Nintendo Fanboy

*FACEPALM*, REGGIE FILS-AIME, DISRUPTION, NEWS, WII
Regginator makes offhand claim about community, media sensationalizes

Filed by Ben on Wednesday, November 19, 2008 at 2:18 pm

Nintendo Fanboy, among other news outlets, reported yesterday on a Forbes interview with Reggie Fils-Aime in which the ever-popular Nintendo exec was quoted:

"Nintendo has always had a vision on community," he says. "The issue is that we define community differently than our competitors. ... Our consumers do want a sense of community, and we're going to deliver that--but in a way that is unique to Nintendo."

What Reggie is saying here is that Nintendo's focus is the same now as it was two years ago when they released the Wii. He's also saying (paraphrased), "Don't look for us to be following in Microsoft's and Sony's footsteps."

Do you read anything in Forbes' tiny little snippet that indicates Nintendo is about to launch a major online effort? No? OK, just making sure. Because it seems some overeager reporters interpreted Fils-Aime quite differently. Take a look at some of these statements!

"Reggie promises online Wii community that's 'unique to Nintendo'"

"Nintendo Plans to Build Online Community Says Reggie File-Aime"

“Nintendo has been consistently behind the competition when it comes to online gaming and the community aspects, but Nintendo will deliver community in the near future, Reggie Fils-Aime said.”

“Nintendo, whose online presence is subdued compared to those of rivals Sony and Microsoft, will unveil community software for the Wii in the future.”

“Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime recently told Forbes that Nintendo is set to deliver community “in a way that’s unique to Nintendo.” This is extremely different than the company’s previous stance, which was (and still is) an attempt to put up a massive wall in front of every aspect that could be construed as online gaming.”

Whoa! First of all, maybe we should take a step back here and remind ourselves that Reggie said nothing to Forbes about expanding Nintendo's "online" community. He simply said that Nintendo has "always had a vision on community."

The funny thing about all this hoopla is that in order to see Reggie's statement that "we're going to deliver that [community]," people first have to read "we define community differently than our competitors." But it appears those words simply fell on deaf ears. The media forgot about Nintendo's different definition of community and applied Reggie's statement to the more popular "online" definition instead.

Nintendo does have an online strategy, but that doesn't mean Reggie was referring to it when he talked about delivering community. As we said here yesterday,

"The company will no doubt continue to increase Wii users' online exposure, but it will do so gradually and deliberately. Nintendo doesn't want to be marked as just another online service. Whatever they produce will be different from Microsoft's or Sony's solutions."

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