Iwata: 'Stories and better graphics don't grow game audiences'

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Michael French Jan 7 2008, 2:06pm

Nintendo boss unconvinced that overly sophisticated games will grow 'gamer population'

Your excellent technical demo, high-detail concept art and polished game screenplay won't help grow the audience for games - at least according to Nintendo president Satoru Iwata.

Kotaku reports that the format-holder boss reiterated to Japan's Asahi.com the firm's strategy on advocating physical interaction with games via the Wiimote and DS touch screen as a way of gaining player buy-in over engrossing storylines.

He said: "[The Wii reomote] is an extension of the argument of straightforward and easy control we started with the DS, but putting it in the living room makes it different. As big screen televisions increase, what kind of game machine can you make? Targeting highly detailed graphics and epic stories are options, and in that situation, the gamer population doesn't increase.

The answer was creating the sensation of really playing sports on the television screen, and it's a new type of physical interaction."

He also added that Nintendo maintains that its new input mechanisms have helped grow the audience for games, won over those sceptical of the games medium, and disproved conventional thinking among the masses that games encouraged bad behaviour and were a meaningless pursuit.

Iwata also said that if you ask people why they don't play games they will say that it because they are too difficult and they take too much time. So Nintendo has paid attention to making software that is easy to mainpulate with our controllers and which people can get into during short commute times. This in part, he said, explains why Brain Training is a "social phenomenon" and why the Wii has been such a big hit.

Tags: Nintendo

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Comments

“Yes, but...”
Posted by: Anthony - Jan 9, 5:30am

I agree with Iwata, to an extent. If he doesn't see that games with epic stories don't grow the industry, then he obviously hasn't played God of War or Call of Duty 4. Both of those games have engrossing stories and amazing graphics, and they managed to sell very well.

One only needs to look at Nintendo's own "epic" title, the Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, for an example of a solid game that relies on epic storylines and gorgeous graphics, in addition to intuitive gameplay.

The Brain Age games and "Wii series" of games are all fun, but they hardly push the envelop of game development. They're more like "beginner" games that introduce players to the gaming industry. Nothing hardly revolutionary or groundbreaking.

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“Re: Yes, but...”
Posted by: ObSkewer - Jan 9, 2:47pm

"The Brain Age games and "Wii series" of games are all fun, but they hardly push the envelop of game development. They're more like "beginner" games that introduce players to the gaming industry. Nothing hardly revolutionary or groundbreaking."

Isn't that the very point Iwata is making? That these games grow the industry...

Zelda, CoD4, GoW, etc, are all fantastic AAA titles that really push the form to all-new levels, show off technical prowess and feature great storylines... But they're bought by, marketed to, and played by, existing "hardcore" gamers (for over 90% of cases, I'm sure). These people already buy and play games. Hence, these games don't "grow the industry".

I heard a story the other day from a friend who said their grandfather went into the spare room where the grandkids had been playing Wii Sports earlier in the day. He found they'd left the game on and went to turn it off. Two hours later, they found him still playing Wii Sports. He now owns a Wii of his own.

Simple games, easy to play, an understandable controller, smart graphics, entertaining for all the family together... Growth of the consumer base.

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