What Are You Up To, Nintendo?

Two interesting articles relating to Nintendo have recently come out. The first is a series of tweets from a senior software engineer at EA who didn't have many good things to say about the Wii U. The second is about Nintendo's recent decision to do anything within their legal power to collect ad revenue from YouTube videos featuring their products.


EA
The comments from the EA engineer, Bob Summerwill were harsh, but hardly surprising. For years now Nintendo seems to have been surviving on nothing but a handful of first party licenses (like Mario), its hold on the handheld market, and nostalgia to keep itself afloat. The Wii, despite its popularity with the casual market, didn't have enough steam to compete with the better libraries (and hardware) of Xbox 360 and PS3. Nintendo has always maintained a firm grip on their licenses, and as such the Wii library of games has had a few amazing games surrounded by a mountain of garbage known as "shovelware" that sought to take advantage of the Wii's non-gaming customers who trusted developers to put actual work in to their $40-60 product.

Summerwill critiqued the Wii U on things that may not be apparent to those who aren't tech savvy, like myself, but nevertheless bode ill for the console's future. The most telling tweet was

The WiiU is crap. Less powerful than an Xbox360. Poor online/store. Weird tablet. Nintendo are walking dead at this point.

Harsh, but hardly surprising. The article also features a link where EA, one of the biggest names in the gaming industry, admits that they aren't working on games for the Wii U. While that isn't a red flag for the system, it could serve as an orange caution cone for other developers who haven't fully dove in to supporting the console.


YouTube
If you've followed me for awhile you know how I feel about big companies seemingly bullying the little guy. While a company's actions make sense from a business perspective, at a certain point you need to focus on the long-lasting worth of your company's dignity of the short-term increase in profits. So I was shocked when Nintendo, a company many of us grew up with, decided to take money from people who have been instrumental in promoting their products.

In a nutshell, there are people on YouTube who make series called "Let's Play _____" where they record themselves playing a game while they give commentary over it. Some creators are so popular that this is their full-time income, and they do well with it. This income is generated from a YouTube partnership, where sponsors place ads before, after, or around the videos and YouTube pays the creators money based on views and clicks.

Nintendo is now demanding, as is their legal right, that any advertisement revenue from videos featuring their games, or even images and music, be put directly in their pocket. Someone in the IGN comments said it best when they pointed out that Nintendo is basically asking these creators to become free PR workers for them. Of course Nintendo has a right to protect their property, but these videos are key in people purchasing a game they wouldn't have otherwise.

Indie games like Minecraft, FTL, Terraria, and Binding of Isaac became the hits they are because of Let's Play videos. I know several people who won't play a game until they've seen a Let's Play because it does something that no amount of advertising can do - it shows the entire game, not just the good parts. In 2013 we don't care about the mystery of whether something will live up to its hype - we want to know the value of something so we can determine whether we want to experience it. Gamers are burned out on spending $60 for a game that turns out to be an utter disappointment, and these YouTubers are one of our greatest assets when it comes to smart shopping.

Money Over Respect
This leads to one very important question - what is Nintendo doing? They want to promote an image of family and togetherness, yet don't understand the crowd they're selling to. The Wii U made the first mistake of including the word "Wii," an automatic turnoff for many who considers themselves true gamers. Then they go back to motion control, a concept that wore thin for many. Then they include a weird little tablet that sets one player apart from the others. And to top it all off, they apparently did all of this with outdated hardware and expected it to do well.

Then to further the baffling moves, they strongarm YouTubers in to removing Nintendo games from their Let's Play series. After all, Nintendo wants money for these videos, and the YouTube channels that would net them the most money aren't going to give up their personal income by spending their working hours making free videos. So you'll have small channels doing Let's Plays that will remain unseen by the majority of potential Nintendo customers, while bigger channels (whose opinion people trust) will be forced to promote other games for free to maintain their own income.

I realize that Nintendo has had a hard time moving on. They've made statements in the past that show they just don't understand the changing market, but you'd really think someone would stand up during a meeting and politely point out how ludicrous some of their decisions really are. It's really heartbreaking to see, because I grew up blowing in to NES cartridges to make them work. I busted my butt to save up for a Nintendo 64. And despite everything I still want a 3DS (you know... for my kids).

I love Nintendo, and that's why I, and many others, are upset. Those in charge are hurting the company that turned me in to a gamer, and something needs to change before Nintendo becomes another gaming company that couldn't keep up with the changing times.




See you tomorrow with something a bit more uplifting!