The gaming industry is an ever-evolving thing, we all know that. The twist is that the companies that last the longest are the ones that not only “see the trends” and attempt to move in line with them, but also know “what they’re best at” and do their best to please their loyal fanbase. Right now, there are a LOT of companies that DON’T do that, and they pay the price for it. Nintendo may not be perfect, as we say somewhat often on a certain podcast of ours, but they are better than pretty much everyone else at doing what is “truly best for their fanbase.” Don’t believe us? Then how about you listen to the former head of PlayStation?
That former head is Shawn Layden. He’s been doing a lot of interviews recently, including one with HipHopGamer, and while not everything he says is truly “kosher,” when it came to talking about The Big N, even he couldn’t deny how much better they are at connecting with their fanbase and building things through them:
“I think Nintendo’s been very intentional in what lane they play in. And I’m not being dismissive about that at all. I mean, I think they’re very focused on who their fans are and what their fans want. No one is more in touch with their fan base than Nintendo. Even PlayStation was never this in touch with the fan base as Nintendo is.”
High praise indeed, and when you look at the state of Microsoft and Sony right now, especially when you consider how their fanbases have been calling them out for “bad moves” compared to what The Big N has been doing over the last eight years, you can see how he’s not lying. In fact, Layden doubled down and noted that during the pandemic, when Microsoft and Sony tried to do “big moves” because they thought things would “keep going up,” Nintendo just kept cranking out great games for the Switch, and they profited from that heavily:
They just know what their opportunity is. They see it. They understand it better than anyone else. And they go for it and they do it really well.”
And that trend continues right now with the Switch 2, as they are slowly building up another epic roster of exclusive titles and have already broken sales records for its launch. Now if only they’d listen to fans and drop a new Direct soon…
