Innovation Management

The Gaming Industry& Nintendo

““The obvious objective of video games is to The obvious objective of video games is to entertain people by surprising them with new entertain people by surprising them with new

experiences.”experiences.”

"Nintendo's philosophy is never to go the easy "Nintendo's philosophy is never to go the easy path; it's always to challenge ourselves and try to path; it's always to challenge ourselves and try to

do something new."do something new."

Video Game Designer & Producer Video Game Designer & Producer General Manager of Nintendo EADGeneral Manager of Nintendo EAD

Shigeru MiyamotoShigeru Miyamoto

Nintendo's Innovations Color TV Gaming

The Directional Pad

Portable Gaming Systems

Motion Control Gaming

Touch Screen Gaming

Console Wars*Disclaimer: Not an actual war

The effort of Gaming companies to produce the best Gaming platform on the market.

Focuses are largely hardware related, such as the ability to produce higher definition graphics.

Nintendo focuses on the way the console interacts with the player, often sacrificing hardware performance for innovation.

“This is the entertainment industry, so game designers have to have a creative mind and also have to be able to stand up against the marketing people at their company - otherwise they cannot be creative. There are not that many people who fit that description.” - Shigeru Miyamoto, General Manager of Nintendo EAD

The Cost of Innovation in the Gaming Industry

The gaming industry is often criticized for it's lack of innovation.

Developers are reluctant to invest in new technology because old formula's and “addiction” mechanics perform better than “innovative” game play or platforms.

Nintendo's belief in innovation has recently cost them 5 billion dollars for the poor performance of the Wii U system.

Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata took at 50% pay cut for five months, other executives following suite with 20-30% pay cuts to make up for their monumental losses.

Future Innovation For every innovative title, a sequel or remake

is there to balance the sales.

“Some argue that our success is short-lived and temporary. So, we now need to make efforts to constantly expand the player base by offering services and titles that can appeal, not only to those who have never played games, but also to those who play them hard.” - Satoru Iwata, CEO of Nintendo