Nintendo has spoken out about social gaming, claiming that many companies providing games for social networks are simply 'doing the same thing over and over again'.
Speaking to All Things D, Nintendo's America President Reggie Fils-Aime, conveniently dismissed the fact that the company is on to its seventh iteration of Mario Kart, its 15th year of Zelda and its umpteenth
Super Mario
game, claiming that Nintendo is innovating in all these games to make them "more fun and add enjoyment for the consumer", implying that social gaming companies are not following suit.
One rule for some...
"[Consumers'] desires for what's new continues to be pushed out, so delivering the same experience all the time… consumers will move on," he said.
"When I look at gaming experiences on social networks, there's a variety of entertainment value. Some are strong, some are not. But in the end, how will they evolve? Doing the same thing over and over again is no longer fine."
Fils-Aime also reckons that the company isn't likely to port Mario and pals over to Facebook or its ilk, despite the tough times the Nintendo 3DS has had since launch and the lucrative figures successful companies like Zynga have been posting.
"We make games for Nintendo devices and that is a competitive advantage for us," he said. "You can only play Mario on a Nintendo device... I wouldn't expect to see our franchises on other platforms, and I would argue Facebook is a platform," he said.
These comments also seem to put to bed requests from investors that Nintendo release Mario games on iOS and Facebook. Wise or witless? No comment - but it'll be interesting to see if Nintendo changes its tune after the launch of the Wii U next year.
From All Things D
