Nintendo has received a lot of criticism from critics and gamers alike for daring to be different in a world where there’s not much difference between its competitors. In a recent interview with Examiner, Nintendo’s executive vice present of sales Scott Moffitt had a lot to say about how the company operates by listening to its fans without bending to industry trends. While many fans have been calling for a more mainstream approach from Nintendo, Moffitt concedes that Nintendo is a force of its own.
I would never say we’re blind to the outside world, but we listen to our game fans a lot. We’re always curious to [see] their reaction to new games like Splatoon.
While Moffitt admits that fan feedback can be a valuable tool for Nintendo in determining what should be in future installments of games, he admits that fan feedback isn’t the sole inspiration for Nintendo.
We don’t use them as our sole inspiration but we certainly like to hear what they are saying, enjoying and appreciating about a game, in addition to what they would like in future iterations of that game. We take a broad look and always pay attention to what is going on beyond our walls with trends, but it starts with listening really carefully to our gamers.
These statements from Moffitt are slightly ironic given the fan backlash that happened this year over Nintendo’s E3 presentation, especially over the Nintendo 3DS title Metroid Prime: Federation Force. Do you agree that Nintendo does a good job of listening to fan feedback or do you wish they would take that into account more when choosing what properties to focus their attention on?
