• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

How is Nintendo hurt by not doing an E3 press conference?

jschreier

Member
When I heard about the tournament I suspected most journalists would be aggravated with Nintendo encouraging more fans to be at E3 and thus making it harder for them to do their jobs. Am I over thinking this?
The tournament is at the Nokia Theater, which is outside of the convention center, and I don't think anyone can actually get on the show floor unless they're industry professionals (or they borrow their friends' badges). So nah, it won't make anything harder. I'm psyched - hoping there's cool stuff we can film at the tournament.
 

RagnarokX

Member
In response to the question, I'm not sure they are... but last year Nintendo had both technical issues with their presentation and had essentially no content. Like, I don't think a 60 minute livestream is all that different than a 60 minute stage presentation. Sony or Nintendo or MS could easily do a pre-recorded livestream and still do a great job of interfacing with journalists and getting the message out... but a 35 minute livestream is definitely weaker than a 90 minute stage presentation, right? So for me, my main concern is "Do we take this as a proxy for Nintendo not having much of a lineup?" or alternatively "Do we assume that the amount and quality of content they have has no connection to how they choose to present it?"

In response to the OP, I basically think what's listed there is a bunch of nonsense. I don't understand the methodology at all. You googled some random search terms and then looked through the first few pages of results to check what got covered? That's an extremely bad way to try to figure out the amount of coverage something got, especially in hind sight.
I disagree that they lacked content. It was more condensed. Nintendo showed footage for the first time of major games like Mario 3D World, Mario Kart 8, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, and Smash Bros and footage of other games like Pokemon XY with confirmation of fairy type, Wind Waker HD, X, Wonderful 101, and Bayonetta along with the usual sizzle reels. It felt like the same amount of content they would have show in any format but the 41 minutes meant I was almost constantly engaged. Traditional conferences always feel like 30 minutes of content and 60 minutes of filler.

The media got so stupid over their announcement. Iwata had to add this to the end of their direct: http://youtu.be/13D1I5s236o?t=38m34s
 

tesla246

Member
I think a lot of people here make the mistake by assuming that a direct will naturally target the fans, just as good as a press conference reaches the fans throughout the media.

While that may be true, Nintendo needs to reach a hell of a lot more than just the fans. Nintendo needs to reach out to every gamer out there; those who game PC, those who favour xbox, and those who like PS; they just do not hear that much nintendo news. By reaching out to them, I dont mean convert them to Nintendo, but at least let it be known to them perfectly clear with what kind of stuff they are coming. The only way to do that is with a press conference with BIG MEDIA coverage, so that Nintendo is at the front page. Ninetndo NEEDS this upcoming E3 news to reach ALL ears in the gaming business such as journalists, FANS, handheld gamers, Xbox/PS gamers, PC gamers, gamers in general etc. etc. A direct is NOT the way to go, it will only attract a secluded amount of Nintendo fans and some of GAF gaming fans but nothing more, which simply isnt enough. Its a shame nintendo has theire head upsides theire arse, because the Wiiu has some damn fine games coming up and they're all exclusives that need appropriate media coverage.
 
Nintendo had a special event last year for the press, and the press reported on it. There was plenty Nintendo game details on Youtube, all the gaming sites and on video game forums during and after the Direct. If you didn't watch it live and no one told you, you would have had no idea that Nintendo didn't do a live conference. If a game journalist gives a better preview for a game because there were lasers going and there was some big stage show for the announcement then they're shitty at their job any way and you shouldn't be reading their article.

Your post makes zero sense. Do you honestly think these sites won't pay attention to games at E3 because they didn't get a stage show?

That's not what I said. My point was that information travels through several channels before it gets to the average consumer. I even said in my post that a smaller scale web presentation would get covered by gaming sites and online discussion forums like GAF. The problem is that it won't get any further than that. To reach the average consumer, this type of presentation needs to be louder and bolder. Sure, IGN and GAF will cover it. I'm talking about CNN and NBC News giving it more than a passing mention. Something as loud as Sony's presentation last year where it reached Jimmy Fallon and he's asking on-air if PS4 is still the one that still plays used games. That's the way it works, unfortunately, you have to yell if you want to reach the mainstream.
 

Nibel

Member
Reading posts in this thread, one might get the idea that people care way more for the show itself than for the games
 
This thread is proof they are hurt. The press conferences are the main events of e3.

You are only fooling yourself if you think otherwise....
If these companies took marketing and business advice from GAF they'd all be in much deeper shit then Nintendo is now.
 

SummitAve

Banned
They don't need to rent out an expensive theater and announce everything live, sure.

But their Nintendo Directs are hardly as professional or impressive presentation-wise as their press conferences have historically been.

That's the magic difference.

I'd say they are more professional. Watching a bunch of people who struggle reading a teleprompter fumble over their scripts all while on a technical high wire may be entertaining and fun, but I wouldn't necessarily call it professional. Conferences are outdated presentations for press who would rather just be watching a stream.
 

213372bu

Banned
Ehhhhhh. Konami 2010 would like a word with you.

Konami's was pre-recorded. Yet it was still bad, I mean you could even hear the clicks and OS sounds of other tasks as the conference went on.

Still was the best conference.

Wii U and "really good sales" shouldn't be mentioned in the same sentence. Unless that sentence also contains the word "never."

I mean relatively though. The fullest potential will never be reached.
 

Taker666

Member
None of this is true, though. Last year, Nintendo briefed press on the Nintendo Direct before it happened, and then afterwards, they held a private event where developers gave presentations and press could play all of the games they'd just announced. I imagine they'll do similar things this year. This idea that there's some fractured relationship between Nintendo and the press is a little misguided, as odd as Nintendo's practices can be sometimes.

Why then have most sites reported today's Nintendo E3 announcement with a negative slant then?

Pretty much evey headline is "Nintendo announces no E3 Conferences" "Nintendo skips E3 conferences again"..
...as opposed to "Nintendo announces E3 Digital event, Live streaming from the show floor and Smash Invitational".

They chose to go with a negative/what's missing headline ..as opposed to what's positive/what they have.
 

Kureransu

Member
I think what people miss the most is the candidness of the live conferences. They look forward to the potential crashes and slip ups, it makes each e3 unique and gives it it's own charm. The pre-recorded videos on the other hand, are quite sterile. The trade off is that they are able to deliver more information in a shorter amount of time and are able to control the outcome.

Having a live show allowed Sony to make MS look like complete tools last E3. Sony's conference wasn't great by any means, they pretty much let us know we'll be paying to play games online, something that's been free for he past 10 years on Sony systems, and that they have no backwards compatibility, something also available on every preceding Sony system before.. But by focusing more on taking pot shots at MS, (even making a quick vid on how to share games on PS4), It made them more the less er of two evils and had a great response. If they had a pre recorded video, I'm sure it would have been a very somber E3 last year.

Nintendo is in a delicate situation where they may feel that being candid may hurt them more than help. Controlling what is shown to the viewer with no hitches may be what is the best possible solution to give gamers exactly what they feel they want.

The thing is about Nintendo is that they ALWAYS go last. Perhaps they have extra clips to edit in last minute in response to announcements that Sony or MS make, but they don't have any time for a reactionary stance from the competitors or even to gauge public response. IIRC, They were going to announce the GC at $250, but it was so well received at the conference, they went with $199. That's the only thing I think I miss from the live conference.

But they can always make edits, since they'll have a day to mull over what competitors are doing.
 
The lack of touch with reality coming from some of us is quite astonishing. Here we are equating market performance to an E3 press conference performance. A manufacturer's console sales are directly proportional to the apreciation and score the media asigns to such shows.

The evidence speaks for itself. With Sega cleaning up E3 99 and E3 2K we clearly saw how the Dreamcast 10 Million worldwide units outsold 150 million PS2s.

Is a crying shame how we, enthusiasts in a dedicated gaing forum, can be so clueless and subceptible to propaganda.
I dunno, what motivation is there for, say, the BBC to report on the situation in the Ukraine?
Just can't believe someone actually wrote the statement you answered to. XD
 
Direct > Conference. Most people who follow E3 aren't actually there, and I'd rather watch a nicely edited video series showing off high quality footage than a 2 hour conference that stalls and holds for applause every few minutes. Just give me content.
 
Yeah dont listen to what your fans want... lol
"The fans" aren't a unit. It's many people who want many different things. Most of whom have little to no knowledge of the video game industry as a business, and whose opinion would probably damage their company more then help. 99% of "The fans" won't even be watching these conferences live anyway. You're vastly overestimating the scope and influence these conferences have on the video game market.

Do you think they aren't making new F-Zero games just to dick around with people? It's what I saw some people on the internet saying they want, so obviously it'll be a good business decision.
 

Mariolee

Member
They feel like (and are) a guy standing in front of a green screen reading a script. It's supposed to be a marketing blowout, not a weather report.

Its too bad they're not doing live demos or gigantic tournaments or nationwide demos straight into the hands of consumers. Just a livestream. Cmon Nintendo.
 
hashtags are powerful tools to either promote or destroy a message from a company.

bad press can be controlled by a positive opinion from the viewer... which i believe Nintendo is trying to do.

Hastags are not going to spread good worth of mouth if this last three years are to believe.
 
Reading posts in this thread, one might get the idea that people care way more for the show itself than for the games
Well some people do. There are people in sales/resigning/other industry drama's thread you will never see in any games thread talking about games. This is their game. Modus has a whole post about something like this.
 

RagnarokX

Member
I think a lot of people here make the mistake by assuming that a direct will naturally target the fans, just as good as a press conference reaches the fans throughout the media.

While that may be true, Nintendo needs to reach a hell of a lot more than just the fans. Nintendo needs to reach out to every gamer out there; those who game PC, those who favour xbox, and those who like PS; they just do not hear that much nintendo news. By reaching out to them, I dont mean convert them to Nintendo, but at least let it be known to them perfectly clear with what kind of stuff they are coming. The only way to do that is with a press conference with BIG MEDIA coverage, so that Nintendo is at the front page. Ninetndo NEEDS this upcoming E3 news to reach ALL ears in the gaming business such as journalists, FANS, handheld gamers, Xbox/PS gamers, PC gamers, gamers in general etc. etc. A direct is NOT the way to go, it will only attract a secluded amount of Nintendo fans and some of GAF gaming fans but nothing more, which simply isnt enough. Its a shame nintendo has theire head upsides theire arse, because the Wiiu has some damn fine games coming up and they're all exclusives that need appropriate media coverage.

A live conference and a pre-recorded conference reach the same audience: people who stream. They aren't reaching a wider audience in either format. It's the media's job to spread what was presented to people who don't stream. The information the media gets is the same from either format, and Nintendo gave the media a private conference of their own where they gave them more in-depth information and a chance to demo the games themselves so that they could report on it. But the media wants to stream an event most likely because they make money from it and Nintendo's taking that away from them, so the media is sensationalizing what Nintendo is doing to turn their readers against the idea.

The best solution is probably to allow the media to stream the event on their own sites just to placate them so they'll stop poisoning the mindshare; like paying off the mob. Sabotaging the event would be against the media's interest if they had profit to lose by doing so.
 

Exile20

Member
They feel like (and are) a guy standing in front of a green screen reading a script. It's supposed to be a marketing blowout, not a weather report.

But I thought we wanted more of the game trailers and gameplay presentation. Now we want to see the presenter more? Fumbling, making mistakes, microphone not working, sound feedback, nsorefest presentation, etc?
 
Because a guy standing in front of a crowd reading a script is so much more of a marketing blowout.

Having a well-defined showcase and marketing image makes a big difference. Or are we going to look at Nintendo's worst two years on record and say their marketing strategies have somehow been spectacular during that time?

But I thought we wanted more of the game trailers and gameplay presentation. Now we want to see the presenter more? Fumbling, making mistakes, microphone not working, sound feedback, nsorefest presentation, etc?

Me said:
They don't need to rent out an expensive theater and announce everything live, sure.

I'm just talking about production value. Nintendo Directs look like the cheapskate productions that they are. That they're pre-recorded doesn't change that.
 
Hosting a press conference is part of the E3 pageantry that everyone gets hyped about. It is reserved for only the best of the best in the industry. I don't know if you can directly correlate a company's keynote presence to hardware sales, but it sure doesn't look good on Nintendo's end that they aren't participating. Its a sign of weakness, frankly. Whether its a fair perception or not is irrelevant.
 
Last years E3 Direct was pretty awesome, a non stop parade of games. Especially compared to the Xbox Ones main capability being a machine you can watch Football and Sports on, and being so blind to what the market wants that they had to change their DRM policy/infrastructure in the weeks that followed. Sony went after Microsofts balls and had them for lunch.
That was last years E3.

I cannot wait for this years E3 since we have practically no hints on what any of the 3 of them are planning. All 3 should switch from press conferences to a direct video presentations.
 
Only hardcore Nintendo fans watch the directs.
E3 has more exposure to a wider audience.

For the love of ... Is there some picture or video good enough to post on how far you miss the point?

NIntendo (SADLY) is still at E3 in full force. Wasting, time and money so the press gets extra clicks and a portion of videogames fans satisfy some morbid neccesity for advertisement or something.

To the mayority of people a Direct During E3 is equal to a live event during E3, because you knoe, the mayority of views come from streams.
 

213372bu

Banned
Nintendo has always been a bit odd in their dealings with media, but some GAFfers seem to believe that they've given up on the press entirely in favor of Nintendo Directs, which isn't even close to true. They still regularly offer interviews, hold events, and promote their games through the press. They're also one of the best companies when it comes to getting out review copies super early.

Long story short: They aren't.
They still give the same information to the same people. It's just in a better package.
And this year they're doing even more for the gaming community at E3.
The only thing that is hurt is the butt of journalists.
not-listening-dumb-and-dumber-o.gif


The lack of touch with reality coming from some of us is quite astonishing. Here we are equating market performance to an E3 press conference performance. A manufacturer's console sales are directly proportional to the apreciation and score the media asigns to such shows.

The evidence speaks for itself. With Sega cleaning up E3 99 and E3 2K we clearly saw how the Dreamcast 10 Million worldwide units outsold 150 million PS2s.

Is a crying shame how we, enthusiasts in a dedicated gaing forum, can be so clueless and subceptible to propaganda.

Just can't believe someone actually wrote the statement you answered to. XD

The real lack of reality are the people who believe conferences are counter-productive and actually believe if things such as how press conferences actually don't attribute to mindshare and sales.

It's like people who don't even know the basics of business are telling people "l2business scrub."Please take the time to look at articles like this and this.

For the love of ... Is there some picture or video good enough to post on how far you miss the point?
The decline in Nintendo software sales, sans Donkey Kong.
 

Miles X

Member
Last years E3 Direct was pretty awesome, a non stop parade of games. Especially compared to the Xbox Ones main capability being a machine you can watch Football and Sports on, and being so blind to what the market wants that they had to change their DRM policy/infrastructure in the weeks that followed. Sony went after Microsofts balls and had them for lunch.
That was last years E3.

I cannot wait for this years E3 since we have practically no hints on what any of the 3 of them are planning. All 3 should switch from press conferences to a direct video presentations.

You have a weak memory. Confusing XB1 announcement conference with their E3.

MS E3 was wall to wall game announcements and no media talk whatsoever.
 

FluxWaveZ

Member
Last years E3 Direct was pretty awesome, a non stop parade of games. Especially compared to the Xbox Ones main capability being a machine you can watch Football and Sports on, and being so blind to what the market wants that they had to change their DRM policy/infrastructure in the weeks that followed. Sony went after Microsofts balls and had them for lunch.
That was last years E3.

Um, are you talking about the Xbox One reveal or Microsoft's E3 conference? Because I recall there being a large focus on video games during the Xbox 2013 conference and practically no mention of television capabilities.
 
The real lack of reality are the people who believe conferences are counter-productive and actually believe if things such as how press conferences actually don't attribute to mindshare and sales.

It's like people who don't even know the basics of business, please take the time to look at articles like this and this.
Words... reality speaks otherwise. The 8th generation console with most E3 attendances is.... The Wii U. Which is also the console that has been outsold by the competition in just a few months. How positive or what impact has the E3 presence of NIntendo affected this device?

More over, context, just like Nintendo tries not to compete directly with MS and SOny in hardware, they should also extend this principle to their E3 presence.
 
You just described a Nintendo Direct.

No. A Nintendo Direct is the gaming equivalent of a pre-recorded weather report. What I'm proposing is literally a pre-recorded press conference, complete with production values that couldn't be achieved by a guy in a suit using the studio in his basement.
 
Promotion of the Wii U as a console and redefining it to consumers.

Promotion of Smash Bros.

Promotion of Mario Kart

Promotion of Teased Zelda title.

Promotion of the highly likely Animal Crossing U.

Promotion of 3DS titles like Tomodachi life.

Promotion of NFC title that utilizes new feature.

Nothing though right? And these are all things known/highly likely that we know of as of yet.

Almost all of those are a given, now explain to me why I should care. What the heck is a Tomodachi and also, whats NFC? It sounds like KFC or something, are they making a game? /averagepublic

There is no point in holding a stream to announce nothing unexpected if you're not even able to ride the hype coat-tails of the other E3 pressers. Tomodachi means nothing to anyone who isn't already a convert, NFC might mean something to some people but it'll be real tough to explain why they should care without seeing it, and nobody is going to see it if it's held as a separate event that the press isn't invited to attend in person.

It's not Gamespot that Nintendo needs to worry about underreporting their events, it's Yahoo, USA Today, Forbes, and the New York Times. All of those I would argue are more likely to report on you if you've got a major event at a major trade show than if you're just holding a livestream.
 

213372bu

Banned
Words... reality speaks otherwise. The 8th generation console with most E3 attendances is.... The Wii U. Which is also the console that has been outsold by the competition in just a few months. How positive or what impact has the E3 presence of NIntendo affected this device?

More over, context, just like Nintendo tries not to compete directly with MS and SOny in hardware, they should also extend this principle to their E3 presence.

And tell me, how good did this do for their "reality of sales" exactly?

You do know that the sales were at such a low-low that the narrative was "consoles gaming is dead!!1!" all the way up until the launch of the PS4/X1 right?

It's not Gamespot that Nintendo needs to worry about underreporting their events, it's Yahoo, USA Today, Forbes, and the New York Times. All of those I would argue are more likely to report on you if you've got a major event at a major trade show than if you're just holding a livestream.

Ahaha, that was actually my point.
 

Astral Dog

Member
I dont think lack of content was the reason Nintendo made a Direct last year, with what thy had they could easiliy make a conference, it was not much but far better than other years, even Microsoft and Sony had awful conferences other years
 

Nudull

Banned
Ultimately, not doing a live conference doesn't really hurt Nintendo, but part of the fun of E3 is seeing/hearing the live press reactions. Still, it's the announcements that matter in the end, no matter how it comes out.
 
And tell me, how good did this do for their "reality of sales" exactly?

You do know that the sales were at such a low-low that the narrative was "consoles gaming is dead!!1!" all the way up until the launch of the PS4/X1 right?

I found the "console with most E3 attendance point" to be really amusing.

If you look at Wii U from a number of E3 shows perspective, the conclusion you'd be forced to arrive at is that it has the poorest sales to E3 appearances ratio of any console in the last 15 years.
 

Burnburn

Member
What is stopping people watching the Direct instead of a conference?

I imagine someone who is not that interested in gaming in general to just google or look at a schedual on a site.

"Hm I wonder what Nintendo is doing for E3 this year." *guy googles 'Nintendo E3 2014'*, he then sees "Nintendo will not be having a traditional E3, but will stream a video with all announcements". "Oh, I guess I'll just watch that then".

Or do you guys seriously believe people won't watch because it's not a conference? There is no difference apart from an audience.

Also to the people saying that a ND is forgettable and that because Sony and MS had a conference instead of a video it is rememberable, are you serious? The only parts of the Sony conference I remembered were FFXV and KH3 and those would be rememberable even if Sony did a "Sony direct".
 
Top Bottom