[Featurama] In Which Nintendo of America Squanders any and all Goodwill
…It’s really quite a shame. It seems that Nintendo of America is hellbent on squandering whatever goodwill and respect the company as a whole received from the news that they would publish Bayonetta 2. I’ve said many times that I adore Nintendo as a software developer but abhor much of what they do as a company, and this advertisement after the jump just seems to be the icing on the cake.
It’s no secret that Nintendo has been trying for years upon years to seize the casual audience. For some time, they’ve also succeeded in doing so, as well. The Wii was the best-selling console of the previous generation, and the Nintendo DS is the reigning champion of hand-held consoles, with over 150 million sales.
As a result of this newfound focus on “casual” players, many gamers felt forsaken by Nintendo after the Wii. By all means and purposes, the Wii U was supposed to be an answer, an apology letter, featuring a return to complex controllers, a plethora of “hardcore” third-party titles out of the gate, and as was revealed not too long ago, Bayonetta 2. Recently, I had actually found some satisfaction in being a Nintendo fan.
But then… this.
“I am not a gamer.”
Every bit of progress, every hint of reconciliation, all of it thrown out the window. Nintendo of America doesn’t want to be associated with “gamers.” What exactly is Nintendo trying to say with this horribly misguided campaign? At best, the message can be interpreted as, “You don’t need to be an intense enthusiast to enjoy Mario,” but at worst, it comes out as, “Nintendo games and the 3DS are for normal people like you and me, not those troglodytic basement-dwellers.”
I just… I’m just disappointed. It seems that Nintendo of America is so desperate to retain its casual fanbase that it has gone beyond negligence of the fans that have built it up and gone straight to indirect insults. Maybe, maybe, this ad would have fit in during the launch of the Wii, but it’s ridiculous now. Is it really still a social stigma to play video games? In between the Wii and mobile gaming, the market has opened exponentially in recent years to new targets. Video games aren’t just for children and “hardcore gamers” anymore. They haven’t been for quite some time.
Please, Nintendo of America. Don’t try to attract sales through alienation. Your new target audience already has one foot in the door- wouldn’t it be better to invite them in?
I can totally understand why they’d do this though; there’s a VERY negative stigma that gets attached to being a “gamer” – Hell, I’m a games journalist, HUGE lover of games and all things attached to them, but do I tell people that? Fucking hell no.
I completely understand Nintendo trying to get themselves away from that culture, they’ll attract not only the casual audience with such a campaign, but also those that just enjoy games and don’t feel the need to fly it as a flag, as though it were their only interest in the world.
Gaming is literally one of the only cultures that has “—-ers” like, no one boasts about being a “reader” or a “watcher” – Demographics man, super important and I think Nintendo have screwed the cap on perfectly with this.
So Nintendo should focus their marketing money on advertising to… people who already know who and what Nintendo are?
Bloody Hell, Rex. A few more posts like this and I might just have to revive my blog.
Watch out Rex he might revive his blog.
Don’t tempt me, Ben. For the most part, I got a pretty big kick out of it. :3
I would like to say that this ad has underlying tones of “be more than just a gamer”. I take it as an attempt to enrich the culture itself. No, we’re not just gamers, we’re slayers of dragons. We’re not gamers, we’re high scoring football players. We’re not gamers, we’re whatever we want to be.
Of course, when Nintendo does it there’s this urge to immediately assume the negative in what they’re trying to say. Personally, I didn’t take it that way. My recommendation for them would be to say “not JUST a gamer” rather than flat out “not a gamer”. Thanks for bringing this up, Rex! Gonna make a VGAD on it.
I think it’s clever. What I don’t understand is why people think that nintendo must be only “hardcore” or “casual”, not both at the same time, and more?
I get what the article is saying and I kind of agree. We’re already in a state where a lot of gaming culture is being shoveled out for greed culture.
We’ve already lost core gaming on the 360 to heavy media-focused advertising and broad entertainment appeal (just ask anyone what they think of the live dashboard and how their subscription to gold is panning out), and Nintendo already abandoned a lot of core gaming with the Wii, so this just kind of looks like more pandering to people who don’t really care about games but play them because they’re the “in” thing.
And let’s be honest, the Wii was entirely an “in” thing. Finding good games on that console or scouting out any recent releases worth a purchase have become obsolete. I actually think Microsoft’s original “Jump in” ads for the Xbox 360 were both broadly appealing and centric to the community who actually keeps game culture thriving.
In a few years the same casuals who picked up a Nintendo device because they’re “not a gamer” are the same individuals who won’t be supporting the scene when the fad runs dry. A real-life example of this is the Wii.
I’m most impressed that you used the word “troglodytic”. What’re you some sort of nerdy gamer or something?
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The target audience of this commercial is not going to get the message that you dug out of it because you’re a hardcore gamer. Also, she’s just stating true facts. She’s not a gamer, she’s a gymnast. I don’t consider people who play games casually as “gamers”. Sad truth: 2D Mario games are casual now. The point is that she’s saying “Hey, there’s nothing wrong with playing this casual game. It’s a fun way to relax, and you don’t have to be hardcore to enjoy it.”
I’m sorry but I can’t help but find it sad that someone would get so worked up over something so meaningless. Oh well, another sensationalized piece of drivel from some nerd on the Internet. Thank god for Adblock.
The term “gamer” was conjured by corporate marketing campaigns in an attempt to identify a fresh demographic. By using it, they asked us to not just like games, but embrace the purchasing them as an element of our identity. After that, marketing had a direct connection with the impressionable consumer. It could speak directly to you. It knew you and understood you, gamer. It had what you wanted and it promised to supply you with exactly that.
I worked retail when this was launched and people reacted to the signs with confusion. Basically, “What’s a gamer?” “That’s kind of stupid.” and “The new X-Box does look good though.”
“Gamer” is insulting, and “Girl Gamer” moreso. It further magnifies the minority status of females that play games. Not only are they encouraged to think of themselves as “gamers” against a world of “normals” but identify themselves further as “girl gamers” against a stereotype of “normal girls”, like “tomboy” “bisexual” or “black”.
It only serves to segregate and occasionally, to sell retro tees in a size small.
I’m in a college course about video games and in it, the few girls sit together all the way to one side. They don’t seem to associate with each other all that much, but they naturally identified themselves as being “apart from those that belong”.
Nintendo has long embraced the idea that everyone plays games and nurtured that philosophy to great success.
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“Only football fans can play with this ball!” Come on guys, stop with the dumb. All this is is saying, “look, non gamers can play games too.” Build a bridge and get over it.
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