Nintendo Was Right 

Iwata cutting his salary in half was a crazy power move

The fact Nintendo is thriving on 7 year old hardware while Sony and Xbox are struggling on newer ones says a ton

There is a reason why Nintendo has been at this longer than anyone else. Turns out that 1 Exclusives do matter 2 Great games actually sell hardware

i don't want gaming to get "more complex" . i just want quality games. yes new ideas are good and needed but longer dev time is not worth it. don't wanna get the next game in a franchise to happen once per console

They win by not competing.

If switch 2 is backwards compatible, it seriously will be a fucking homerun

Nintendo has a tradition of innovation. When Hanafuxa sales started to decline in Japan they started making toys for Hasbro, and later their own toy innovations, most notably the Ultra Hand and Duck Hunt. Then when Arcades came out, they held off for a bit before reinventing what it meant to be an arcade game with Donkey Kong being among the most complex from the time, and used that as a springboard to outcompete Atari into. The ground with their first gaming innovation: Quality Control.

Satoru Iwata left our realm to early, he was the best CEO Nintendo ever had.

Gamers: Nintendo is weak! They don't make powerhouse consoles!! Realists: They did. It was called the Gamecube. You guys didn't buy it. So that's on you.

My dad who grew up with arcades has been telling me this for years, that these big game companies focus too much on graphics and not enough on gameplay. I used to somewhat brush him off but now I realize he was so right

"Graphics are more important than gameplay" is one of the biggest problems of modern age gaming in my opinion

Iwata is an example of a good ceo. Dude cared about his works. Rip to Nintendo's old chief he will never be forgotten.

It's amazing how Satoru Iwata's philosophy still rings true decades later.

Iwata’s career started as a game developer, that’s why he had the perspective needed to support his development team. CEO’s tend to come from MBA programs and usually have little to know direct knowledge about how the product they oversee is produced. We need more leaders like Iwata in business.

Sticking to realism ends up aging badly over time, as more powerful hardware makes the old stuff just look weird. Games that rely on stylization age well when they're selling you a feeling and not how powerful their system is

Remmber that era when they pushed graphics and gameplay

The only winning move... is not to play. Nintendo is watching their competitors burn, and just focuses on what they already do best

We are really living in the wrong timeline with the death of President Iwata! "On my business card, I am a corporate president, in my mind I am a game developer but in my heart I am a gamer" Iwata Satoru, 😢

Dude talks about a vast quantity of quality games and really proceeds to show Pokemon BDSP on screen 😭

I was having this very discussion with friends the other day. I recently re-watched both of Iwata's GDC keynote addresses from 2005 and 2006, and what he said all those years ago is eerily more relevant today than it was back then.

I’ve said this for ages but no matter what you think about Nintendo, as far as their consoles go they’re the only company providing inherent value to their product. Xbox and PlayStation are just underpowered PCs, whereas with Nintendo you get something unique to the console that is either a gimmick or a massive industry-changing hit. The Switch is a prime example, as soon as that console came out everyone and their grandmother were releasing hybrids. The Steam Deck would probably not even exist if the Switch hadn’t served as a trendsetter.

Nintendo understands that gameplay, fun factor, and a sense of wonder will always win the day ahead of raw power.

I'll be thrilled if N can just do a stable, locked frame rate, 4k-60 or not. AND a headphone jack in the controller.

Nintendo is a company with heart. Sony and Microsoft are soulless by comparison. Who’s that one guy on GameTrailers who kept saying Nintendo was doomed to failure for not providing HD graphics? Look at who won in the end.

"The Wii is a kiddy console with kiddy games." The Wii gives us Xenoblade, Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword, and the best version of Resident Evil 4. "Uhhhhh...."

Every time someone mentions Iwata-san warms my heart so much, he was truly a legend among developers/CEOs AND gamers in general

Remember in DBZ when Goku was showing Gohan the Ultra Super Saiyan form but said it was useless in battle because fights were not won on who has the biggest muscles but rather on a superior balance of power, speed, and technique? Just was reminded of that scene for no reason in particular!!

1:33 >The DS and Wii Era >Nearly 20 years ago AHHHHH-HA-HA-HOW, OWWWWWWW IT HURTS, OH MY GOD IT HURTS

It’s funny because I hear so many people saying “switch is bad because games on it aren’t 4K60FPS.” I’m sorry but if your SOLE purpose of gaming is wanting graphics real to life…you’re missing the point of what makes games incredible

It's the games that make the system not the other way around.These triple-a games go nowhere because they don't stand the test of time. Like Classic Nintendo

I noticed that with each new PlayStation console there are less games I'm interested in, and the ones I am interested in are usually remakes of PS1 games I grew up with. The Last PS Exclusive game I really cared about that wasnt a remake of anything was Gravity Rush 2 which came out in 2017.

It's greed that's killing playstation and xbox, both let scalpers run rampant with their consoles and are finally paying the price. Those years of not letting players use their newer consoles and building a strong player base force all the studios to stick with the older generation. Then microsoft keeps buying game studios and closing them all down. Almost all aaa studios make games for micro-transactions instead of quality. For playstation, almost all games for the ps5 are just ps4 games with better graphics such as spiderman, region locks psn services to most of the world, and the worst cybersecurity to exist. Nintendo is the opposite, they belive in quality over micro-transactions, support their game studios, make multiple and cheaper versions of their consoles to increase their player based, and most of their shop are indies instead of aaa games

Twilight Princess, Super Mario Galaxy, and Skyward Sword all won non-company-specific categories in the SpikeTV era of game awards.

I think it really says something that with each of their console "gimmicks" the competitors have tried to copy. We've seen it in the DS, the motion control craze, and even the steam deck has tried to compete with the switch. Nintendo has never tried to fight against the competitors, the competitors have always been trying to ride the nintendo wave.

What game is that at 1:43? I'm guessing Fable but I can't tell

This is inspiring. Added this to the playlist for when I eventually have the confidence to buy companies. I wanna be a CEO like that. My bottom line isn't that important as long as I'm okay, and got some luxuries, but the businesses and change I need to make is what matters.

I'd say Nintendo intentionally making underpowered consoles actually helps them by forcing developers to think outside of the box, like the old days of older consoles. Because of that, Nintendo ends up coming up with really cool ideas.

Nintendo really did call out how the law of diminishing returns would kick in for Sony and Microsoft if they continued down their unending chase for new tech and, lo and behold, we've reached the point where those diminishing returns are biting those two in the rear

What game is the 8-bit Mario in a 3D world at the 7:58 mark?

In limitation lies innovation. I mean, there is a reason why most good old games remain good, but most modern dont hit so hard in a long time

By not obsessing over the console wars, Nintendo managed to win. If Switch 2 can replicate the Switch's success, it could be a deadly blow to Microsoft and Sony.

Limitation breeds creativity. This idiotic pursuit of hyperrealism is going to create another video game market crash.

when you see a game console at every startups building, used for team building, you know it's special

No point in a few games looking real when there isn't a variety

Nintendo learned from the Gamecube vs PS2 era. Gamecube was more powerful, more difficult to program for, and more expensive to program for. Crappy, late ports of gamecube games sold better on PS2

Reggie and Mr. Iwata are National treasures.. very WISE PEOPLE. RIP MR IWATA.

Fully agree with you, I have a PS4 and Switch. I have no plans on getting PS5 or Ps6. They always come out with ''Pro'' version later for more power but not much fun games. Sticking to my PC and Switch for now.

A great chunk of Nintendo success is because has a huge fanbase who will buy everything from them. Also the press never analyze the company with the same eyes to Microsoft or Sony.

"DS and Wii era 20 years ago" Oooof it really was that long ago

Sony fell for Microsoft's propaganda, Nintendo stayed the course and made good, profitable games. Shocking 😂

This generation is their smart generation where they make smart decisions. They switch out each generation. Next generation is the dumb decision generation.

Xbox n Playstation mfs: [fighting each other on which console is generally better] Nintendo champions: We must focus on quality of gameplay over quality of graphics, else we will fall.

I don’t want to play a game that looks more and more realistic. Mario should never look realistic, and neither should Pokemon or Zelda. The gameplay and “fun” aspect of the games is what draws people in. They’ve known that since the beginning.

The chase for realism combined with building unnecessarily large open-worlds has been a cancer on the gaming industry for a while. Consumers are finally starting to wake up though. You can only remain in awe of hyper-realistic looking games with massive worlds so many times until the novelty gets old. Especially when all these overhyped AAA games end up releasing unfinished and filled with bugs after keeping players waiting fo 6+ years

At 1:44 what game is this?

I always sticked with Nintendo even with the controversies. What convinces me to play these games is not story or graphics, it's the gameplay.

Perhaps back in 2004, Nintendo predicted the future of the games industry and saw less powerful hardware as the way out.

It is good to see that it's possible for a company to recover from a massive failure without making thousands lose their jobs. Then I look over at WBD CEO David Zaslav, earning 40 million per year, yet constantly shutting down projects and studios to pay for the company's debt. And to give himself a bigger paycheck next year.

It is the quanity and quality rule. Nintendo has found a way to perfectly balance the two which why they are successful in the long run. Sony chose quality over quantity which why the PS5 was not being as successful as it was intended. Microsoft chose quantity over quality which ruins state of what making games is all about. It is simple way of putting it.

I can genuinely say that I don't find any Nintendo Switch game fun. Nintendo DS/3DS & Wii was great. But the Switch just feels like a soulless experience all round for me personally. I feel like the Wii U is really where Nintendo stopped trying and since then it's about delivering bare bones games for the same price as the quality products they used to bring to the table.

Nintendo understands this industry better than anyone else, as it pertains to the highs and lows that come with the territory. More importantly, they understand that long term success is ultimately guaranteed IF they stand on the basic principle of making games fun to play. That's what it really comes down to. Their model for success is very simple, but powerful!

Hot take: Say what you want about how Nintendo is a bad company, but at least they know how to make good games unlike most AAA(A) companies.

Well....... its not Iwata who thought about "focusing on gameplay vs graphics" but rather Gunpei Yokoi (the guy who singlehandedly saved Nintendo that time). Yokoi believed that in Lateral Thinking eith withered technology meaning games should focus on gameplay itself with the technology available at that time rather than making hardware for the game because that will bite them in the future. Meaning Yokoi already forsaw the negative effects of having awesome graphics at the vost of gameplay at 1990's (ps: Why Yokoi isnt as mentioned back then is because he was soft blacklisted by Nintendo for screwing up Virtua Boy, heck Iwata was even risking his name mentioning the guy.. Nintendo CEO is kind of a dickish traditionalist that time.)

Nintendo will make switch 2, but no give us Mother 3.

Let’s not forget how they knew ahead of time what was gonna happen to E3 and they went all digital event, despite getting scrutinized for the decision at the time. Look at what happened now. They really are so wise in their long term decisions

Iwata was also right about phone games. That by being so cheap they'd be a race to the bottom and create consumers who consider games just disposable fluff. The thing he didn't see coming was the gacha games.

I’ve been saying this about Nintendo for years. It didn’t matter what the other studios were doing, I was always going to own a Nintendo. The price made it accessible, the games are fun, and they have some of the best series ever created (Mario, Zelda, Metroid). The “endless growth in graphical fidelity” model that Sony and XBox use is backfiring. Meanwhile, Nintendo can safely trail behind in graphics knowing that there will always be space for healthy and steady growth, especially as the technology advances and gets cheaper.

The switch being ridiculously underpowered is not a positive. I understand the sentiment of games being cheaper to make, but those same games can be made on stronger Hardware.

This is why I'm calling this era we are in the AAA Gaming Crash. Nintendo is taking one step back to move three steps forward.

Nintendo is in a league of their own.

It’a not really the power of the hardware that drives up development costs though, but the philosophies of the developers. I mean, if a game like TOTK had been developed for PS5 with the same scope and same fidelity it would be way easier and cheaper than to develop it for the Switch, due to way less need for optimisations. The problem is however that AAA don’t to that, because every game has to be the most realistic looking thing ever.

anyone else remember the spike 2006 video game awards that had a sneak peak for previews of upcoming games , which was the first moment my eyes were blessed by the greatest game ever made Okami? because i've searched long and hard for that clip but could never find it V_V ...........

Remember when nintendo's slogan was about playing with power? 😂

One crazy thing to note is that The Super Mario Bros movie had a 100 million budget and goes on to gross 1.3 Billion just at the box office... yet some of these AAA games cost upwards to 100 to 200 million more than a damn state of the art animated film!

How are they so bad at being a company but so good on making games 💀

The thing with Nintendo is that they have so many legendary titles such as Pokemon, Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong etc. They release new hardware along new games based on the said titles. These titles hold down the fort while they experiment and develop new games. One of the reasons why Nintendo succeeds is because they own the right to so many games exclusive only to them, and these games have integrated into a good amount of gamers from different generations as a part of their lives. Nintendo they know these points and strategize accordingly.

I'll take a stylized, cartoonish game over a photo-realistic one any day. The latter tend to be boring to me more often than not, and I feel like the bland realistic looks are a big part of it. Nowadays, I play indie games more and more often, because those always care about being a "game" first and foremost (not to mention that they're almost always cheaper, lighter and weirdly enough less buggy than the big boys).

I only play Nintendo titles now because of this. I own a gaming PC, but rarely play Microsoft titles because they're boring. I don't own an Xbox or PS anymore either. This is coming from a guy who loved his Xbox, 360, PS, and PS2 as a kid. I'm sticking to Nintendo, they make quality games and my $60 is actually worth it.

What's the game at 1:43?

This is why graphics don't matter, but gameplay does. Personally i've played ugly looking video games since i was little, but damn, their gameplay rocks my childhood.

“If it’s not fun, why bother”

I feel like another factor is Sony and Microsoft honestly struggle because they refuse to foster smaller games. Everything HAS to be a gigawhale budget of a game that takes a zillion years to come. They killed Tango and Japan Studio respectively, who blessed Sony and Microsoft with wonderful smaller games.

Agree with the general idea, but Nintendo's output HAS been disappointing the last few years. Not only are they releasing about half as many games as previous gens, but they're also releasing a lot more ports & remasters. The graph would look a lot more disastrous if it only counted actual new games. I'm hoping it is because they are holding back for Switch 2.

They may be extremely overprotective of their IPs, but you cannot deny that they know how to make games people WANT to play.

This is something I noticed and have been saying for years now. Nintendo saw that Sony and Microsoft were constantly competing to have the best graphics and decided to venture out and do their own thing which has worked out well for them, aside from the Wii U. I 100% agree with a game needing to be fun. What's the point in having a hyper realistic looking game if it's just meh to play?

I have a love/hate relationship with Nintendo. Nintendo doing stuff like this is part of the love. I think it's thanks to Nintendo that we won't get another 1983 crash of video games. I mean not that it would be quite that bad anyway, but PlayStation and Xbox have been shooting themselves in the foot this generation. I used to be a PlayStation fanboy, but that changed a little before the PS5 generation. I still love the games that are, or used to be exclusive to them, but they havent made a lot of those in a while and i don't like their current direction of more story driven games. Also 2029 is way too long to wait on the next 5 to 10 hour Ratchet & Clank game. Nintendo may only put out one mainline 3D Mario game per generation, maybe 2, but they also have a ton of good spin-offs and other games to hold us over usually. Nintendo is ironically saving the industry again lol

As I've stated many a time to my work peers, I am still entertained by Pac-Man so when consoles start heading above a certain price point I don't care to purchase it

The fact that there isn't a new game from Naughty Dog for the PS5 yet is pretty embarrassing. The slim and pro versions of the PS5 came out sooner!

Roughly around the time the WiiU came out so many people were saying Nintendo should stop making consoles. Of course most of us Nintendo fans said they should keep making consoles. Now look at them.

Your potshot at the CEOs not taking a paycut to protect those people's jobs was really needed. It's good to know I'm not the only one who feels this way. Thank you. Let's all stand in solidarity against Corporate Greed.

Finally some people start speaking out about this. I’m so sick of everyone always saying “does your switch run 4k 500fps? Didn’t think so!” Like bro I don’t care, Nintendo releases really great games that are fun to play and they are completely visible so why do people act like they so desperately need these stupid high graphical abilities. There’s a point where you just can’t even tell and all you can do is brag on your fps.

Power isn’t all about graphics though. Power ads to what a console can handle doing. Such as how many models on screen at a time, or the size of the currently loaded area. I’m not sure graphics is the main problem here. But you are 100% correct about the over bloated costs to develop. Another thing, the power of a console doesn’t really contribute to how difficult it is to develop games for it. If anything it makes it somewhat easier. It’s the architecture of the hardware that does. But then again I’m no game dev so I could be wrong here.

I geniuenly love it how Nintendo thought of themselves to just do their own thing, not trying to compete with Sony/Xbox for the console life time and to just focus on themselves. Because they are winning HARD right now. Xbox and Sony were so focused on acquiring studios that they can't afford just to show off while Nintendo is working on their new console which will be a follow up on one of their best ones. If everything goes the way it should then i feel like we might see Nintendo as the biggest player while the other 2 are just trying to compete for second place.

Yeah, honestly, this is why I'd be completely ok if Switch 2 is PS4 level power. It makes the console cheaper to buy, and clearly thats doing gangbusters for them.

The focus should be now in streamlining the actual development of games, the heavy lifting. If I understand it correctly, UE5 does some of this, the nanite and lumen tech should make the process of lighting and texturing easier. It is taxing on the machine but if it actually helps to simplify the development then that should be the focus.

In general, I agree. But I think it is very important to remember backward compatibility. Most of the games I buy on Xbox are old games, but they run better on the series x than they ever did on their release hardware. Obviously. It's the same thing on PC, games don't disappear just because people stop talking about them in the media. Especially with single player contents, of which Nintendo has a very large library, and of that library a very big percentage is not available on switch. I'll get the new switch, or whatever they call it, but I most care about my current switch games being compatible with the new console. With the switches library being so big, I want to be able to keep those games when we make a hardware jump, and maybe be able to play games like breath of the wild at a reasonable frame rate.

The main pattern i see with Nintendo systems is a development focus on the controller: making new ways for players to reach out and touch the world. -The NES standardized direction inputs on the left side, action buttons to the right, and pause buttons in the middle -the SNES put two more buttons on the face into a diamond pattern, and added shoulder buttons for extra inputs that dont require your thumbs -the Gameboy, GBC, and GBA parallel these developments, but with a focus on allowing players to enjoy full functionality games while on the go -the N64 added the first analog control stick, which would later prove mandatory to smooth control in a 3D world. It also allowed modules to be put inside the controller for unique functions, like data storage and one of the first Rumble systems, giving players a sense of _touch_ rather than just vision and hearing -the Gamecube didnt do as much revolutionary, but it did experiment with making the action buttons unique sizes and shapes, with the A button being front and center -the DS added not just the ability to draw on the screen, but having 2 screens at once, allowing for some unique overlay of visuals (my personal favorite example is Kingdom Hearts 385/2 Days, where you would have memories show up on the lower screen, obscured in static as they parallel the events on the top screen) -the wii and wii u need no introduction 3DS is still the only successful game system to have no-glasses depth perception, and i still think games that use it, look stunning. OoT 3D is legitimately beautiful On the whole, rather than prioritize innovation on VIDEO games, Nintendo spends most of its resources on innovation in video GAMES

The only people who think Nintendo is wrong: is the so called "hardcore gamers" who often don't even buy Nintendo products (and mostly emulate). Yes, someone can come and point out "yeah yeah, I've been a Nintendo fan for years and own 20 Switches and they're still wrong" and they're still part of their so called problem, losing themselves in their own irony. The fact that indie developers and games from 2-3 generations back are tanking most of real gaming on these later generations is just sad.

Doesn't matter how real it looks when all Sony and Microsoft are releasing is remakes , remasters, and far cry part 15

In my Nintendo Switch I can play and only there Bayonetta 3, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and 3, Metroid Dread, Smash Ultimate, Tears of the Kingdom, Mario Wonder, Odyssey (and many other variations), Astral Chain, Fire Emblem Three Houses and many, many others. It gives you a HUGE reason for buying a Switch, plus of that the console is not expensive nowadays. The only issue I have with the console is the price tag for games.