The Nintendo Humble Bundle Shows A New Management Style That Could Get The Company Back On Track
It is no secret that Nintendo has fallen on tougher times the last few years. However, the new Nintendo Humble Bundle is going a long way to show that Nintendo recognizes its mistakes of the past. This decision, along with some of the most recent decisions from the shareholder calls, could be enough to put Nintendo back on the map when it comes to the console market going forward.
Their traditional approach to the management of company has hurt the console division. To say that the Nintendo Wii U is a failure is a complete understatement. The Gamecube sold a meager 21.74 million units in its life cycle, and it was considered a massive disappointment. The Wii U will be extremely lucky if it even comes close to that mark. For the better part of its life cycle, Nintendo has been fairly straight forward that it was going to manage this system the way it had previous systems.
On Tuesday, Humble Bundle announced a new bundle from indie developers that is tied specifically to Nintendo’s hardware. This may not seem like a big deal on the surface, but this is just another first time in a series of first times. Nintendo is going beyond their normal channels of communication to make themselves known. The Nintendo Humble Bundle, or the Nindie Bundle, features Guacamelee: Super Turbo Championship Edition, Stealth Inc 2, and The Fall for the Wii U. It includes Woah Dave!, Mighty Switch Force, and Moon Chronicles for the Nintendo 3DS. Finally, you will get Steamworld Dig and OlliOlli for both systems, with a promise of more games to be announced over the course of the next two weeks.
Earlier this month, Nintendo turned heads by announcing a partnership with Universal Theme Parks to bring its intellectual properties to both Universal Studios Orlando and Universal Studios Hollywood. This marked the first time some of the most iconic characters in the history of video games would appear in theme parks. According to Nintendo CEO Satoru Iawata, Nintendo is going to great lengths to do this right.
“As soon as I returned to Japan, I informed [Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto], and I told him that I wanted to give positive consideration to it. Since then, we have met with them several times in Japan and in the U.S., and not only me and people who carry out our negotiations but also members from each company’s creative side, namely, people who will be assigned to make the actual attractions and Nintendo’s game producers who have been creating our games for many years.”
The Nintendo Humble Bundle, the Universal Studios partnership, a new smart phone Nintendo game before the end of the year, and the announcement of the NX console development goes a long way to show Nintendo recognizes the mistakes of the past. Will it be enough to save the Wii U? Probably not, but it should give them a great deal of momentum going forward, especially considering E3 is coming up, and they will most likely have some surprises on the software front.
[Photo by Nintendo]
