by Nike Okami
It has happened several times. Developer makes a telling comment, departing from the earnest etiquette of public relations. Someone retaliates. Developer subsequently apologises with proverbial hat in hand. Case in point: Laurent Fischer, marketing director for Nintendo of Europe, being reprimanded by none other than famed God of War creator and designer David Jaffe for his comment that “only geeks and otakus” want more storage for the Wii.
On his personal blog, Jaffe hit out rather strongly at Fischer, stating how the comment was, “really, really sad. And not so much because Nintendo seems to be telling a chunk of its loyal fan-base to go f*ck itself, but because it just reeks of junior high school vibe immaturity bullshit.”
Now, what makes this particular scenario played out so many different times across so many consoles, any different? The mere fact that the titanic defender of the innocent user base is in honest need of drastic rhetoric toning.
Jaffe states it very simply: Nintendo should understand who’s really paying their bills, and can just as easily withdraw their support if they don’t comply. Just imagine: a simple gamer having no means of producing a Nintendo Wii holds the producer, Nintendo, in the palm of his hand, and decides what he wants the most from his product, based on his need of the moment. Satoru Iwata, President and CEO of Nintendo, helped create the first console to feature true motion-sensing controls in the history of gaming.
Even in light of such a hefty achievement, he’s still apologetic about the lack of storage memory for the Wii compared to the Xbox 360 and the PS3, stating for the record that even though the number of gamers who clamour for more space are remarkably small, they represent Nintendo’s loyal fan-base, and he would work towards accommodating their desires. Contrast this to Jaffe’s demand for a “shape up or ship out” approach, and decide for yourself who’s more practical.
As for Nintendo’s arrogance, Fischer (incorrectly quoted by Jaffe as being a “she”) represents the face of Nintendo for Europe, and in whatever context he made his comments, you can be sure he realised his mistake. “I have huge respect for those who, like me, share a common passion for Nintendo and I want to make it clear that I would never use and I didn’t use this terminology in such a context or way to cause offense,” he stated to Videogaming 247 not long ago.
It’s very funny how Jaffe speaks of maturity in the company’s administration when his solution for sensitising it reeks of immaturity and knee-jerk reactionary anger. “Sit her down and and explain to her which side her f*cking toast has been buttered on for years and will eventually get back to being buttered on”? The mind boggles at what he would have uttered had he known Fischer were a man.
Jaffe may have this notion that Nintendo should have the best interest of their fans at heart. However, there’s a big difference between a loyal consumer base and a mob ready to lynch its leader when he stops saying what we want him to say.
Jaffe needs to wake up to the fact that such quick-fix solutions of force are not the key towards invoking change from within the industry. He also needs to realise that gamers are not some undifferentiated mass of etherless anger that will respond to any war cry for more features, more service, and more production from the only company that has been consistent in quality and originality when renewing their franchises for the past 20 years. Even if that war cry has been uttered by an award-winning designer with his own history of smug arrogance.
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