4 ms·

Nintendo is a really interesting company. They go from wild, raging successes like the Wii to big commercial failures like the Wii U, though their flagships are

Nintendo is a really interesting company. They go from wild, raging successes like the Wii to big commercial failures like the Wii U, though their flagships are always consistently high-quality. One of the things that has always differentiated Nintendo is that they really don't seem to care about what the American market thinks. Sony and Microsoft got first-class online services two generations ago, whereas Nintendo still has people exchange friend codes (finally changing now with the Switch). Nintendo makes decisions that anyone with a passing familiarity in the American market could tell you were doomed from the get-go, like making the GameCube purple by default, and then they persist in those decisions for many years. The Wii U is a great console. My whole family loves it, and there are a lot of excellent games on it. It's sad to see it go, but definitely not unexpected. I hope the Switch lives up to that high standard of quality.

pjc50 10y ago
> making the GameCube purple by default I don't understand why this is an automatic market failure in the US?
- anonbanker 10y ago
  Purple is a "fad" color, or a "kid" color in consumer devices. There is a reason that most consumer electronics stick to greys, blacks, and whites (NES/SNES/N64/Walkman/Discman), and devices aimed at children are far more colorful. This was only one of the faults of the Gamecube, aesthetically. The target demographic for the machine was 10-16yo male gamers. The plastic chosen was of a soft, playskool-like texture. A big black handle on the back of the device was added, so kids could carry the console to a friend's house (stated at Nintendo Spaceworld GC reveal). At the time, the other two game companies were catering to the "core gamer" demographic, both offering black consoles with a more adult styling. American teenagers have an aversion to be treated like children, which naturally resulted in less gamecube sales. The successor to the n64 should have been a blockbuster. Due to the decisions they made, they ruined any of that advantage.
  - niftich 10y ago
    The GameCube was also late to the market in North America: it was the last console to release, a year after PS2 (which had a fully-functional DVD player to boot, though it wasn't as dominant of a coup as the PS3's Blu-ray) and a few days after the Xbox, the latter of which had Halo as a launch title -- half of all Xboxes were bought concurrently with Halo for the first few months [1]. Meanwhile on the GameCube side, a toyish purple cube, with an bland array of launch titles, half of which were already out for other platforms [2]. [1] https://web.archive.org/web/20081216142548/http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2002/01/49600 https://web.archive.org/web/20081216142548/http://www.wired.... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_game_console_launch_games#Nintendo_GameCube https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_game_console_lau...
  - Jordrok 10y ago
    I guess. I don't really dispute your reasoning - it all seems logical. To me though, the color and shape of a console is almost totally irrelevant. Who cares what it looks like? In the end it's just a box full of circuits that you drop next to your TV and only look at when you need to hit the power button or change the disc. You can throw a towel over it or put it in a drawer if it really offends your sense of style. (Ok, that might cause overheating issues, but you get the point) Maybe it would have sold a little better if it looked more "adult", but I think it had a whole lot more to do with the relatively underpowered hardware, weak third party software support, and timing.
    - cookiecaper 10y ago
      >Who cares what it looks like? The teenagers that made up the huge majority of the video game market at the time. Teenagers are highly sensitive to suggestions that they're children. They do not want to be carrying around a little purple cube. As someone who was a teenager when the GameCube came out, I can offer a relevant anecdote. The GameCube was frequently mocked by my peers because it was "too kiddie". The cool kids had large black Xboxes and PlayStations with scary-shootery games like Grand Theft Auto, not a cute little purple cube with a heavily kawaii-ized Zelda game and a funny plumber who washes away colorful paint and saves smiling stars to bring sunshine back to an island of little mushroom people. This was the overall perception, and it was a legitimate issue. The professional reviews in the gaming press frequently referenced the GameCube "kiddie" image problem, and would often weigh whether a new piece of news made the GC seem more or less "kiddie". [0] The appearance matters a great deal. It's a piece of furniture, a piece of decor. It says something about you to yourself and everyone who enters the room. Teenagers don't want that message to be "I like playing kid games". [0] http://www.ign.com/articles/2004/03/17/interview-resident-evil-4 http://www.ign.com/articles/2004/03/17/interview-resident-ev... ; example where the issue of the GameCube's kiddie perception is referenced by the producer of Resident Evil 4, and he's asked about whether Nintendo gave him any guff over his intention to release a violent game on a console targeted toward "younger audiences".
anonbanker 10y ago
Case in point, Nintendo of America's comments at the Switch reveal were last, after Japan and Europe talked. When Iwata and Fils-Aime were succeeding with the Wii, Nintendo of America was front-and-center in every reveal. Now that the Wii U flopped, and Iwata died, Nintendo is hip-deep in Japanese patriotism, just shy of outright xenophobia. The overarching impression I got from the reveal was one of "The Americans are no longer ruining our Japanese company. We're back at the helm now".
- jazoom 10y ago
  You're right, the US should be first in everything and focusing on your home country (Japan) first is wrong.
  - anonbanker 10y ago
    Let's analyze the strawman you've brought up. We have a history of Satoru Iwata teaming up with Nintendo of America, to the point of letting them influence design decisions on the hardware they release (look at Prototype Nintendo DS systems at E3 vs. Release). The name "Wii" was a play on the english word "We". Reggie Fils-Aime had his fingerprint on every product marketed between the DS and the 3DS, evident especially in the embrace of "Blue Ocean" strategies from hardware, to software, to marketing (which is why they hired him from Viacom). The US was first in everything, A time that had the highest sales since the original Famicom/NES. It is merely sticking one's head in the sand to not notice and acknowledge the change in direction this new console is leading.
    - jazoom 10y ago
      I don't deny changes. I do think Nintendo is well within their right to focus on their home country first and I believe they had their reasons for doing it.
- cookiecaper 10y ago
  Hmm, I'm not sure that I would say NOA got a bum deal in the Switch presentation. Miyamoto and Aonuma were both present with Reggie in New York. That they'd send their two biggest internal figures there does say that Nintendo does care somewhat about the US market, just not enough to redesign their devices to sell well in it. Insomuch as that happens, it seems to be accidental. ;)

pjc50 10y ago

> making the GameCube purple by default I don't understand why this is an automatic market failure in the US?

anonbanker 10y ago
Purple is a "fad" color, or a "kid" color in consumer devices. There is a reason that most consumer electronics stick to greys, blacks, and whites (NES/SNES/N64/Walkman/Discman), and devices aimed at children are far more colorful. This was only one of the faults of the Gamecube, aesthetically. The target demographic for the machine was 10-16yo male gamers. The plastic chosen was of a soft, playskool-like texture. A big black handle on the back of the device was added, so kids could carry the console to a friend's house (stated at Nintendo Spaceworld GC reveal). At the time, the other two game companies were catering to the "core gamer" demographic, both offering black consoles with a more adult styling. American teenagers have an aversion to be treated like children, which naturally resulted in less gamecube sales. The successor to the n64 should have been a blockbuster. Due to the decisions they made, they ruined any of that advantage.
- niftich 10y ago
  The GameCube was also late to the market in North America: it was the last console to release, a year after PS2 (which had a fully-functional DVD player to boot, though it wasn't as dominant of a coup as the PS3's Blu-ray) and a few days after the Xbox, the latter of which had Halo as a launch title -- half of all Xboxes were bought concurrently with Halo for the first few months [1]. Meanwhile on the GameCube side, a toyish purple cube, with an bland array of launch titles, half of which were already out for other platforms [2]. [1] https://web.archive.org/web/20081216142548/http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2002/01/49600 https://web.archive.org/web/20081216142548/http://www.wired.... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_game_console_launch_games#Nintendo_GameCube https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_game_console_lau...
- Jordrok 10y ago
  I guess. I don't really dispute your reasoning - it all seems logical. To me though, the color and shape of a console is almost totally irrelevant. Who cares what it looks like? In the end it's just a box full of circuits that you drop next to your TV and only look at when you need to hit the power button or change the disc. You can throw a towel over it or put it in a drawer if it really offends your sense of style. (Ok, that might cause overheating issues, but you get the point) Maybe it would have sold a little better if it looked more "adult", but I think it had a whole lot more to do with the relatively underpowered hardware, weak third party software support, and timing.
  - cookiecaper 10y ago
    >Who cares what it looks like? The teenagers that made up the huge majority of the video game market at the time. Teenagers are highly sensitive to suggestions that they're children. They do not want to be carrying around a little purple cube. As someone who was a teenager when the GameCube came out, I can offer a relevant anecdote. The GameCube was frequently mocked by my peers because it was "too kiddie". The cool kids had large black Xboxes and PlayStations with scary-shootery games like Grand Theft Auto, not a cute little purple cube with a heavily kawaii-ized Zelda game and a funny plumber who washes away colorful paint and saves smiling stars to bring sunshine back to an island of little mushroom people. This was the overall perception, and it was a legitimate issue. The professional reviews in the gaming press frequently referenced the GameCube "kiddie" image problem, and would often weigh whether a new piece of news made the GC seem more or less "kiddie". [0] The appearance matters a great deal. It's a piece of furniture, a piece of decor. It says something about you to yourself and everyone who enters the room. Teenagers don't want that message to be "I like playing kid games". [0] http://www.ign.com/articles/2004/03/17/interview-resident-evil-4 http://www.ign.com/articles/2004/03/17/interview-resident-ev... ; example where the issue of the GameCube's kiddie perception is referenced by the producer of Resident Evil 4, and he's asked about whether Nintendo gave him any guff over his intention to release a violent game on a console targeted toward "younger audiences".

anonbanker 10y ago

Case in point, Nintendo of America's comments at the Switch reveal were last, after Japan and Europe talked. When Iwata and Fils-Aime were succeeding with the Wii, Nintendo of America was front-and-center in every reveal. Now that the Wii U flopped, and Iwata died, Nintendo is hip-deep in Japanese patriotism, just shy of outright xenophobia. The overarching impression I got from the reveal was one of "The Americans are no longer ruining our Japanese company. We're back at the helm now".

jazoom 10y ago
You're right, the US should be first in everything and focusing on your home country (Japan) first is wrong.
- anonbanker 10y ago
  Let's analyze the strawman you've brought up. We have a history of Satoru Iwata teaming up with Nintendo of America, to the point of letting them influence design decisions on the hardware they release (look at Prototype Nintendo DS systems at E3 vs. Release). The name "Wii" was a play on the english word "We". Reggie Fils-Aime had his fingerprint on every product marketed between the DS and the 3DS, evident especially in the embrace of "Blue Ocean" strategies from hardware, to software, to marketing (which is why they hired him from Viacom). The US was first in everything, A time that had the highest sales since the original Famicom/NES. It is merely sticking one's head in the sand to not notice and acknowledge the change in direction this new console is leading.
  - jazoom 10y ago
    I don't deny changes. I do think Nintendo is well within their right to focus on their home country first and I believe they had their reasons for doing it.
cookiecaper 10y ago
Hmm, I'm not sure that I would say NOA got a bum deal in the Switch presentation. Miyamoto and Aonuma were both present with Reggie in New York. That they'd send their two biggest internal figures there does say that Nintendo does care somewhat about the US market, just not enough to redesign their devices to sell well in it. Insomuch as that happens, it seems to be accidental. ;)