'Nintendo is not interested' in Facebook, mobile games, president says

Nintendo Satoru Iwata
Whelp, there goes our dream of a Pokemon game on Facebook. In a lengthy interview with All Things Digital, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said that the company is simply not interested in joining the social or mobile games space. Iwata alluded to the company's disinterest during its GDC 2011 keynote address, but he has effectively buried any possibility of Nintendo entering either market entirely. His argument? Maintaining the perceived value of software.

    My point is about how we can keep the public's perception of the software. If we are going to destroy the value of the game software - once we have done so, it's a difficult job to recover from that situation. Yes, it is true. There are great examples of advertising and doing the micro-transactions, and several companies who have come up with that kind of system. But on the other hand, if you ask me, is this the system that can be sustained for the long time? I don't know the answer. And, my point is that I'm not willing to go that direction, as well.

Nintendo's focus has always been focused on selling hardware and games that play to the strengths of it. But increasing pressure from Facebook and mobile megaliths like Zynga and EA has caused the company to vocalize its confidence in its current strategy and denounce the allure of social and smartphone gaming. However, Iwata realizes that Nintendo's competitors are willing (and already have gone) to go in that direction, and that it must create new business models to adapt. The question is, however, how does one compete with "free?"

Hey, Nintendo: Tell us how you really feel about Facebook games

We already know that Nintendo isn't interested in making Facebook or mobile games. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has said as much, as has Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime, citing the company's dedication to its own hardware. But when All Things Digital's Tricia Duryee mentioned CityVille maker Zynga's public stock market debut to Fils-Aime during an interview, the Nintendo executive took the opportunity to get a few jabs in.

"What's the share price? It will be interesting when it breaks below $9," Fils-Aime said of Zynga's new publicly traded stock, which has already dipped below the $9 mark once or twice. "The thing about entertainment--as consumers have a range of experiences--their desires for what's new continues to be pushed out. So delivering the same experience all the time ... consumers will move on. So when I look at gaming experiences on social networks, there's a variety of entertainment value. Some are strong, some are not. But in the end, how will they evolve? Doing the same thing over and over again is no longer fine."

Fils-Aime went on to predict that the companies that win in the social game arena will have to "provide the new and different experiences, and a way to monetize it." Well, social game companies certainly have the whole "monetize" thing down. But what happens when social games are built around monetization (virtual goods) entirely, as many are quick to point out?

[Via SlashGear]

Do you think Nintendo is right in the criticism is lobs at social games? Are social games capable of delivering the experiences Nintendo touts so much?

'Nintendo is not interested' in Facebook, mobile games, president says

Whelp, there goes our dream of a Pokemon game on Facebook. In a lengthy interview with All Things Digital, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said that the company is simply not interested in joining the social or mobile games space. Iwata alluded to the company's disinterest during its GDC 2011 keynote address, but he has effectively buried any possibility of Nintendo entering either market entirely. His argument? Maintaining the perceived value of software.

    My point is about how we can keep the public's perception of the software. If we are going to destroy the value of the game software - once we have done so, it's a difficult job to recover from that situation. Yes, it is true. There are great examples of advertising and doing the micro-transactions, and several companies who have come up with that kind of system. But on the other hand, if you ask me, is this the system that can be sustained for the long time? I don't know the answer. And, my point is that I'm not willing to go that direction, as well.

Nintendo's focus has always been focused on selling hardware and games that play to the strengths of it. But increasing pressure from Facebook and mobile megaliths like Zynga and EA has caused the company to vocalize its confidence in its current strategy and denounce the allure of social and smartphone gaming. However, Iwata realizes that Nintendo's competitors are willing (and already have gone) to go in that direction, and that it must create new business models to adapt. The question is, however, how does one compete with "free?"

Watch your back, Nintendo: GREE doesn't want just a piece of your pie

The Japan-based mobile social games company wants all of it. That's essentially what the company's founder and CEO, Yoshikazu Tanaka, told TechCrunch during its Disrupt event in Tokyo recently. The GREE chief told TechCrunch that most of the company's revenue comes from its Japanese audience, but that it hopes to follow Nintendo's example in creating a massive global audience.

But Tanaka isn't happy with just following Nintendo, he looks to displace the veteran games maker. He told the news outlet that he wouldn't surprised to see GREE's revenue in the West jump to four to five times of what it is in Asian within the next five years. "We definitely feel positive, and our goal is to make sure our brand is just as successful, if not better than Nintendo."

Nintendo is infamous for its unwillingness to enter the mobile games market through iOS or Android. While the company does plan to release an iOS version of its eShop (the downloadable games store on the 3DS), it simply refuses to create games for mobile phones. This is despite numerous studies suggesting otherwise and even investors clamoring for Nintendo games on iPhone.

Nintendo did, however, manage to sell more 3DS consoles in its first eight months on the market than the original DS system sold in one year. Perhaps there's still interest in a handheld device dedicated to gaming, but you could also chalk these immense sales up to the devices' price cut over the summer and a terribly strong Black Friday. Regardless, the mobile gaming world is after Nintendo, which leaves us wondering whether its stern strategy can withstand the onslaught.