Reggie Fils-Aime: Nintendo fans "insatiable", always "want more"

One of the things that, on one hand, I love and, on the other hand, that troubles me tremendously about not only our fanbase but about the gaming community at large is that, whenever you share information, the perspective is, ‘Thank you, but I want more’. ‘Thank you, but give me more’. I mean, it is insatiable.”

That’s the surprising admission from Nintendo’s American boss Reggie Fils-Aime following yet another round of criticism from gamer’s after the company’s presentations at and after E3.

For years this community has been asking, ‘Where’sPikmin? Where’sPikmin? Where’sPikmin?’ We give them Pikmin. And then they say, ‘What else?’ For years, this community have said, ‘Damnit Reggie, when you launch, you better launch with aMariogame’. So we launch with aMariogame, and they say, ‘So what’s more?’” he told Kotaku.

"I have heard people say, ‘You know, you’ve got these fantastic franchises, beyond what you’re doing inSmash Bros., isn’t there a way to leverage all these franchises?’ So we createNintendo Landand they say, ‘Ho-hum, give me more’. So it’s an interesting challenge.

"I think part of it is your fans expect genius from the company. And they got used toNintendogs,Brain Age,Wii Sports – not all of them necessarily launch games – but you’re a hit-driven company that can create phenomenons, and when you guys launch a console, people expect – I expect – to see software that doesn’t feel like stuff I necessarily saw the year before, but an evolution and new shocking ideas.

"It’s not a question of understanding. I think people understood what we showed. It’s the question of, as a gamer, ‘Is this for me and something I can get excited about?’ AndWii Fitdid not get that reaction. And yet 43-million copies around the world, it’s a phenomenon.

And so I would argue that the gaming community actually is unable to differentiate between a phenomenon and something that is ‘ho-hum’."

He’s right, of course, but the comments are nonetheless very surprising at a time when Nintendo is attempting to go out of its way to appease its traditional, core fanbase.