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Know Your Audience

With all of this talk about Nintendo’s games being too oriented towards kids, and how they should be making more “mature” games (don’t even get me started on how full of BS half of these morons who somehow things tits, asses, and gore somehow magically constitute maturity), the more I think these “industry pundits” need to get their heads out of their asses and realize that not every game is being tailored precisely to their needs. There’s a small army of people out there that seem to think that Nintendo’s tendencies towards family-friendly games is a bad thing, and this simply isn’t the case.

There’s just so much flawed logic behind this misguided push for Nintendo to make games that target that coveted 18-34 year-old demographic. Why should Nintendo change gears? They make copious amounts of money; you never hear about the company being in the red, unlike legions of other companies out there that lean more towards games that focus on the various FPS, RTS, RPG, and 90 million other acronym driven genre games on the market. They’ve found a niche that works, and they’ve stuck with it. They aren’t the omni-present juggernaut that they once were, but with the sheer consistency of profits these guys pull in year after year, it’s proof positive that they’re doing something right. Why should Nintendo pick up the torch and start releasing GTA clones, or tap into some other M-rated hot commodity? They don’t need to.

Asking why Nintendo doesn’t make mature rated games is like asking why Disney hasn’t hopped into the more gun-toting, booty-shaking, cars-exploding, coke-snorting realms of cinema. There just isn’t any reason to. They’ve done immensely well on their legions of animated, and live action family movies over the

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years. They’ve found a part of the public that they want to serve and they’ve stuck to it, why should Nintendo be any different.

Sometimes I wonder if a certain segment of the hardcore gaming community are selfish assholes who think that the game industry revolves around them, with developers pumping out games that should cater to their every whim. It makes more sense for a company to

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stick with a mission statement than to bend with the flavor of the moment, and that’s exactly what Nintendo is doing with franchises like Mario, Zelda, Kirby, and the like: doing what they do best. Consumers should know what to expect from a certain company to a certain extent, otherwise how can one trust them in the long run? When someone mentions Disney, people know what to expect, and they’re perfectly happy with it. The same holds true for companies like McDonald’s, IBM, or Budweiser.

Nintendo has chosen to focus on a certain audience, while still managing to innovate, and ensure a fun experience. Plenty of other developers / publishers have come along and made hit games, but not nearly at the same level of consistency, and all the while siding with whatever pop culture is touting as the next Messiah at the time. Meanwhile, Nintendo has constantly done their thing, and been successful at it. Their content may lean towards that which is more accessible by younger audiences, but it still works extremely well. Every time I see someone complain that a game by Nintendo is “too kiddy”, all that I’m left to think is that the individual is a selfish S.O.B. that thinks game companies were put on this Earth to make games just for them. Complaining that Nintendo is “too kiddy” is like complaining that The Muppets just doesn’t connect with you like it used to now that you’ve grown up.

Mr. Nash

(June 26, 2005)