Reggie Fils-Aime, President of Nintendo America and outspoken Wii cheerleader, has admitted that even he has been surprised by the success of the Wii. Fils-Aime has taken many opportunities to populate the air waves and press with the Wii’s strong points, but in a statement made recently to GamePro, he says that the events surrounding the Wii’s popularity has even him stunned.
"I’ll be honest with you–I’m blown away. We knew we would sell every piece of hardware put into the market, but we did not expect all the buzz and the advocacy…especially from non-gamers. …. We knew Wii was a system for the masses, and yes, we were confident that was going to happen–but this fast? Personally, I’m just blown away."
Early in Nintendo’s campaign to spread the word on the Wii, concerns were raised as to the high amount of emphasis Nintendo had on attracting the non-gamer, and as a result, perhaps leaving the hardcore community in the dust. But according to Fils-Aime, this has not happened. "Amazingly, most of those core players are having an absolute blast with Wii, too. The early indications are that, just maybe, Wii can have it all."
While Fils-Aime basks in the glow of the initial success of the Wii, the next few months will be crucial in determining whether the Wii is a bonafide success or not.
Mark Rein, President of Epic Games, expressed his concerns about the Wii last year when he stated, "… you’re going to see more gimmicky, crappy, cheap, I-wish-I-hadn’t-bought-it gimmick games based around that controller than you can ever possibly imagine. I guarantee you there’s going to be lots of people who say the whole reason for this game is this controller, we made the perfect game for the controller. And all it’ll be is about the controller, and not necessarily a great game."
At the moment, it is still too early to tell if Rein’s predictions of gimmicky games will come true, but if more Wii games are purely based on the innovation of the controller system, Nintendo may find that the novelty of the Wii will not be enough to sustain sales–but instead that good software is key to its continued rise.
