Depending on your outlook, Nintendo either knows exactly what its consumers want or they’re just repeating the same thing ad nauseam with their sequels. But in a recent interview with Tokyo Keizai Online (translated by Kotaku), President Satoru Iwata admits that the company is always doing it’s best to make games that consumers will love.
“Nintendo developers are extremely insatiable when it comes to whether what they make resonates with customers or not. They’ll do anything to achieve it. Both (Shigeru) Miyamoto and I repeatedly say, ‘It’s not like we are making pieces of art, the point is to make a product that resonates with and is accepted by customers.’
“Creating is like an expression of egoism. People with a strong energy to create something have a ‘this is the strength I believe is right’ sort of confidence to start from. Their standpoint is that this is the right thing to do, so this must be what’s good for the customer as well.
“But the final goal of a product is to resonate with and be accepted by people. You can’t just force your way through. By saying, ‘The point is to be accepted,’ I mean, if you go to a customer with your idea and you realize they don’t understand it, it’s more important that they do and you should shift your idea.”
Which is all well and good, but what about the Wii U, which has sold only 160,000 units worldwide in the past three months ending on June 30th and whose fate – according to many analysts – rests on its upcoming Holiday lineup?
“It’s difficult to say, ‘The Wii U is a system that does such-and-such,’ in a simple manner, and understanding it takes time. While we unfortunately had a period in the first half of 2013 where releases were sparse and hardware sales have lulled, I don’t think that the concept and potential of the Wii U have been rejected.”
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