MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Nintendo America boss Reggie Fils-Aime says Nintendo’s first party studios have been keenly expanding, despite the market forces which have caused a number of studios to close this year – including an internal Microsoft studio.
In an interview with Venture Beat, the renowned Nintendo chief offered an overview of the games market, including the large number of VC investments in the industry over the years.
And when asked about the situation facing Microsoft Game Studios, which recently closed its internal team Ensemble, he commented:
"You’re referring to the fact that they’re closing studios. Our first-party is doing great. Our staffing has increased. We certainly have a wealth of projects. The Mario team is hard at work. The Zelda team is hard at work. There is a new Pikmin coming."
But he said that the industry should embrace some caution when it comes to game budgets, pointing out Nintendo has built much of its recent successes on games with smaller teams and lower costs.
He said: "What we’ve seen is that it’s the power of the idea and the power of the creator — not how much money it takes to build a game. I’m somewhat concerned that some believe that if you invest a lot of money in a piece of software, that alone will make it great. We’ve been clear that “Brain Age,” which has sold more than 22 million units through last March, was built with a very small team on a small budget. It’s not about the dollars."
