Nintendo says "I Don't Know"

There are days that gamers love Nintendo and others that they sigh. It's times like this that I wish I could have a nice sit-down with the execs at Nintendo and inform them of the blogger and forum opinions in the core gaming world.

Wired.com recently had an interview with Nintendo of America’s vice president of corporate affairs, Denise Kaigler, during the Wii Sports Resort extravaganza taking place in NYC.

In addition to discussing the probable sales numbers, a possible Wii price cut, and new Motion-controlled competition, the interview turned toward the lack of third-party "hardcore" gaming sales. When asked why games such as Madworld and The Conduit were chalking up "disappointing" numbers, she responded:

"You know, I don’t know. It’s hard to say. It could be titles have the same type of sales curve that a lot of Nintendo titles have. A lot of Nintendo titles don’t follow that traditional sales curve where they launch big and then that’s it. Our titles have a long tail. They build in popularity, and this could be the case with, as you mentioned, MadWorld and The Conduit. I’ve played both. I’m not a core gamer, and I found that they were challenging and fun."

As a person who has worked with sales and marketing teams as well as being an avid Nintendo fan, this response is disappointing. Responding that you simply do not know projects a lack of care for the issue and adding that you are not a core gamer seems to push the dominant "forum-based" conclusion: Nintendo is out of touch with the core gaming world and it is not an issue to them.

Some would state that she proves this with her "traditional sales curve" comment. She is referring to the fact that the Wii's top games of 2009 have all been older video games. NPD reported that Nintendo's top 3 selling video games of 2009 were Wii Fit, Wii Play, and Mario Kart Wii. That is fine and dandy when it comes to casual sales numbers, however, maybe she is trying to spin what Nintendo already knows.

Japanese and US sales are slowing. Granted that we are in a recession, however, for the 2nd Holiday in a row a strong line-up of titles coming out for the 360 and PS3 this Fall/Winter (Uncharted 2, Halo 3 ODST, Modern Warfare 2, Assassin’s Creed 2 just to name a few) will once again cause Nintendo to lose software ground against the Hi-def, core titles. Even though MotionPlus will definitely create a spike for the Wii, Nintendo knows the seasonsed gamer is off their radar once again.

From a marketer's point of view, she is focusing on her bread and butter...the casual gamer.

I have been a gamer all of my life. When the DS and Wii first emerged, I was once again proud to be a fan of these great innovators. However, three years later, many state that their Wii continues to collect dust, waiting for the next Zelda or Mario game to emerge. When masses ask why there are not more core offerings for the Wii or why the few titles catering to this genre are poor in sales, the big N has to come up with a more thoughtful response than the unruly, "I don't know."

You can read the full interview with Denise Kaigler at wired.com by clicking here.