I use to think that this was a Nintendo thing, and for quite a few years it was. Even when Nintendo made new IPs they were either insanely low budget (Flingsmash! or Steel Diver), or even if it was a new game it still felt old because it adhered to the rigid style and feel of a Nintendo game (Wii ____), . But in reality this is an industry wide thing. Just look at most of the "new" IPs on the Xbox One and PS4: Driveclub, The Evil Within, The Order 1886, Ryse, Knack, etc. All of these games are more or less retreads of what we had the previous gen and even before that.
Even games that were suppose to be the posterchild of unique gameplay experiences were said to be boring and same. Titanfall was suppose to revolutionize multiplayer FPSs but ended up being a blip on the radar as it was seen as the community as Call of Duty with mechs and now sits at $10 on Amazon less than a year after release. Watchdogs floored everyone when it was revealed at E3 2012. While at first look many would assume because of the graphics, but in reality it was the interesting gameplay and premise, as well as political undertones that sold people on it. Yet when released people were disappointed with it, even boxing it in with Ubisoft's "generic AAA open world game" trope. The reality is that while these games tried to be different they both hit the checklist of what most big game releases are today. Either a dark, gritty, hollywood-like, single player game with an open world map, or a testosterone fueled, 16-26 target market, multiplayer shooter.
This is why Splatoon and Sunset Overdrive get so much praise from the gaming community, while Nintendo can't figure why Nintendoland underperformed and AAA publishers can't understand why people were disappointed with Titanfall. It is because Splatoon and Sunset Overdrive don't present themselves like most games in the market and don't play like nearly anything in the market.
Sadly this used to not be too uncommon. It's the reason why the "gives me Dreamcast vibes" thing is a meme. Because back in the day developers made high profile games that were unique all the time. However in an age when games cost developers tens of millions it is understandable that few people would want to add risk to their investment. It's odd that videogames have been chasing to become like Hollywood for decades, and now that they are close to achieving their goals they seem to be inheriting many of Hollywood's characteristics. Expensive, demographic focused, constant stream of sequels, and lack of uniqueness. This is an industry wide thing and it goes far beyond Nintendo.
You make some good points but titanfall's issue wasn't the gameplay, it was lack of content that killed that game. No single palyer, bare bones modes at launch, and nothing new to unlock after regen.
A game going for 60$ with very little content to keep people there will only last so long, the same thing will be for Evolve after playing the alpha I hope there's more than what they are advertising.
Splatoon look's really unique, but unfortunately unless it has something that Nintendo can market like a cool co-op feature and advertise it as the a system seller their always have these type of issues with new IP's they create.
Games like Metro, and The witcher were total risk's for polish developers who literally had nothing, and even at some point didn;t even have heat in the building they worked in. But they plugged along and made a great game that was featured many times by PC magazine, and word of mouth helped sell that game enough for them to make a sequel.
Sunset Overdrive has a huge ad campaign and Microsoft has been doing crazy PR with even making live action movie/trailer shorts.
It's also from an Established developer known for their unique fun addictive games like Ratchet, Resistance 1 and 3.
They also know what demographic they are trying to go for, and know co-op modes like Gears of War horde mode are played all the time.
So that's what they made with Chaos Squad, only with that Insomniac crazy flair. Splatoon looks neat, but Nintendo lacks the insight on how to market that game and many other's for the correct demographic.
If they wanted different demographics outside of family's and hardcore Nintendo fan's we would see a better PR push for the console itself to reflect the different kind of buyer's. Like a older PR push of the Kids going to bed and Dad boots up Bayonetta 2, Zombie U, X chronicles, or gets online to play smash with his buddies while drinking a beer.
They could do it, but I doubt Nintendo will, at least for this console generation.
