Nintendo: Wii is a Hybrid, 360 and PS3 an SUV

Wii News | Are Wii lovers Greenies?

The Gamecube, while successful financially and better performing than the Virtual Boy, showed less than the stellar performance by Nintendo's historical standards. Now that Nintendo's big again though, everyone's interested to know how they did it. In an interview with The Motley Fool, a financial education and information site, the Fool caught up with George Harrison, senior vice president of marketing and communications for Nintendo, to discuss the Wii, the DS, and Nintendo's plans for the future.

Not surprisingly, Harrison tied Nintendo's success back to providing a substantially different market offering to Sony and Microsoft. When asked why Sony hasn't achieved the same level of success with the PSP as Nintendo has with the DS, Harrison said, "While this is a question best answered by Sony, there is a clear difference in the stated objectives of the Sony and Nintendo hand-held systems. Sony publicly stated its goal to bring a home video game experience to its hand-held device. Our goal with DS was to serve core gamers, and more importantly, expand the total market of game players[.]"

More interestingly, Harrison made comparisons between automotive purchasers and console purchasers, stating that while multiple people may be in the market for a car, not everyone's interested in the same thing. When asked whether the 360 or the PlayStation 3 was a greater threat to the Wii, Harrison bluntly responded that neither was, explaining, "Consider three 30-something suburbanites. On a Saturday morning, two of them drive their big SUVs into a tire shop to buy big new chrome rims. The third is home online, doing product comparisons to figure out which hybrid he wants to buy."

He continued, "You can say that all three are involved in the 'auto improvement' business at that moment ... but it's unlikely the interests of the first two and the hybrid shopper are ever going to overlap. That's how we see the 'video game business' right now. Two companies are going in one direction, and we're headed in another."

A final interesting query was whether or not Nintendo was interested in technological convergence, especially given the increasing number of multi-function devices in the market such as the iPhone. While Harrison wouldn't rule it out entirely, he did reiterate Nintendo's focus on providing a core gaming experience over anything else, stating, "The history of 'convergence' devices in the electronics industry is not a happy one. While we never rule anything out, it's been our experience that devices maximized for the sole purpose of playing games tend to outperform other devices, which have to make compromises in technology or interface in order to incorporate game play."

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18 Comments

tootie_kicks

4 years ago

Quote

it's been our experience that devices maximized for the sole purpose of playing games tend to outperform other devices

which is why the GameCube was hugely successful /sarcasm

Nev

4 years ago

It's not a particularly good metaphor really. As to the target audiences, it's right on the money, but very few SUV owners would also buy a hybrid, which is part of the Wii strategy - that it's not just a console for casual gamers, but the best choice for a second console for core gamers.

Infested Jibbs

4 years ago

Stupid americans-'suv's'

?oe?oe

4 years ago

Nintendo seem to love using car metaphors.

The Brett

4 years ago

Yeah Jibbs, because having different expressions for things in other countries makes you stupid. I had Canadian relatives asking me what the **** a "Four Wheel Drive" is when they came over here, considering how ambiguously that moniker can be applied to a number of different styles of cars.

Jaws

4 years ago

Now now! Play nice boys and girls.

I agree that Nintendo is on the right track with taking a left wing approach here. They certainly learned greatly from their mistakes with the Gamecube. Nintendo perform at their best in their own playing field. They're innovators through and through.

bradc1988

4 years ago

Quote

but it's unlikely the interests of the first two and the hybrid shopper are ever going to overlap. That's how we see the 'video game business' right now.

I do not agree.

Spanca

4 years ago

Worst. Analogy. Ever.

He's comparing two people buying rims, to someone buying a completely new car, and saying that's equivalent to purchasing a new console?

Not to mention that it's a new type of car that frankly doesn't sell at anywhere near the rate of traditional cars? WTF? The Wii is the cheaper hardware, the tried & true, much more equivalent to a petrol engine or "gass guzzling SUV" to use the emotive lingo he was going after. The PS3 and 360 are cutting edge technology... kinda like a hybrid.

-10 cool points for him for grasping at strings and trying to cash in on the 'in-crowd' greeny image of the moment, that really has **** all to do with consoles.

Jellyfish

4 years ago

Pitty Hybrids at the moment cost more to build than any other normal car. Also unlike normal cars they can't be recycled so in fact they're not any greener.

SMASHED

4 years ago

Spanca wrote

Your taking his message to heart aren't you?

I say its better than Sonys metaphor of the lollipop and the all you can eat buffet. F*** knows what he was smoking that previous night.

ObsoletE

4 years ago

Spanca wrote

that was exactly the thought i had when i read the analogy.

the only way it makes sense is if he were going after the "SUV's cause global warming, and at the temperatures the X360 and PS3 run at, so do they" analogy, and i don't think he was.

Nev

4 years ago

SMASHED wrote

I say its better than Sonys metaphor of the lollipop and the all you can eat buffet. F*** knows what he was smoking that previous night.

I always thought the best metaphor was comparing the Wii to television and the PS3/360 to movies.

Movies give you a longer, deeper experience with bigger production values, whilst television offers a generally more casual experience in smaller but more regular doses.

Mark

4 years ago

I actually think he's referring to the fact that the Xbox 360 & PS3 are the norm for home consoles, hence the SUV remark (I guess they are common these days, unfortunately), and that the Wii is trying to change the gaming industry and put it into a new direction. Much like hybrid cars are.

I seriouslly think you guys read far too much into comments such as these. Where the hell would you get price differences, software range etc?

SMASHED

4 years ago

Nev wrote

Likewise, people for some reason assume the PS3 is this magical proven gaming system that has it all. Newsflash, its no better then the Wii at the moment.

Spanca

4 years ago

Mark wrote

Obviously, but it's still a horrible analogy to use given the ambiguity and blatant contradiction that can be read it into it. Why do these guys feel the need to come up with terrible and convoluted analogies? It's just bad marketing.

Jaws

4 years ago

I suppose it depends on how you read into it. In my opinion, he's saying that the 360 and PS3 are representing a tried and true formula and that there's nothing wrong with that, and Nintendo are going for something unusual that's not a part of the norm, which in most effects; describes the type of 'angle' the Wii is aimed at covering.

Bloody Tears

4 years ago

Spanca wrote

The Wii is the cheaper hardware, the tried & true, much more equivalent to a petrol engine or "gass guzzling SUV" to use the emotive lingo he was going after. The PS3 and 360 are cutting edge technology... kinda like a hybrid.

Yes, graphically, but how is the Wii “tried & true”? The Wii is brimming with innovation – just like a hybrid – so he’s correct in that sense. Hybrids aren’t the quickest, most powerful cars around, yet they change people’s perceptions about what cars are actually capable of, just like the Wii has done for gaming. The SUV was his way of saying the PS3 and 360 are big, fat, ugly and, yes, just like you pointed out, un-cool. Anyway, I agree with this being an absolute joke of an analogy. Can it even be called that? I was thinking momentary lapse in concentration. Maybe there were booth babes near by and oxygen to the brain was in short supply? I’m not sure - it doesn’t matter, the point is he needs to be fired. Immediately!

His statement about Wii owners not looking to pick up other consoles is also utter nonsense. I don’t know one person who picked up a Wii and didn’t already have either a 360 or PS3, or was looking to get one. Gaming is on offer here – not cars, so the best way to inform your audience is to give descriptions rather than pseudo analogies. But I guess bad press is still press.

SMASHED

4 years ago

S.Jaworski wrote

Thank goodness somebody here is getting the message. And for some reason one bad Nintendo analogy makes everybody think that they do it all the time