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In an exclusive interview with [a]listdaily yesterday, Reggie Fils-Aimé, the CEO of Nintendo of America, explained that Nintendo needs to improve their communication of "the positioning" of the NX during its launch, going on to say how they need to do a better job helping people understand the "uniqueness" of the system and what it means for "the game-playing experience".

Furthermore, Fils-Aimé goes on to say how the NX needs to have a "continuous beat" of games for the system, which would create the urge to motivate "more and more people to pick up the hardware."

"We always do our breakdown of what worked, what didn’t, and certainly we’ve done that with Wii U, and we continue to believe that the innovation of the second screen was a worthwhile concept...... when we launch the NX—we have to do a better job communicating the positioning for the product. We have to do a better job helping people to understand its uniqueness and what that means for the game playing experience." ~ Reggie Fils-Aimé

The NX is still yet to be unveiled by Nintendo, however it is said to be a home-console/portable with datachable controllers.

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Source (main interview with Reggie himself)

 

[SomecallmeBerto]

I don't believe them not even for a second. This is the same BS that Nintendo told us BEFORE the WiiU came out and look how that did.

 

[Xzi]

But the Wii U wasn't unique. Well, it was, but tablet controls weren't unprecedented at the time. They just mashed it up into a console. It worked well IMO. I just have a horrible feeling NX is going to be something really tacky.

Personally I don't think it did work that well. I don't need a second screen for a console that just sits in front of my much bigger screen. The NX at least has a reason for that second screen to exist if it's a hybrid portable console.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

tl;dr "I am PR, buy our things"

Good news

 

[spotanjo3]

Nintendo of America don't created Console.. Japan did.

 

[mgrev]

So he is admitting that the Wii U was a flop.

 

[codezer0]

So he is admitting that the Wii U was a flop.

It would be insane to suggest otherwise, really.

At this point they pretty much have to brace to make the nx launch as strong as possible. But I doubt anything will ever top the Dreamcast launch in the US.

 

[loco365]

This does not fill me with confidence.

To be honest, when the Wii U was presented in commercials, it wasn't really shown to be a different console. I think that's what he's trying to say is that they need to actually convey that this is something completely different.

But I doubt anything will ever top the Dreamcast launch in the US.

What about the Sega Saturn launch? I'm pretty sure it has everything else beat by a long shot.

 

[Foxi4]

All I see is talk of "experience" and "uniqueness" - it's a piece of plastic, a means to play the games on it. Unless they stop treating their consoles as toys in and out of themselves, things won't work out - it's not the 80'ies anymore.

 

[TotalInsanity4]

Remember when they said they won't make the same mistake with the Wii U as they did the Wii and would focus on
"hardcore" gamers and 3rd party support?
Yeah, that was cute.

Well, the thing is, they did. The problem with the Wii U was that, as Reggie is admitting, marketing was an absolute flop. Nintendo was relying on brand recognition of the Wii name alone to carry the Wii U to success, but the problem with that was that the original Wii fanbase was largely populated by people who bought it as a recreational device as opposed to a gaming device and thought the Wii U was simply an add-on because they didn't follow Nintendo at all closely.

The fact that Nintendo is both acknowledging this mistake and saying they will fix it is absolutely mind-blowing to me, because it means they're finally listening. They're finally paying attention. I HOPE that this time around we get the old Nintendo back, because it would be awesome to me to see a new era of GOOD Nintendo games being published, even if the hardware is slightly underpowered compared to the competition

 

[Jay Clay]

"we have to do a better job communicating the positioning for the product."

I don't see any difference in this subject, Nintendo always keep hermetic about how their consoles works, if they don't want to make same mistake why make same ones?, at this point microsoft or sony would not be able to replicate some of the tech from NX, so why don't spread the NX project around the world, talk about what NX can do, let the masses knows about it so they can talk about positioning.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Well, the thing is, they did. The problem with the Wii U was that, as Reggie is admitting, marketing was an absolute flop. Nintendo was relying on brand recognition of the Wii name alone to carry the Wii U to success, but the problem with that was that the original Wii fanbase was largely populated by people who bought it as a recreational device as opposed to a gaming device and thought the Wii U was simply an add-on because they didn't follow Nintendo at all closely.

The fact that Nintendo is both acknowledging this mistake and saying they will fix it is absolutely mind-blowing to me, because it means they're finally listening. They're finally paying attention. I HOPE that this time around we get the old Nintendo back, because it would be awesome to me to see a new era of GOOD Nintendo games being published, even if the hardware is slightly underpowered compared to the competition

Marketing was only half the reason the Wii U was such a massive flop, and probably the lesser half if we're being honest. The other half involves the extreme lack of titles released for the system, by both first and third parties. Instead of having a console with a steady release of various games across it's lifespan, the Wii U had maybe 1 or 2 worthwhile titles released every few months, resulting in extreme periods of game drought when it comes to any meaningful software whatsoever. Their absolute disregard for, y'know, games to play is Nintendo's biggest problem with the Wii U, not their shitty attempts at marketing it.

This statement means jack beyond the fact that Nintendo still isn't aware that games sell the console, not marketing and asking everyone to "pls understand" their gimmicks.

 

[Leo121]

Just get better third party support from developers. It's very hard to convince someone to buy Nintendo's console just for Mario, Zelda and a few other games. I only own like five Gamecube games.

 

[Deleted member 370671]

This statement means jack beyond the fact that Nintendo still isn't aware that games sell the console, not marketing and asking everyone to "pls understand" their gimmicks.

Well, actually, they were aware of that at some point. Remember the GameCube was sold for $99, saying that a console is only bought to play games and not for the console itself?

 

[TotalInsanity4]

Marketing was only half the reason the Wii U was such a massive flop, and probably the lesser half if we're being honest. The other half involves the extreme lack of titles released for the system, by both first and third parties. Instead of having a console with a steady release of various games across it's lifespan, the Wii U had maybe 1 or 2 worthwhile titles released every few months, resulting in extreme periods of game drought when it comes to any meaningful software whatsoever. Their absolute disregard for, y'know, games to play is Nintendo's biggest problem with the Wii U, not their shitty attempts at marketing it.

This statement means jack beyond the fact that Nintendo still isn't aware that games sell the console, not marketing and asking everyone to "pls understand" their gimmicks.

I'd argue that the reason it wasn't getting games is because of the marketing issues; developers don't want to risk money on a console that isn't selling. Case in point, look at the third party lineup at the beginning of the Wii U's lifespan vs. now. Heck, we even got Assassin's Creed: Black Flag!

And aside from that, there's the part of the interview where Reggie says

And we have to do a better job from a software planning standpoint to have that continuous beat of great new games that are motivating more and more people to pick up the hardware and more and more people to pick up the software. Those are the critical lessons. [...] You have to make sure people understand the concept, you have to make sure you’ve got a great library of games, and when you do that, you tend to do well.

 

[TheDarkGreninja]

Marketing was only half the reason the Wii U was such a massive flop, and probably the lesser half if we're being honest. The other half involves the extreme lack of titles released for the system, by both first and third parties. Instead of having a console with a steady release of various games across it's lifespan, the Wii U had maybe 1 or 2 worthwhile titles released every few months, resulting in extreme periods of game drought when it comes to any meaningful software whatsoever. Their absolute disregard for, y'know, games to play is Nintendo's biggest problem with the Wii U, not their shitty attempts at marketing it.

This statement means jack beyond the fact that Nintendo still isn't aware that games sell the console, not marketing and asking everyone to "pls understand" their gimmicks.

The wii u didnt lack first party games.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Let's not fuck around. The Wii U was a mess from conception to release. There was no idea on what to do with it alongside with no support.

It really wasnt in terms of its idea.

 

[chartube12]

I am just gonna repeat what i told ign....Nintendo hasn't fired Reggie. That shows they have not learned jack!

 

[TheDarkGreninja]

I am just gonna repeat what i told ign....Nintendo hasn't fired Reggie. That shows they have not learned jack!

What did reggie ever do wrong? He's a meme, if anything thats the only thing that keeps nintendo in the news.

 

[Deleted User]

Woah. Guys the NX will be the new breakout console and won't try to be """""UNIQUE""""" for the sake of being """"""UNIQUE""""" because that's totally not what Nintendo does.


I will judge when t comes out and not now.

 

[FAST6191]

Just get better third party support from developers.

Unless you are going to fund it, and I doubt Nintendo has the juice for that, then these days I reckon that is middleware, ease/familiarity of programming and presumably online infrastructure.
The wii u was pretty much kicked in the head about the time unreal said nah -- http://gbatemp.net/threads/unreal-engine-4-to-not-support-wii-u.327758/ . I am not sure what position unreal is in today (I think my new console I would sooner lack unreal than unity but would definitely plump for both) but Nintendo don't seem to be rolling out the carpet.
Ease of programming... it is an ancient architecture overclocked and with three of them glued together badly, and the OS side of things is not much better.
Online, as much as I don't care for online it does seem to be a factor these days. About the only positives I have to say about Nintendo's offerings are it is free and we do not seem to have had any major security incidents. The regions (or at least the handling of Europe), the content, the functionality, the effectiveness of it, the friends/matchmaking... everything else that makes a service. Amateur hour at best there.

So like the others I going with extreme cynicism until proven otherwise. It seems I was beaten to quoting the same things being said for the wii u, however I will instead take the opportunity to piss on the 3ds a bit more. I loved and continue to love the GBA and DS (and GB/GBC for that matter) but they blew it hard with the 3ds, the mass exodus of devs from the thing being my metric. To that end I will go back to calling for Nintendo to become a peripheral (not sure why, their last amazing offering was either the DS touch screen which was less innovative and more inevitable and their last functional offering was the GC controller which was hardly world beating) and third party software dev; I see not benefit in them continuing to develop consoles, not even as a foil for some of the silliness of MS and Sony.

 

[chartube12]

What did reggie ever do wrong? He's a meme, if anything thats the only thing that keeps nintendo in the news.

I have find him to be a political mouth piece of Nintendo. He more often then not sounds like he's talking down to gamers. He also misrepresents what gamers in the NA want from Nintendo. He's like the token white guy in 90s black shows..you know the annoying and idiotic character whom is only a around to meet fcc guide lines n is used mostly for cheap and sad attemps at laughs.