2 ms·

Their fans don't really care in my experience, so there's no actual PR cost. "I can't believe they shut down another Smash tournament! ...but I'll still gladly

by gs17 4y ago

Their fans don't really care in my experience, so there's no actual PR cost. "I can't believe they shut down another Smash tournament! ...but I'll still gladly pay for Ultimate a second time to get the DLC." I know a lot of people who both think they're a terrible company and can't wait to buy the new Zelda from them.

jchw 4y ago
I mean, I think this is just something you could generally say about boycotts against video games. Even the most hated companies in the industry still rarely see any problems with PR backlash hurting sales except in rare cases. For example, not a game I really have any interest in, but I know Hogwarts Legacy had possibly the strongest backlash I've seen in recent memory and yet it sold gangbusters according to media. Then there's Electronic Arts and Activision Blizzard, who are definitely becoming some of the most hated game developers in the industry, and yet, they seem to be doing just fine. Nintendo is a beloved company in spite of these antics, so I don't ever expect it to matter more for them. I still challenge the notion that this PR backlash doesn't have any cost and will never have more cost. Probably the largest immediate issue with PR backlash like this is simply that it hurts employee morale. Does it really not matter? Well, speaking of Super Smash Bros, they pretty much killed the Panda Cup and most of the rest of the official events with their antics, and probably guaranteed that the SSBM community will never touch Nintendo sanctioned anything again. Not surprising, really, given that's pretty much how it always has been with them, but on the other hand, isn't it kind of crazy? Nintendo barely has any official competitive tournaments, even though they have at least a couple of games with decently big community scenes world-wide. Compare any other fighting game or even just other large franchises like Fortnite and I can't help like they blew many potential opportunities that could've provided value in at least O(millions) of dollars.

by gs17 4y ago

jchw 4y ago

I mean, I think this is just something you could generally say about boycotts against video games. Even the most hated companies in the industry still rarely see any problems with PR backlash hurting sales except in rare cases. For example, not a game I really have any interest in, but I know Hogwarts Legacy had possibly the strongest backlash I've seen in recent memory and yet it sold gangbusters according to media. Then there's Electronic Arts and Activision Blizzard, who are definitely becoming some of the most hated game developers in the industry, and yet, they seem to be doing just fine. Nintendo is a beloved company in spite of these antics, so I don't ever expect it to matter more for them. I still challenge the notion that this PR backlash doesn't have any cost and will never have more cost. Probably the largest immediate issue with PR backlash like this is simply that it hurts employee morale. Does it really not matter? Well, speaking of Super Smash Bros, they pretty much killed the Panda Cup and most of the rest of the official events with their antics, and probably guaranteed that the SSBM community will never touch Nintendo sanctioned anything again. Not surprising, really, given that's pretty much how it always has been with them, but on the other hand, isn't it kind of crazy? Nintendo barely has any official competitive tournaments, even though they have at least a couple of games with decently big community scenes world-wide. Compare any other fighting game or even just other large franchises like Fortnite and I can't help like they blew many potential opportunities that could've provided value in at least O(millions) of dollars.