect, there is no doubt that among the three competitors Microsoft has been the one that has invested the most, transforming online into its competitive advantage. “
