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Some of the best software in the world was created by a bunch of kids in a dorm room or a handful of friends in a garage. Sometimes small, independent groups lead to world-changing innovations. Just look at companies like Apple, Facebook, etc. With that spirit in mind, it was disappointing to see Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime speak out against so-called “garage developers”. In a recent interview with Gamasutra he said:
I would separate out the true independent developer vs. the hobbyist. We are absolutely reaching out to the independent developer. Where we’ve drawn the line is we are not looking to do business today with the garage developer. In our view, that’s not a business we want to pursue.
On one hand, managing and reaching out to “garage developers” would cost a lot of money and consume a lot of time. There’s no guarantee of finding a pearl in a sea of indie developers. From a business perspective, I totally understand where Fils-Aime is coming from.
That said, I believe that he chose his words poorly (which is surprising for such a smooth talker). He made Nintendo appear snobbish, as if the company looks down on small developers. His comments fed into the belief that Nintendo is anti-innovation when it comes to third parties. For a company that has a poor track record with third-party developers, why alienate puppies that could grow up to be pit bulls that will bite you in the ass? I also bet there are some people in dorm rooms and garages that no longer dream of making Nintendo games because of what Fils-Aime said.
What do you think of Reggie’s comments? Is he just talking about smart business? Or is he sending a negative message to aspiring developers?
I think he's talking out of his ass. The amount of garbage on the Wii is remarkable. The DS is not immune to the shovelware bug either. It has its fair share as well.
I don't think Nintendo's digital dist policies foster a good environment anyway, so no big loss here. It is a shame though that no eastern titles made by garage groups will see the light of day.
He is in a position to say what he said although I think he is out of touch. The zeitgeist of gaming is mobile and social gaming and if He feels that Nintendo should not waste their time or some of the vast amounts of cash on finding the next Angry Birds, one can only feel bad for someone not knowing any better.
Perhaps not the best choice of words, but if this were anyone else I feel that we wouldn't be having this discussion because we would assume they are just upholding a standard of quality. I think that is a legitimate statement though considering Nintendo is famous for the "Nintendo Seal of Approval" on their products.
@bsu
They lost that seal with Wii and DS haha
Burn!
So if they have lost it, wouldn't it make sense to try and regain that? Hence, a legitimate reason for his statements.
@BSU
Then they should apply it to all of their products, not just the 3DS. They started this casual trend, now they are going to stop it? No way.
@Smartguy
They started the casual trend on the Wii, sure, and it extends a lot further than the Wii now. At this point why can't Nintendo decide to go another direction? They aren't trying to end it all together, just on their platforms. They don't have that right? I didn't see where he was asking/telling Zynga to stop promoting FarmVille.
@BSU
If they had the gall to actually tell companies to not make shovelware for the Wii or DS then I'd be on their side. Right now they are just trying to call the App store crap for the same reasons their game library for the Wii and DS are lackluster.
I'm all for quality control. Hell, I cut my teeth in accounting as an auditor..so QC is a good thing.
@Smartguy
Perhaps. I don't think they have the right to tell other people what to make for their systems though. All they can really control (or at least should control) is their own line of games.
Even without any quality control I would much rather look through everything in the DS/Wii game library versus the App Store.
seeing "My quitting smoking coach" in the ds rack is about as fascinating as the 5,000th fart machine app.
Is that really a game?
@Ray
It's in the rack with the games. Next to "my fitness coach" and about 15 other coaching titles.
Yes that is an actual game. There are several "coach" games, and several cooking games as well.
This is just going to go back to our old conversation about the number of good games vs. the shovelware. I would assume that both of our stances from that discussion are still the same.
Yeah, I reviewed a number of language-based My Coach games for What They Play, but I wasn't aware of the smoking one. That's pretty funny. Let's by one for N8R to save his iMac.
haha, that's not a bad idea. his iMac would appreciate it.
http://www.amazon.com/Stop-Smoking-Coach-NDS-Nint…
Please. We're talking about a company that strung it's hardcore following along for years while releasing a ton of crap, all the while saying either "Wait for it, we'll make something you want to play eventually," or "We thing that this crap is designed for the hardcore." Of course they're benign snobbish. It's what they do.
@ Update on my Mac
A few years of smoking and working on the computer has taken it's toll. A bunch of nicotine laced dust is being extracted from my cooling system as we speak.
You need Nicotrel in your life.
@bsu & SG
They do control content, hence how fewer games on the Wii are rated M.
They just let the shovelware slide.
@N8R
Yep. All software must have a license (see DRM) to run on the machine.
damn netflix is down. i've been waiting to watch xfiles all day.
It's been driving me crazy too. Pokemon GTS is down too so I can't do any trades or anything right now. I'm not sure what I should have on in the background now.
@update on my Mac
Yes, the My Quit Smoking Coach game would help the lifespan of my Mac. I sent Ray some pretty gross pictures of the inside.
The HDD overheated too many times as a result and I now have a new HDD that is 70 GB larger than the old one.
He got my registration info and sent me a pic if the desktop up and running. He's pulling from my Time Machine (can't kiss the Time Machine's ass enough) now. I could have it back tonight since dude is a night owl and all. But, I'll be happy with tomorrow too.
It looks like bolivia's show is over! The best news ive heard today.
http://www.buddytv.com/articles/perfect-couples/c…
Sometimes I feel bad for not liking Bolivia…and then I remember who it is and I don't feel so bad anymore!!
I'm not surprised, I haven't heard anything good about the show and it seems extremely dull and dry.
I knew it would only have one season.
If that's not a surefire way to alienate independent developers from making games for your console, I dunno what is. Yes, independent developers can make some crappy games at times, but they can also make some really great games. Plus, independent developers have a lot more innovation than Nintendo had in the last decade (with their games, at least).
So, if I were an independent developer, Nintendo wouldn't be seeing any of my games in the forseeable future.