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Nintendo and the press.

E

Empyrean Heaven

Member
This was a topic brought up a lot in the thread about the announcement of Nintendo's E3 plans, but it's one that I think deserves a thread of its own. Namely, the fact that Nintendo and the enthusiast gaming press have never really gotten along, and in the last few years the press have grown from apathetic to downright hostile towards them.

I mean, the reasons why are obvious...Nintendo doesn't care about the gaming press. Never has, never will. Sure, they pay lip service to people like Keighley and IGN because they have to, but will only announce games and information when THEY feel like it, and certainly not give out or moneyhat any exclusive scoops. Because of this big time press powerplayers will then turn right around and write editorials about how Nintendo is doing extremely poorly, needs to dump hardware and go the way of Sega, etc all as a way to get hits. And even then, there's subtle digs at Nintendo in all of their articles (just look at this sly dig by Joystiq here: http://www.joystiq.com/2014/04/30/disney-infinity-has-sold-more-than-3-million-starter-packs/ calling the Wii U a "previous generation platform".)

Someone brought up yesterday that the gaming media is dying, but I don't see it...I doubt that the press wants to let the world know they are dying. Still the question becomes, should Nintendo bother to repair their relationships with the press? And if so, how can they at this point?
 
Games journalism isn't dying but it sure is a shitty environment for the reader and the writer, that's for sure. The antagonistic/friendly/muddled triangle of relationships between consumer, press, and corporation doesn't help either. I'm not sure if Nintendo is a victim of getting on the collective bad side of a group or if it's their style and strategy that is just becoming more frustrating under the microscope of a constant news cycle.

Hi Jason.
 
The gaming press can't even be bothered to research things properly and make far too many click bait articles.
It's a disgusting state of affairs.
 
My recent "favorite" was from GameSpot earlier about Stealth Inc 2.

First paragraph:

GameSpot said:
No, hell hasn't frozen over, those aren't winged mutant pigs flying outside your window, and Half-Life 3 isn't littering the bargain bins at your local GameStop. Indie developer and publisher Curve Studios is releasing Stealth Inc 2--a sequel to the critically acclaimed Stealth Inc: A Clone in the Dark--exclusively on the Wii U later this year.
Click to expand...
 
GodDuckman said:
I mean, the reasons why are obvious...Nintendo doesn't care about the gaming press. Never has, never will.
Click to expand...

Not true.
iboO4lzYLfB3CT.jpg
 
All I'll say is I thought GameSpot was needlessly condescending with their Stealth Inc 2 article. But that is a small part of a bigger issue I have with games press.
 
I don't really see how Nintendo would "fix" their relationship with the press. Nintendo is a bit more tight lipped regarding information and recently has been delivering that information straight to the consumer themselves with all of these Directs, cutting out the middleman. Personally, I believe Nintendo should just keep doing what they're doing. I don't think they should bother with the press.
 
It seems that Nintendo and the press are like this because they both have different takes on the medium. What the press wants to talk about is not what Nintendo wants to talk about. The press is simply trying to justify their idea when criticizing Nintendo when they write, while Nintendo knows that's a hard game for them to play. Hence they deflect every question with "you short try it out" and "play the game" type statements
 
There's really nothing wrong with Nintendo running a lot of things through their own channels, but it's not like they've abandoned the press. They still rely on them to report the news they do announce. It's why press releases, press packages and such are still sent out on a regular basis. Having an own platform for announcement is a good thing to give a better rose-tinted image or at least try to be more active from a community standpoint, but even they have to recognize that there are more platforms out there that they alone can't reach out to.

Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't Jason from Kotaku state in some thread a little while ago that they still go through these things with the press and have a decent relation with them?
 
Nintendo doesn't need to do anything but release good games and hardware. Those are the fundamental exercises of a sound video game business. Everything else is extra, especially the "gaming press."
 
Gooster said:
All I'll say is I thought GameSpot was needlessly condescending with their Stealth Inc 2 article. But that is a small part of a bigger issue I have with games press.
Click to expand...

I have noticed in the last couple of months Gamespot's news headlines/articles have been terrible. They try to add some sort of spin on it instead of just reporting the news.
 
I love our local Nintendo PR, they are always very friendly, open, useful and awesome to work with.
When it comes to E3 I think it just means saving money and getting the message directly to the consumer.
 
Riki said:
The gaming press can't even be bothered to research things properly and make far too many click bait articles.
Click to expand...

Actually, its impresive to see how much work people on gaf take to make a thread like, for example, the one that talked about what happened to square (that one was the first that came to my mind, theres more on gaf :P). On the other hand, sometimes, people would point out things that are wrong about a proffesional article that talks about the past really fast. In a proffesional article, thing like that should never happen.
 
zarnold56 said:
I have noticed in the last couple of months Gamespot's news headlines/articles have been terrible. They try to add some sort of spin on it instead of just reporting the news.
Click to expand...

To be fair, all journalism is going to have some "spin". Your news is not written by an artificial intelligence program. But your point about game news outlets caring more about how punchy to make a story is well-taken.
 
I feel like the Nintendo-Press relationship has grown to a point beyond repair, and it isn't anything particularly new either. Hell, even gamecube and wii were lambasted as well, but not nearly to the degrees I've seen over the past 2 years.

McDougles said:
My recent "favorite" was from GameSpot earlier about Stealth Inc 2.

First paragraph:
Click to expand...

wow, real classy GameSpot...
 
Should video game companies be cozy with "the press" anyway? This industry is so weird. You never hear people talking about, like, Paramount's "relationship" with film industry journalists. Their relationship is that they make films and writers report on and review them. Sometimes the reviews are good, sometimes they're bad, but they're always about the product and not the distributor. If anything this situation speaks volumes about the eternal adolescence of many games writers/media outlets, and about blog culture in general. I would love to be able to read about video games without sifting through some snarky opinion about Nintendo (or Microsoft, or the PS Vita).
 
The gaming press treats them horribly, and lots of other companies. They're massively unprofessional, and horribly biased.

Nintendo Direct is the future. Cut out the middle man and let people make up their own minds. You literally can't even read news without people sticking in massively unprofessional quips and jabs. There is zero boundary between news and editorials. Polygon tries to keep it somewhat separate, but even they aren't perfect at it.

Nintendo Direct needs to keep improving, and start including more instant demos; even somehow having demos through mobile so you can reach new customers. Speak directly to the people.

Screw speaking to jaded assholes with massive bias so they can filter it for you and skew and distort neutral news announcements.
 
I'm ok with the different press biggies for the most part. The only part of VG journalism I can't stand is Geoff Keighley. I think what he does for the most part is really embarassing and bad as a role model for other aspiring journalists.

Kudos for his go-getter attitude and he isn't afraid to do hardballing, but sometimes his performance can make an interview downright painful to watch, not to mention, The VGX ~__~
 
The major thing to understand is that it's not a conspiracy or probably even actively thought about. Most press is simply an outlet for PR, they get passed screenshots, video and a press release and they regurgitate it and make money off the advertising. They get invited to events and do writeups in accordance to rules. I think they are very used to a process of stuff coming to them and them paraphrasing it. I don't think they really want to go out and find news because that makes their job hard. But I think Nintendo knows that if outlets are regurgitating PR and adding some content Nintendo doesn't care for, it makes more sense to bypass them and deliver the PR straight to the consumer with their own targeted message. Maybe this pisses a few people off who might feel their reviews are important when Nintendo doesn't cater to them but I don't think that really causes retaliation. More likely it represents a disconnect between actual consumers and people caught up in the media circus that is gaming journalism.

I just care about seeing cool new games so ND is all I need. The press cares about having something to write about. My needs as a consumer are covered but paraphrasing a Nintendo Direct isn't super interesting content if you are press and from a business standpoint it doesn't make your outlet stand out. How do you make content when there is none? Editorials, which are usually negative because you have something to say about it.
 
I don't know it seems like they have a relationship that should work in general

Nintendo sends them what they need for coverage. Seems to always send review copies out on time. Never really have short embargos (usually about a week before release) and the sort

Invite them to press events for previews and interviews

Beyond that, I feel like the rest is stuff press should work for. The inner workings of the company. Trying to understand their motivation and decisions.

I mean people always complain when Nintendo delivers canned responses to interviews, but that's their job as a company. The reporter should be digging and pressing more, not expecting the company to just open up because
 
Nintendo doesn't care about the gaming press. Never has, never will.
Click to expand...
The premise of this whole thread is faulty. Nintendo, like all video game publishers, regularly pitches stories, hosts events, sets up interviews, sends out review copies, and generally acts like a normal company to the media, with some strange exceptions that aren't mentioned at all here. I'm not sure why people believe otherwise.
 
Sony and MS do conferences so clearly it's still important. I just think Nintendo doesn't have that much to show anymore and is trying to hide away. If Nintendo had more games to show and did a conference i doubt the media would give them so much grief. They've dug their own hole with the moves they have done with the wii and wii u.
 
They want to do it themselves.

But they aren't great at it. So it's easy to poke holes in their method of thinking, especially since they really don't like having a public facing image.

It's a little problematic.

It's very problematic.
 
jschreier said:
The premise of this whole thread is faulty. Nintendo, like all video game publishers, regularly pitches stories, hosts events, sets up interviews, sends out review copies, and generally acts like a normal company to the media, with some strange exceptions that aren't mentioned at all here. I'm not sure why people believe otherwise.
Click to expand...
While you're here, what would you think the impact of a first party cutting off the press would be? No review code, no preview events, no dev-kits, you either buy the retail games, or you don't play the games.
 
I gotta say, I'm honestly not all that shocked at the Gamespot paragraph.

I don't think it's necessarily malicious. I think it's just incredulity that someone other than Nintendo would release a Wii U exclusive game. I mean, it has been a long time, right? It's kind of a rare thing, right? Hell really did freeze over for that to happen.

I hope that's not giving GS too much credit.
 
BitStyle said:
I feel like the Nintendo-Press relationship has grown to a point beyond repair, and it isn't anything particularly new either. Hell, even gamecube and wii were lambasted as well, but not nearly to the degrees I've seen over the past 2 years.



wow, real classy GameSpot...
Click to expand...

The opposite of love isn't hate, it's apathy... The press LOVES Nintendo... Nintendo articles bring in a lot of hits for a supposedly "dead" system... why? A question for the ages.
 
Nintendo are more insular than their Western counterparts, and I think this causes some friction for Western game journalists.
 
Tidus_Great said:
Sony and MS do conferences so clearly it's still important. I just think Nintendo doesn't have that much to show anymore and is trying to hide away. If Nintendo had more games to show and did a conference i doubt the media would give them so much grief. They've dug their own hole with the moves they have done with the wii and wii u.
Click to expand...
... What???

This is nonsense. Utter nonsense. They don't have fewer studios, and they have about as much content coming as the other first parties.
 
jschreier said:
The premise of this whole thread is faulty. Nintendo, like all video game publishers, regularly pitches stories, hosts events, sets up interviews, sends out review copies, and generally acts like a normal company to the media, with some strange exceptions that aren't mentioned at all here. I'm not sure why people believe otherwise.
Click to expand...

Kotaku has generally been fair to Nintendo barring some stuff, but there seems to be multiple examples of some antagonism between the press and Nintendo. The hundreds of articles that said Nintendo is skipping E3 again when that's not the case (and never was), the infamous Keighley interview with Mega64 where they were hyping up Nintendo and he was trying to divert talk to MS and Sony (during Nintendo hour!), and multiple examples of poorly researched articles. Hell look at that announcement for Stealth Inc 2 on Gamespot. There's definitely something different between Nintendo and the press and other companies. I don't think it's a full blown conspiracy to bring Nintendo down, but something isn't right
 
Mesoian said:
They want to do it themselves.

But they aren't great at it. So it's easy to poke holes in their method of thinking, especially since they really don't like having a public facing image.

It's a little problematic.

It's very problematic.
Click to expand...

It's also very problematic when you consider that the press that is assigned to cover the company or their products is not trustworthy or at the very least has a dishonest or insincere image.

So that leaves you with the bland corporate message of Nintendo or the perceived-as- untrustworthy-and-maybe-they-are people in the press. As you are likely the consumer in this situation, you're basically fucked.
 
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