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After a week of what has been the best PR it has received in years, Nintendo has closed E3 with a bit of a howler.
When asked by Polygon if Twitch streaming is something Nintendo might add to Wii U, American boss Reggie Fils-Aime has said watching streamed gameplay isn’t any fun.
"We don’t think streaming 30 minutes of gameplay by itself is a lot of fun," the exec argued. "Your specific question of just purely streaming gameplay, what we’ve got to think through is, so what’s fun about that? From a consumer standpoint, what’s fun about it?"
Instead Fils-Aime believes that Twitch’s full value is in curated content.
"Kart is fun because it’s a highlight of the race. You can make some choices as to what parts are going to be shared," he added. "We think that makes it interesting, and obviously the meme of the Luigi death stare is wonderful when that comes out of that type of experience.”
"So for us, what we’re doing at the Nokia theatre with the Smash Invitational, we loved that streamed because that’s where you are able to see how these players perform, the moves they make, you can learn something. That has value to us. And you can expect us to do more of that type of activity, highlighting our games and providing a forum for players to learn how to play better.
"But that’s different than watching Joe Blow’s 30 minute stream, which may or may not have something that’s all that interesting. In the end we’ve got to make sure that it’s fun.”
The assertions of course fly in the face of what has been a spectacular rise to dominance for the streaming video service. Indeed, Twitch streaming functionality was a significant part of the PS4’s launch offer and has subsequently been added to Xbox One with great fanfare.
