Nintendo's Secret Recipe For Blockbuster Sales
This story was written by Tameka Kee.
Consumers have gobbled up more than 50 million Wiis worldwide since Nintendo launched the console in 2006making it the fastest-selling piece of video game hardware in history, according to Satoru Iwata, the company's president.
What's the secret to the company's success? Iwata told GDC attendees that Nintendo sees game development opportunities in places that other companies don'tand uses a strategy called "the upward spiral" to bring them to life:
Pull ideas from everywhere: Nintendo's game ideas come from "observing people having fun." Iwata said the company's founder is intensely curious; he examines activities that people are enjoying to figure out exactly which parts of it are the most fun for them. Watching a puppy play, for example, inspired the Nintendogs game. That curiosity has disseminated through the companywhich is why Nintendo's games are popular with both "core" gamers and people that have never played games before.
More to come.
By Tameka Kee