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The Band Joins the Plumber: Nintendo’s Strategy Finally Bears Its Sweetest Fruit

Posted by John Constantine

It’s pretty amazing how effective Satoru Iwata’s business plan for Nintendo has been since he took over as company president earlier this decade. I’m not even talking about the company’s focus on videogames for broader, specifically family, audiences. No, it’s how Nintendo has, under Iwata’s direction, created a line of games that don’t need annual sequels or iterations to be successful. Just one, quality, iconic game, that continues to sell to alongside your hardware. There won’t be another Wii Smash Bros. because Brawl is never going to stop selling and chances are there won’t be a New Super Mario Bros. 2, because the first one continues to do gangbusters at retail. It may not always make me the happiest person in the world — like everyone else who plays way too many games, I’m always hungry for the next new thing and, yes, the next sequel — but I have to admire it, and celebrate its positive effect on the business of videogames broadly.

I see Nintendo’s influence in Alex Rigupulos’s comments at this year’s CES conference. The Harmonix CEO let slip that there wouldn’t be yet another iteration of Rock Band in 2009. This is great news, for Rock Band fans and videogames broadly. It means that, now that Harmonix’s best instruments and basic software is out there, there’s no need to continue flooding the market with the latest version. Once the existing stock of Rock Band 1 is depleted, Rock Band 2 is going to steadily sell and downloadable content, boosted by disc song collections, will keep the game fresh going forward. Like Nintendo, EA and Harmonix has recognized that their game will keep making them plenty of money.

I love sequels and recognize how videogame creation is inherently an iterative process, but annual, even biannual, franchise installments are counterproductive. If more game publishers follow Nintendo’s lead, this will lead to one very important thing: more shelf-space at retail for original games. Given, in fifteen years time, there won’t be physical retail space, but still.

Related links:

My Top 10 of 2008 in No Particular Order: Rock Band 2
Rock Band: My Anti-Music
I’ve Got a Driver, And That’s A Start: Now That Harmonix Has The Beatles, What Should a Fab Four Game Even Be?

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Posted Jan 09 2009, 06:30 PM

Filed under: nintendo, ea, wii, super smash bros brawl, harmonix, satoru iwata, smash bros, rock band 2, new super mario bros 2, rock band 3, alex rigupulos

Comments

Roto13 said:

I seem to remember Super Smash Bros. Melee being one of the top selling GameCube games for most of the GameCube's life, and it was more-or-less a launch game.

January 9, 2009 6:35 PM

Demaar said:

I have... I think around 150 downloaded songs for the Rock Band platform, and that's what I mostly play rather than the disc songs. I'd rather get downloadable updates than a new disc with songs I'm going to ignore.

January 11, 2009 7:24 AM

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John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

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