We all know the very last thing you should do is take anything said on the Internet to heart. Trolls will be trolls, and comments, forums, YouTube, and social media sites have become a haven for behavior that would make any mother come over and slap her child.
That said, the reputation for Nintendo over the last couple of years – especially this year – has been roughly similar no matter where you go. Chalk it up to the overwhelmingly vocal minority or what have you, but Nintendo’s outlook hasn’t been positive despite the insane success and demand for the Switch.
Reggie Fils-Aime recently sat down with Mashable to discuss Nintendo’s reputation specifically. His thoughts on the matter are certainly more interesting and personal than the usual “no comment.” He began by stating that the company does not sit “in a little ivory tower” and ignore what is said down below.
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Though Nintendo keeps information “very close to the vest”, according to the Nintendo of America President, he counters the argument by saying that it’s all in good will to keep surprises for its fans, while not pointlessly announcing a game years in advance. His example was the E3 announcement of the two upcoming Metroid games: Samus Returns and the long-awaited Metroid Prime 4.
Finally, the most interesting part of the interview was his thoughts on specific fan theories around the Web like Nintendo’s artificial supply-and-demand issues. Because it keeps everything so secret, it causes fans to speculate on what’s really happening behind the scenes.
“A hypothetical on one message board gets picked up on another message board as fact,” Reggie states. “That is the nature of the state of the industry today. And that’s why we do want to manage our messaging so closely.”
While that makes sense, it does little to alleviate the community’s concerns. However, Reggie ensures that Nintendo is always listening to consumers. Metroid, the return of the NES Classic, and the larger supply for the SNES Classic is proof of that. He concluded the interview by stating that the company is well on its way to supplying at least 10 million Switch’s by the end of this fiscal year, with more on the way.
