Nintendo have made it clear in recent years that they want to expand their franchises through different mediums, not just through consoles, so as a result we have had theme parks and movies. All of these concepts are to get people familiar with Nintendo brands and to strengthen them. Legendary video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto has explained Nintendo’s approach to to broadening its reach in a recent interview. Here’s what he said:
Mr. Miyamoto, a lot of people will now start to experience or be exposed to Mario through the movies before they play the video games. I’m wondering how that impacts your way of thinking in developing games at Nintendo and if it influences your work in any way.
Miyamoto: When we’re talking about Mario as a character, he’s always evolved alongside the evolution of digital media. As we approach Mario and developing Mario games, I start to feel like there’s only so many people that we can reach through Nintendo’s systems and consoles. And so now with things like digital streaming and the expanse and the reach of what the technology allows now, I feel like that’s a great way to get Mario involved too, and really be able to evolve alongside with digital media.
So going from being able to have a touchpoint with Nintendo only through Nintendo consoles, we want to expand. We’ve been able to expand it so that they can have a touchpoint with Nintendo characters through various media. In that way, instead of people thinking, “What kind of game is Nintendo going to come up with now?” I would love for them to think about, “What kind of world Nintendo will expand on now.”
That’s the kind of approach and thinking I have currently.