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Something that has always piqued my curiosity is how does Nintendo process and manage fan feedback?
For example, consider the state of Mario spinoffs (Sports, Paper Mario, Mario Party, etc). Fans have provided a myriad of criticisms for these series, but it almost seems like Nintendo purposefully ignores them? These criticisms include the state of the "free updates" model for Mario sport games, lack of original characters for all Mario spinoffs, the removal of RPG mechanics in Paper Mario, barebones content, etc.
When it concerns a series as big Pokemon, it's easier to discern why Gamefreak can get away with their, "1 step forward, 2 step backwards" approach. The series is so big that it can't fail. However, it seems like most Mario spinoffs have failed to reach their potential (except for a few exceptions) since the late Wii days, despite fans constant criticism of these games. The aforementioned Mario spinoffs aren't exactly juggernauts sales-wise, so what gives? I understand that these games still sell in the millions, but you'd think that a game with Mario slapped onto it could reach greater heights, both commercially and critically. It'd be nice if these spinoff titles were given the same care as say, a 3D Mario game (as I mentioned, there are exceptions such as Mario + Rabbids, Mario Maker, etc). Could it just be that Nintendo sees these games as filler, therefore they give developers smaller budgets to break even easily?
I'm using Mario spinoffs just to highlight how tone-deaf Nintendo can seem when it concerns fan feedback, but you could use so many other examples to illustrate the same point. NSO, the state of the Switch's OS/E-Shop, the lack of meaningful updates for their evergreen titles, etc. You could even use TotK as an example. What was the biggest piece of fan-feedback that BotW received? "Bring back traditional dungeons and integrate them within the open world". There's been 3 trailers for the game and we still have no confirmation that they've considered that feedback. That's not to say that the game won't have meaningful dungeons, but it'd be nice to hear some confirmation, no?
I'm not trying to incite any platform warring, but consider God of War Ragnarok. As soon as the first trailer premiered, the developers made sure to reassure fans that they had listened to feedback. The biggest criticism of GoW (2018) was the lack of enemy variety and meaningful boss fights. The developers addressed both of these criticisms immediately.
Is it a case of the developers wanting to constantly innovate instead of just giving fans "safe products"? Perhaps it's a case of lack of communication? What do you think?
For example, consider the state of Mario spinoffs (Sports, Paper Mario, Mario Party, etc). Fans have provided a myriad of criticisms for these series, but it almost seems like Nintendo purposefully ignores them? These criticisms include the state of the "free updates" model for Mario sport games, lack of original characters for all Mario spinoffs, the removal of RPG mechanics in Paper Mario, barebones content, etc.
When it concerns a series as big Pokemon, it's easier to discern why Gamefreak can get away with their, "1 step forward, 2 step backwards" approach. The series is so big that it can't fail. However, it seems like most Mario spinoffs have failed to reach their potential (except for a few exceptions) since the late Wii days, despite fans constant criticism of these games. The aforementioned Mario spinoffs aren't exactly juggernauts sales-wise, so what gives? I understand that these games still sell in the millions, but you'd think that a game with Mario slapped onto it could reach greater heights, both commercially and critically. It'd be nice if these spinoff titles were given the same care as say, a 3D Mario game (as I mentioned, there are exceptions such as Mario + Rabbids, Mario Maker, etc). Could it just be that Nintendo sees these games as filler, therefore they give developers smaller budgets to break even easily?
I'm using Mario spinoffs just to highlight how tone-deaf Nintendo can seem when it concerns fan feedback, but you could use so many other examples to illustrate the same point. NSO, the state of the Switch's OS/E-Shop, the lack of meaningful updates for their evergreen titles, etc. You could even use TotK as an example. What was the biggest piece of fan-feedback that BotW received? "Bring back traditional dungeons and integrate them within the open world". There's been 3 trailers for the game and we still have no confirmation that they've considered that feedback. That's not to say that the game won't have meaningful dungeons, but it'd be nice to hear some confirmation, no?
I'm not trying to incite any platform warring, but consider God of War Ragnarok. As soon as the first trailer premiered, the developers made sure to reassure fans that they had listened to feedback. The biggest criticism of GoW (2018) was the lack of enemy variety and meaningful boss fights. The developers addressed both of these criticisms immediately.
Is it a case of the developers wanting to constantly innovate instead of just giving fans "safe products"? Perhaps it's a case of lack of communication? What do you think?