In a feisty attack on the fastest-growing sectors of the video-game industry, Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata said that smartphone games and social-media games focus on quantity instead of quality.
a4‚¬AThey are not like gaming consoles, therea4‚¬a4„s no motivation [for] high-value video games,a4‚¬¯ Iwata said at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.
Iwata said hea4‚¬a4„s worried about the future of the industry. Big game companies pour millions of dollars into game development, and only a few of the titles become megahits like Halo or Super Mario. It was hard to get attention before and now, with tens of thousands of new titles, it has become even harder.
He listed Nintendo, Sonya4‚¬a4„s PlayStation 3 and Microsofta4‚¬a4„s Xbox 360 as what he considers high-value gaming platforms: a4‚¬AWe have some differences in the way we do business but games always come first. The console is just to enable gaming.a4‚¬¯
On the other hand, social networks and mobile-software platforms like Apple&'s iOS and Google&'s Android operating system focus on getting as many apps as possible. Smartphone manufacturers naturally want to sell devices, while social media sites seek to have as many active users as possible.
Mobile games are less expensive to create, but sell for less &8212' or nothing at all.
a4‚¬A92 percent of mobile games are free, and the rest are sold with a low pricea4‚¬¯, said Iwata. a4‚¬AWe have always been able to make a living with games.a4‚¬¯
And he would clearly like to keep it that way. Too bad so many consumers and investors disagree.
Next Story: Electric car startups to square off against Big Auto competition Previous Story: Nintendo to partner with Netflix, AT&038'T to boost 3DS
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Companies: Microsoft, nintendo, Sony
People: Satoru Iwata
Companies: Microsoft, nintendo, Sony
People: Satoru Iwata
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