Reggie talks Splatoon, Nintendo “constantly generating new IP”, lots more
GamesBeat published a new interview with Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime just a few minutes ago. We’ve picked out some of the more notable points below, though you can find the full thing here.
GamesBeat: There’s still a relative success, where people may expect you to achieve more. Mario Kart has shown good numbers, but it’s lower than it would have been if you had a higher installed base. There’s some good and there’s still some challenges.
Reggie: This is what makes us different from all the other publishers. We have launched Mario Kart 8 roughly a year and a half into the life of Wii U. That game is going to sell in big numbers now through the end of life. That’s a very different proposition than what many other publishers do. They annualize their content. They launch and the content is gone four months later. Because of the high quality of our software, because they really are system-selling must-have games, they sell for years and years.
We’re still selling Mario Kart DS when that product was launched in 2005. We’re still selling New Super Mario Bros. for the Wii. That was launched, I think, in 2008? We sell product for years. The argument of, boy, maybe Nintendo should have waited until the installed base was higher? No. These games drive our installed base.
GamesBeat: Splatoon is very interesting. It’s a brand new IP there. It reminded me of a small game THQ published, De Blob, but the difference is that De Blob didn’t have multiplayer. It’s a nice reminder that creativity is often just one small idea.
Reggie: I say this with no disrespect to any other developer, but I really do believe that our EAD teams are second to none. I think Splatoon has a number of gameplay elements that make the game incredibly fun and incredibly addictive. It has the ink-squirting mechanic, but on top of that, the ability to turn into the squid and travel through the ink, using it as camouflage, being in the ink while the other team is coming about and getting them—The strategy component of going for space, going for the other deam, choosing which weapon to use, it’s an incredibly deep game. We’ll be showcasing more depth. All we’re showing at E3 is the four-on-four multiplayer, but the developers have a lot more modes that they’re working on and that they’ll be revealing in the future.
GamesBeat: Is there a single-player campaign?
Reggie: We’re not showing single-player, but as I said, the developers have a lot more modes coming.
GamesBeat: I’ve seen quite a few games that have multiplayer only, is why I ask. In some ways that seems like a good way for smaller companies to cut budgets and save time. But it also seems like it’s a direction gamers are going in.
Reggie: I’d disagree on that last point. I think gamers want a full-featured experience. I think it’s actually a mistake to cut out modes. Now, certain games, in the way they’re conceptualized, they are what they are. I played Rainbow Six: Siege, Ubi’s five-on-five game. The innovation there is that it’s a one-shot kill. Now there’s strategy to it, which makes that interesting. I don’t know if they’re going to have a mode where all of the other entities are non-playable characters. That doesn’t seem like a lot of fun to me. I think it needs to be that online multiplayer to bring it to life.
So it depends on the game. But in the first-person shooter genre, I would argue that not having a fully featured campaign mode, in this day and age, would be a bit of a mistake. Even though all of the hours played are likely going to be in multiplayer.
GamesBeat: Splatoon also seems like an interesting thing to do because you have so many brands, so many characters. You probably have teams enough to cover some fraction of them. Then you dust off different ones every four or five years and people go crazy. It doesn’t seem like you necessarily need more.
Reggie: The interesting thing there is that in fact we’re constantly generating new IP. The introduction of Miis with the original Wii is a form of new IP. At times I’m disappointed that people don’t think about it that way, but these customizable characters that you can now play across a range of different games and do a range of different things with is incredibly compelling. Tomodachi Life incorporates Miis, but we think it’s a whole new type of game. It was quite effective in the Japanese market, and we’re optimistic that it’s the first step in creating the same type of effectiveness here in the western market. That game’s off to a nice start, having just launched this past Friday.
We believe it’s important to invent new franchises, just as it’s important to reinvent our franchises — the next Zelda game, the next Mario Kart game, the next Super Mario side-scroller. We believe we have to be able to do both.
GamesBeat: Is it correct that you have Valhalla’s game?
Reggie: Correct. Devil’s Third, exclusive to Wii U.
GamesBeat: Is that on the horizon?
Reggie: It is. We haven’t announced a launch date. We demo’d it in a number of live shows for the various game enthusiast media. We’re very excited about that.
GamesBeat: What’s some of the thinking around securing something like that?
Reggie: It’s the same thinking that has us securing Bayonetta 2. For us, it’s important to have a range of content. Our developers know the developers of these various series. For us it’s a great business opportunity.
GamesBeat: A lot of the answer, I think, is “doing what we do best and doing better.” What part of the answer involves change?
Reggie: You’re talking about a 120-plus-year-old company that started by selling paper playing cards. We know all about change. We know all about evolving our entertainment capabilities for the current marketplace. I would argue that we have changed and we’ll continue to change.
What we try to do, though, is change in ways that make sense for the long-term health of the company. That’s why we’ve said, over and over again, that right now we believe it is in our best interest, as well as the best interest of the playing consumer, to have our content reside only on our platforms. We don’t think it would be a great Mario Kart experience, for example, to play Mario Kart on a smartphone or tablet.
Now, having said that, we did just launch Mario Kart TV, an online presence highlighting gameplay that fans are posting to the web. We get internet memes like the Luigi Death Stare. We believe we’re touching many more consumers, and we do believe that’s helping drive some awareness and interest in a game like Mario Kart. So we’re going to continue to evolve, but we’ll evolve on our terms, in ways we believe make the most sense for the business model.
GamesBeat: You also have this toy-game hybrid here, Amiibo. It seems like a good idea, competing against Skylanders and Disney–
Reggie: We’re not going to compete with Skylanders and Disney. First point, north of 50 percent of the combined Skylanders and Disney Infinity business is done on Nintendo platforms in the United States. 58 percent, to be exact. We want that ongoing level of effectiveness on our platforms.
What we believe Amiibo does is offer a completely different type of experience. First, it’s Nintendo IP. That drives a level of appeal. The gameplay will be across multiple games. We think kids are going to love that. We think mom and dad are going to love that. The third way it creates a point of difference is that the demographic footprint for Amiibo, we think, is going to be much wider. We see the inclusion of the more youth-oriented characters like Kirby and Pikachu and Yoshi, and characters like Princess Peach that might have more appeal to girls. We see the collectability with young adults who are interested in our characters. We think our footprint is going to be larger than what the current toys-to-life category players have been able to create. Again, it’s a great example of entering a space, but doing it in a uniquely Nintendo way.
GamesBeat: Do you have anything else happening in relation to your health emphasis?
Reggie: We’ve got nothing to announce on quality of life. Mr. Iwata has said that he’ll be sharing more information later this year. The product itself is for our next fiscal year. But it’s continuing to be actively worked on.
GamesBeat: When you go around and look, are you pleased with what you see? Are you worried that core gaming might not be as strong as it used to be?
Reggie: I see some very interesting examples of gameplay. I mentioned what Ubi’s doing with Rainbow Six. I have to say, I see a lot of me-too content. I see a lot of shooters that don’t seem very differentiated. I see a lot of zombie games that don’t feel very differentiated. I see games utilizing gore and violence for the sake of gore and violence. I see things that trouble me. I don’t like the concept of a game where you’re shooting at policemen. I think that’s bad for our industry. But I also see some very interesting things as well.
GamesBeat: There’s still something to be learned from some of these recent successes. What can Nintendo learn from mobile or from Minecraft?
Reggie: We’re not so arrogant to believe that we have all of the answers. That’s why, at an event like this, Mr. Miyamoto and the key developers walk the floor. They see interesting examples of what people are doing. That’s why I walk the floor, to see what others are doing that’s interesting. It’s a very fast-moving category. We have to be smart in looking at what others do.
That’s why we’re experimenting with free-to-play. That’s why we’ve experimented with using smart devices from a marketing standpoint. We’re going to continue to experiment. But we’re also going to be smart in making sure that we drive our fundamental business as well.
