Reggie talks about Nintendo’s insatiable fanbase and more
Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime believes the company’s fans have an insatiable apatite.
He feels that Nintendo delivered on a number of fan requests at this year’s E3, such as a new Pikmin, a Mario game launching with a new console, and a brand new project that brings big franchises together in Nintendo Land. Despite this, most fans have been vocal in saying that the Big N’s conference was a disappointment.
Reggie commented on this and more in an interview with Kotaku. Find out what else he had to say by heading past the break.
Reggie on why he thinks Nintendo’s press conference received a negative response from fans who felt there wasn’t much new for Wii U compared to last year…
“One of the things that, on one hand, I love and, on the other hand, that troubles me tremendously about not only our fanbase but about the gaming community at large is that, whenever you share information, the perspective is, ‘Thank you, but I want more.’ ‘Thank you, but give me more.’ I mean, it is insatiable.
“And so for years this community has been asking, ‘Where’s Pikmin?’ ‘Where’s Pikmin?’ ‘Where’s Pikmin?’ We give them Pikmin. And then they say, ‘What else?’
“For years, this community have said, ‘Damnit Reggie, when you launch, you better launch with a Mario game.’ So we launch with a Mario game, and they say, ‘So what’s more?’
“I have heard people say, ‘You know, you’ve got these fantastic franchises, beyond what you’re doing in Smash Bros., isn’t there a way to leverage all these franchises?’ So we create Nintendo Land and they say, ‘Ho-hum, give me more.’ So it’s an interesting challenge.”
Reggie on how Nintendo fans expect genius from the company after getting used to Nintendogs and Brain Age, and may want to see software showing an evolution with new ideas rather than software shown the year prior…
“Time out. Time out. Again two different issues. When we show a game like Brain Age or when we show a game like Nintendogs, what’s the fan-based community reaction? ‘Ho-hum.’ Until it sells millions of copies. When we showed Wii Fit on stage.. go back and read your blogs, what was the reaction?”
Reggie in response to how Wii Fit was understood right away…
“It’s not a question of understanding. I think people understood what we showed. It’s the question of, as a gamer, ‘Is this for me and something I can get excited about?’ And Wii Fit did not get that reaction. And yet 43-million copies around the world, it’s a phenomenon. And so I would argue that the gaming community actually is unable to differentiate between a phenomenon and something that is ‘ho-hum.’
“…Until they play it. Until they experience it. Until their friends and their non-gaming associates say, ‘Hey, have you seen X?'”
