Nintendo: Family friendly content is here to stay, but mature content is welcome, too

The Nintendo Wii isn’t exactly known for having a overflowing library of mature games. One of the major criticisms of Nintendo consoles as a whole is that their are too many ‘family friendly’ titles and not enough mature ones. At a shareholders meeting Satoru Iwata reiterated that Nintendo would carry on making games that everyone in the family could enjoy.

“Of course, it is natural that Nintendo will mainly offer games which can be enjoyed by many people in society, and some good examples of such games are ‘Super Mario Bros.’ or ‘Pokémon.’ If we do not develop such software, Nintendo will not be Nintendo anymore. But it is also true that if only such software is provided for Nintendo platforms, adult users may think it is “childish” or “something we cannot enjoy.”

So expect lots more games that can be enjoyed by everyone on the Wii U but hopefully some more maturer titles too.

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Comments, Reactions, and General Hooliganism

  1. zxride64

    The wii u needs to put importance in both kind of games. Hopefully nintendo and 3rd parties will be able to release both kind of games.

  2. Sab_Mas

    From a first-party perspective this could be achieved by Retro bringing back something like Raven Blade/hardcore game of hardcore/shooter and/or (someone, not necessarily Retro) finishing Project H.A.M.M.E.R.

    • zxride64

      Agreed with what you said

  3. wolvesgod

    I think they should nake a special studio that’s mature content.

    • Sab_Mas

      Between the Nintendo Software Technology Corporation (who were created to make games for a more NA focused market and resulted in Project H.A.M.M.E.R before its cancellation) and Retro Studios they’re alright but they could definitely use another studio to make AAA games.

      So many of the 1st and 2nd parties and affiliates are tied up in making Pokemon or Mario spin-offs, too. They could surely reallocate some development. It’s not like the world was crying out for another Pikachu mini-game collection.

    • wolvesgod

      Yes, and what I mean is exclusively mature content. Not making something that had all ready been done. there’s a lot of things they can do, make more mature adventure games, although no one can really argue that Zelda isn’t a console seller. And if the product is done right it can be really big.

      Nintendo, has some series that can be mature, and for core gamers, they just need how to do it.

  4. I agree with Mr. Iwata’s approach with keeping the so-called “family-friendly” content while gaining so-called “mature” content. I’m glad to see them want to make the Wii U a console every kind of gamer will want to play, because it’s certainly got the potential to deliver that outcome.

    I hope we see plenty of first-party games, plenty of second-party games (like Retro and Intelligent Systems), and plenty of third-party games. I think we may just see that with Wii U.

    (Though, I question the general usage of “mature” in the gaming industry. I think “mature” is a rather misleading term to apply to games (or the gamers). I think perhaps the more fitting term is just sticking to the term “core” games, and to refer to games like Mario Kart are “lighthearted” games–though, some games blur between both boundaries, like Star Fox, which are “lighthearted core” games.)

    I’m 24, and as much as I love Metal Gear Solid, I’ve got plenty of room for Mario Kart, too, though I just play whatever’s fun to me, “core” or not. With it’s potential for serving all kinds of games, and providing perhaps the best console controller ever, I think the Wii U just might become my favorite console ever!