Little Orbit talks Wii U, says Nintendo shouldn’t be underestimated
In an interview with Polygon, Little Orbit founder and CEO Matt Scott had positive things to say about Wii U – which the publisher is supporting quite a bit.
Scott mentioned that “Wii U is an interesting platform” and had high praise for the GamePad. At the same time, he noted that at launch, Nintendo “didn’t lock the demographic down” and the console’s name led to some confusion.
Ultimately, despite issues that may surround Wii U, Scott believes we shouldn’t underestimate Nintendo.
You can find all of Scott’s comments below.
“The Wii U is an interesting platform: I think it’s challenged, no question. Every publisher is caught between the audience that’s out there, and the content they want to put out there. You’re always looking for where the audience is playing games.”
“One of the challenges with Wii U started at the very beginning with Nintendo because they couldn’t target a demographic. They had a zombie game and this and that at launch, and with the Wii it was clearly family-oriented off-demographic. They had content that said, this is what the Wii’s all about.
“With the Wii U, it had two major problems. One is that they didn’t lock the demographic down, they had just a bunch of everything. And two, I believe that they mismarketed it. By calling it the Wii U, everybody thought it was an accessory for the Wii, they thought it was a tablet for the Wii. Why not call it the Wii 2? I just think there was consumer confusion and it’s hard to un-ring that bell now since they’ve been out for almost two years.”
“I think it’s got a unique play pattern with the tablet. I think kids and adults like the feel of the tablet and that play pattern. There are some really exciting asymmetrical things you can do where you’ve got one guy controlling the field and a bunch of people playing next to him with Wii Remotes, and it’s compelling. It’s different.”
“I think the Wii U should have been the Wii 2. I think the consumers that see that, that adopted it — that’s who we’re making games for.”
“Never underestimate Nintendo, right? We’ve learned that over and over. Everybody saw GameCube and went oh, this isn’t working, and then it blew us all away. I tend to take a fairly straight view of Nintendo, I think they have a methodology to the ideas they are implementing. I don’t think they are implementing them fast enough, but there are some compelling play patterns between digital products and interaction. Just communicate what you want to do. They make great first-party games and design experiences that we all love and that are fun to play, so just tell us what you’re going to do and I think that’s the core problem.”
