Nintendo’s business strategy has always focus on customer loyalty. With the number of original intellectual properties such as Mario, Zelda, Pokemon and Metroid.
Since the 2011 fiscal year, Nintendo has seen a decline in net sales. So it comes as no surprise that this fiscal year, the company has taken to different modes of revenue generation.
With the release of big name titles like Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. for the 3DS and Wii U, the company has gained some traction in the past few couple of quarters. However, in this current quarter, Nintendo launched its Amiibo line of figures, which double as game-enhancing tools and collectibles.
Nintendo appears to have adopted the strategy of it’s Pokemon series: “Gotta catch them all.”
A total of 29 figures will be available by February, with another 12 being release in the near future. Running at $13 each, that total more than $500 to have all of them. Which is just as much as buying one of each of Nintendo’s current consoles.
And the approach bleeds into other areas of the company.
Countless collector’s editions of games and consoles have been part of the company’s marketing for the past decade — but this year, it is in full force. There have been at least five limited edition 3DS and Wii U consoles released this year.
And, although I am guilty of participating in the approach, there is a certain line that needs to be drawn.
Nintendo has enough money to last nearly a century losing money, without selling any of its properties that this kind of thing is unwarranted.
Yet, as a lifelong Nintendo fan, I am beginning to feel insulted.
I appreciate the fan service they are attempting to provide, but too much fan service results in an inferior product.
Smash Bros. fans will aim to collect all the Amiibos, because they are a part of the game. Zelda fans will aim to all the limited edition releases of each game, as is the case with the newly annouced Majora’s Mask 3DS that was announced Wednesday.
But if they don’t play their cards right, Nintendo will inevitably alienate those who keep afloat.
No other company has the level of nostalgia that Nintendo does. Just now Sony’s Playstation and Microsoft’s Xbox are reaching the status that Nintendo had 15 years ago — which is to say that they are finally getting players who grew up on their consoles having children and wanting them to experience the same thing.
Nintendo had that in the mid to late ‘90s and is working on its third generation of gamers. Mario is the video game equivalent of Mickey Mouse and no gaming company has the following of Nintendo.
As shifty of a business strategy as it may be, Nintendo certainly knows what it is doing. And if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.
