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Nintendo: success with simplicity
Well worth a read: James Surowiecki in the New Yorker argues the same point I do in Uncle Mark 2007: of three major game companies, only Nintendo focuses on making fun games (rather than chasing after market share with high-tech nonsense, as Sony and Microsoft do):
From The New Yorker - In Praise of Third Place:
The Wii has few bells and whistles and much less processing power than its "competitors," and it features less impressive graphics. It's really well suited for just one thing: playing games. But this turns out to be an asset. The Wii's simplicity means that Nintendo can make money selling consoles, while Sony is reportedly losing more than two hundred and forty dollars on each PlayStation 3 it sells - even though they are selling for almost six hundred dollars. Similarly, because Nintendo is not trying to rule the entire industry, it's been able to focus on its core competence, which is making entertaining, innovative games.
The only problem with the piece is the sentence near the end:
Some pundits are now speculating, ironically, that the simplicity of the Wii may make it a huge hit.
There's nothing ironic about it, and there's nothing to speculate about. In a competitive market, simplicity and good experience always create a huge hit.
