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Miyamoto: Games Weren't 'Fun Enough' To Grow Industry Sales In '09
by Kris Graft [PC, Console/PC]
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March 25, 2010
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The Nintendo Wii may be the worldwide market leader in the console space, but overall sales for the Kyoto, Japan-based company were down in 2009 versus 2008. And so were the overall industry's.
Why so? After all, Nintendo figurehead Shigeru Miyamoto explained in an interview with the Economist that "any entertainment products are less susceptible to changes in the economy." But many believe that the rough global economy had an effect on the game console market.
However, the creator of Mario and Zelda also revealed that he believes the games industry itself may have been at fault. "The fact that in 2009 we were not able to sell more than we did in 2008 was simply that in comparison, we were not able to produce fun-enough products," he said. "There are always ups and downs in this business."
Nintendo itself had a strong release list in 2009. The company released top-selling games on the Wii and DS including Wii Sports Resort, Wii Fit Plus, Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, New Super Mario Bros. Wii and, in Japan, Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver and Tomodachi Collection, which are chart-toppers. The company also released the new DSi hardware.
In comparison, Nintendo's 2008 lineup was as or more robust for Nintendo -- for example, that year saw the release of Mario Kart Wii and Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
However, industry video game sales were down last year. Nintendo's own sales for its first nine months of its current fiscal year were down 23 percent year-on-year to $13.1 billion through December 2009. Profits were down 9.4 percent to $2.1 billion. In fact, earlier in 2009, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata warned that Wii sales in Japan were "unhealthy." The company was having a difficult time matching the enthusiasm the Wii garnered in the year prior.
But Miyamoto offered a simple solution to future shortfalls: "As long as we create unique and unprecedented experiences with video games, there should be nothing to worry about," he said.
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You took the words right out of my mouth. Sony ought to take a leaf from Nintendo's book.
"Wii Music, Animal Crossing Wii, and Punch-out!! were the three main games for them in the beginning of 2009. All of them underperformed and had little to no "evergreen" impact. "
According to VGChartz Wii Music sold 2.85 million units, Animal Crossing Wii sold 3.85 million units and Puch-Out sold 1.03 million units.
This means, Wii Music sold as many units, as Resident Evil 5 on the 360, Animal Crossing Wii sold as many units than Assassins Creed 2 on the 360, while Punch Out sold as many units, as Final Fight 4 on the 360.
I wouldn't say any of this three XBox360 titles actually "underperfromed".
I find it interesting, that there is somebody saying the industry as a whole had a problem in 2009 and that this problem was not only the global recession, cause I didn't heard somebody else admitting that in the higher ranks of the video games industry, in recent times.
Interesting too, that it comes from somebody working for the only company in the business, that didn't had to lay off people during the last 24 months to stay profitable.
Sorry I wasn't clear in my post - I wasn't talking about the quality of Sony's games (which were actually quite good this year). I was referring to the company's honesty as a whole. It might just be Sony's bad PR, but they come across as bigots every time they open their mouths (like their response to Nintendo's announcement of the 3DS just a couple of days ago). The whole company
As I was saying, the whole company just feeds off fanboyism.
What I want to believe he was saying is this - that he, and Nintendo, realize that gamers don't simply have the option to either buy game A or buy game B. Gamers also have the option to not buy any games and stop being gamers altogether, and if we don't strive to create fun, approachable games we could see the market shrink.
But who knows, right?
What you just said in the comment above is what I took away from every report of this story that I read. What do you feel that they were implying?
Animal Crossing and Wii Music were failures because they were expected to be 10m+ sellers and evergreen titles. They weren't. Their sales quickly tapered off after the 2008 holidays.
It also happened that a lot of people didn't find these games as much fun as Wii Sports or Wii Fit.
"Animal Crossing and Wii Music were failures because they were expected to be 10m+ sellers and evergreen titles. They weren't. Their sales quickly tapered off after the 2008 holidays."
Exactly who said, that he expects those games to sell 10m+ ? I can't remember anybody making such a prediction, cause 10m+ is an awful lot.
"It also happened that a lot of people didn't find these games as much fun as Wii Sports or Wii Fit. "
A lot of people? Does this mean, every game that doesn't sell 20m+ is a game, that people don't find as much fun as Wii Sports or Wii Fit? How did you find out, that a lot of people didn't find these particular games as much fun? Are you going after sales numbers? Then it means the most fun people had with a game in the last years was with Wii Play.
I found 2009 one of the least interesting for games ever. nice of a company to suggest that they weren't making as much money simply because their products weren't as good! rather than blaming consumers, the economy, pirates...