This is the penultimate post in my series on the Nintendo Switch, and the only one that is not directly about the Switch itself. Rather, I wanted to mark down my thoughts about Nintendo itself.
I have been a customer of Nintendo for most of my life, far longer than any other video game company, electronics company, or software company. There are times where I love what they do, and there are times - especially recently - where I don’t. No matter what, however, I have always felt as if I understood the company and their business decisions, even when they did things that looked bizarre to the gaming community at large (the DS and the Wii, for example).
That is no longer the case these days. I truly do not understand what the heck Nintendo is doing with themselves, nor do I understand what it is that drives their fortunes up or down. For example:
- I thought the Wii U had some interesting ideas, and Nintendo’s first party output was phenomenal. I did not expect it to sell well, but I am still bewildered to at the fact that it sold abysmally.
- Everything about the creation and release of the NES and SNES Classics defied common sense.
- While the removal of software-based features doesn’t bother me much anymore, it is still a baffling development from the simple standpoint of precedent. How many tech companies go around yanking out hardware or software features that have been around for years? Not that many, save for maybe Apple. But even Apple had the courtesy to warn users when things like floppy disk readers, DVD drives, and headphone jacks were going away. You may not have liked the reasoning, but at least it was a reason. Nintendo on the other hand will kill web browser access, or shrug their shoulders about Netflix access, and all we can do about it is speculate. How is it that no one takes them to task for their silence?
- The Switch is selling like gangbusters, and yet we still see dry periods with little to no first party releases. It arguably happened in 2018, and it was looked like it might happen again in 2020, even before the arrival of a global pandemic. Previous droughts on older Nintendo consoles were easy to explain. They often preempted the release of a major game, or they were a sign that all their efforts were being put into their next console. These days, there is no evidence of a Switch successor coming soon, and we have no idea how far they are in making any of the handful of major games we know are in the works. For all we know they could be developing some dynamite stuff, but when we hear that 2020 may be heavy on re-releases, the perception is that they are sitting on their hands and doing nothing.
- Nintendo seems to have no idea how to handle its massive pantheon of IPs. We have seen far more Fire Emblem games than we’ve needed over the last few years, while other franchises continue to remain inexplicably dead (see F-Zero). Other storied franchises are simply not in great shape (see Star Fox and even Metroid) on account of Nintendo having no idea what to do with them anymore. Nintendo should have it so easy. Need a game that’s a blockbuster and a nostalgia trap? Just pick an IP off the shelf. And yet some of them just sit there collecting dust, and we never hear so much as a peep as to why.
I hate to say it, but it feels as if the company is in the same place Disney was in after the death of Walt. When Walt Disney died, the company found itself lost and confused. It didn’t know what it would do without their visionary leader. For a while, they got by thanks to a combination of projects started under Walt, and new projects created under a “What would Walt do?” mantra. But over time it became harder and harder to determine how Mr. Disney would have reacted to the changes in culture and technology of the 60’s and 70’s, and in some cases the company simply feared changing from what they already knew. By the start 1980’s the animation division was in shambles, the theme parks were treading water, but they were still making decent enough money. And yet thanks to their inaction, their stock price became dangerously undervalued, and Disney was almost destroyed by a corporate takeover attempt.
I see some similarities with Nintendo. On the creative side, the loss of former CEO Satoru Iwata appears to have left them with spark, no clear vision or direction. Financially, however, you can’t tell, because they are able to continue coasting on the install base of the Switch and the goodwill they built up with it. But one cannot coast forever. Sooner or later the Switch will need to be replaced. It might be the result of it getting long in the tooth. Or, if the gaming industry gets its way and streaming video game platforms become a thing, Nintendo’s stranglehold on the “play advanced, modern games on the go” market is going to get squeezed. Either way, I assert that the company is going to need to do something to actually win over users and/or change with the times, and right now I do not get the sense that they would know what to do.
The alternative is that they know exactly what they are doing. That is, perhaps they are taking an Apple-level approach, in which they know what their users really want better than their users know themselves. In this scenario, then the reason why, for example, the UI is so limited is because Nintendo knows that at the end of the day, theming and layout options are not valued by most of their user base.
Is this possible? Sure! Is it probable? I have no clue! The whole situation is weird. But I suppose we will find out sooner or later, simply by waiting and seeing what comes next.