Nintendo Has NO Idea What The FUCK They’re Doing!
Pokémon Go, despite how great it is, won’t solve Nintendo’s issues…
I’m a lifelong gamer and fan of Nintendo. My earliest memories gaming consist of getting my SNES with Super Mario Bros., Mario Kart, and Mario Paint as a little kid. Watching my dad unbox everything and get it hooked into our old CRT TV, the first time I made a song in Mario Paint, my first fight with Bowser, these are all memories that have contributed to the person, gamer, and creative that I am today.
In recent years I’ve watched Nintendo fail to understand the current gaming market, from the expensive, underpowered, and library lacking Wii U, to the new 3DS models that lock gamers with the old 3DS out of new games, to Virtual Console titles that live on individual consoles and NOT in a aggregated library for each Nintendo account. The biggest misstep I’ve seen from Nintendo recently is that of their recent E3 showing, demonstrating only the new Zelda title. To put it bluntly, I was far from impressed with what was shown of the game. Boring art style, frame rate dips, lack of Anti-Aliasing, boring combat with few characters on screen at once, it seemed like the old Nintendo was completely dead.
This year Nintendo released their first foray into mobile phone gaming with Miitomo. Meant to be a social network/Animal Crossing/social experiment it immediately received a large number of downloads but engagement quickly dropped once gamers realized there wasn’t much to it in the way of content. More than anything — it’s failings, in light of the success of Pokémon Go shines a light on the fact that Nintendo’s success isn’t found in gaming mechanics, controls, or anything else. The fundamental reason for Pokémon Go’s success is in Nintendo’s intellectual property and the fact that it controls some of THE most important brands in the world of gaming and even further, pop culture. Looking at the lack of success in the Wii U, the biggest factor that we can point at is the lack of content driven by these properties that people hold so dear. No Metroid Prime, no full fledged Zelda title (until the END of the console’s life cycle), no Pokémon Stadium, shall I go on? People have been flocking to Pokémon in droves because of their past relationship with the property. Anyone who grew up in the 90s remembers the cartoon, the game boy game, The First Movie with the exclusive cards, the card game, Pokémon Snap the photography simulator for the N64, and any number of toys and merchandise that made it become the biggest thing ever created! True, the gameplay is lacking, and their isn’t much content. The fact that so many people revere Pokémon to this degree, and it brings out their inner child is the main draw here. Looking deeper though, for a game that isn’t actually made by Nintendo, it harkens back to the things that make Nintendo titles so successful.
Anybody who thinks back to their childhood playing Nintendo games recall the multiplayer scenarios: Mario Kart/Mario Kart 64 competing against each other in battle mode, trading and battling with each other using the Link Cable in Pokémon on the Gameboy, fighting each other with Slappers Only in Goldeneye 64, shooting the shit out of each other with the Laptop Gun in Perfect Dark, the list goes on.
Like most activities, the social experience defines our memories, and Pokémon Go is no different. Pokémon Go has created a community of people that can feel comfortable with each other while in strange locations amongst complete strangers. You can know while walking through a park in the middle of the night, that the people walking toward you with their faces buried in their handheld are also trying to find that rare Pokémon, or that 500th Pidgey that they’re farming for candies.
The other night while walking my dog and hunting for Pokémon at 2:00AM on a bridge, I saw a guy hunting for a Drowzee. Despite the fact that he’s a total stranger I had no qualms about asking how the hunt was going. We chatted for a few minutes before he gave me a lead on where to find a MewTwo. I’ll continue my search for that one tonight! The point is, Nintendo has always excelled at making use of communication and community in growing out their games and their impact at large. Never in a million years would I think to speak to a complete stranger in the middle of the night on a bridge, and yet here we are! Also, the amount of exhausted dogs out there being walked for the sole purpose of catching Pokémon is growing too. In fact, a shelter in the USA rents out dogs to be walked for $5 an hour, and they’re running out of dogs as people end up falling in love with them, and permanently adopting them, all because they’ve been great companions while playing Pokémon!
Another aspect defining the Pokémon Go experience is the physicality of the experience. Nintendo has never shied away from physical activity in their games. Most people will immediately think back to the Wii. The Nintendo Wii, one of the most successful consoles of all time, had the first motion controller, that allowed gamers to wave their arms to control their on-screen avatars. This paved the way for titles like Wii Sports where people became more and more physically active in the home to play their games, by swinging their arms and moving around the living room. This however wasn’t the first time Nintendo has promoted physical activity as a game mechanic.
Going back to the 90s Pokémon made use of little handheld devices including a Virtual Pikachu, and a Pokémon Pedometer. The Virtual Pikachu, cashing in on the Tamagotchi frenzy didn’t require being “fed” or “pooping” instead it needed to be shaken to “Brush” Pikachu’s teeth, or using the built in pedometer, you could walk around to generate virtual electricity that can spent on various in-game items and games. Likewise Nintendo eventually released an actual pedometer that allowed you to level up various Pokémon that you transferred to it from the game. While these products weren’t runaway successes, they do show the roots of some of the gameplay mechanics that Pokémon Go makes use of now. Having to walk around to find particular creatures, and walking long distances to incubate an egg, are definitely tied to these early experiments that are central to a tradition of physicality found in Nintendo and Pokémon’s unique history.
Because of Pokémon Go, tens of millions of people are exploring the spaces around them like never before. I can attest to this because I am one, dedicating entire nights to the pursuit of catching new, rare Pokémon and leveling up the ones I already have. In the last week I’ve booked off two evenings to do this, once while walking my dog, and once alone. Walking through parks I’ve never been, side streets I didn’t know existed, it’s crazy how much of my city has opened up to me since I started playing and trying to “Catch Them All”.
Exploring the real world and interacting with it digitally is nothing new. Years ago there was a game that evolved into a full fledged company, called Foursquare. Like Pokémon Go, it was based on a product from a Google company, Dodgeball, and evolved into a scalable business. Foursquare allowed users to “check in” to physical places digitally. Once you’ve “checked in” enough times, and more than other users you would then become the “Mayor” of that spot, sometimes bringing with it rewards and discounts at that location. Pokémon Go takes the idea of this further by keeping you within range of various places to catch specific Pokémon. Of course the formula that Pokémon Go follows isn’t new, it’s essentially a rebranded version of Ingress, created by Niantic, a formerly Google-owned company that is also the developer of Pokémon Go. The interesting thing is how the game is able to capture and maintain the gaze of its users, to the point of players not seeing anything around them. Players going off of cliffs, crashing their cars, and even running by Justin Bieber and not noticing until it’s too late.
Let’s be clear though, despite the unbridled enthusiasm for Pokémon Go, Nintendo as a company isn’t out of hot water and their future is far from secure. Nintendo doesn’t entirely own the Pokémon brand. Nintendo owns an equal part of Pokémon with two other companies. Nintendo has an investment in Niantic, the game’s developer as well. Keeping in mind that Apple and Google take 30% of in-app purchases since it’s a free to play game, the remaining 70% of the estimated $1.6 million earned each day is being split amongst numerous companies. That doesn’t save a company no matter if its shares jumped 25% and market cap doubled.
Without a doubt there is huge earning potential for branded Pokéstops. This will start with 3,000 McDonald’s restaurants in Japan, and bring Pokémon Go players into the locations to lay claim to these locations and reap their rewards. If successful it could spawn larger deals with huge brands and small brick and mortar businesses around the world to increase foot traffic. Without a doubt Nintendo would be heavily involved in making these deals a reality and that’s where the bulk of their dollars will be made.
Outside of Pokémon Go though, the company is faltering. A horrible showing at E3 with only one game present wasn’t enough to win the hearts of gamers and make them excited for yet another home console. The newly announced NES Classic, the miniature recreation of the NES with 30 built in games, and an HDMI output has a great price, retro appeal and charm, however the lack of network connectivity, wired controllers (yay more cables!) and inability to download MORE Virtual Console titles will limits its utility to the nostalgic, aging gamers. Nintendo’s own internal estimates for 100 Million Wii U sales shows just how out of touch the company is in addressing the needs of core gamers when it has barely shipped 5 Million units. Not to mention, with no titles besides Zelda being announced for their next console, the NX, gamers mind share is devoted to other products and hardware from Sony and Microsoft who have their own compelling exclusives.
Hey Nintendo, here are a few hints of things that hardcore gamers want:
- Virtual Console titles on the iPhone/AppleTV and Android. Big $$$ just do it!!!!
- Crank out some quality films based on your properties, no Pokémon films don't count. Give us a Zelda fantasy film, a Metroid sci-fi odyssey, a kids film based on Mario (team up with Disney for all of them, they know what they’re doing!)
- Stop with the crazy controllers and make a home console that easily allows for ports of successful games, buy timed exclusivity for Call of Duty AND Battlefield installments, and have a basic controller that games can get behind, and specs on par with Sony and Microsoft.
- Create a unified Nintendo login and allow gamers to buy Virtual Console titles ONCE and play them on any device. Having to rebuy them on each piece of hardware is just dumb in this day and age.
- Have a social backend that enables easy streaming, and sharing of game clips like PSN and Xbox Live allow.
Do those, and you’ll be fine!
