Microsoft har truffet den ene tilsyneladende mærkelige beslutning efter den anden de seneste år, og fans har ikke holdt sig tilbage med kritikken. Det samme gælder Sony, der valgte at skære drastisk ned på sine singleplayer-satsninger for i stedet at fokusere på live service-spil - med, mildt sagt, tvivlsomme resultater. En strategi, der også har ført til stor frustration blandt fans.
Hos Nintendo ser billedet dog anderledes ud. Jo, de får også kritik indimellem og kan til tider træffe mærkelige valg - men overordnet virker fans langt mere tilfredse. En, der forstår hvorfor, er tidligere PlayStation-chef Shawn Layden. I et interview med HipHopGamer (tak til GamesRadar) svarede han således på spørgsmålet om, hvad han ville gøre som chef for Nintendo:
"If it's not broke, don't fix it. I think Nintendo's been very intentional in what lane they play in. And I'm not being dismissive about that at all. I mean, I think they're very focused on who their fans are and what their fans want."
Han uddyber derefter med et eksempel på, hvor klogt Nintendo agerer, og slår fast, at ingen er tættere på deres spillere end netop dem:
"No one is more in touch with their fan base than Nintendo. Even PlayStation was never this in touch with the fan base as Nintendo is. They know who their fans are. Look at it this way. During the pandemic, when we saw revenues in video gaming rising significantly because we're all locked inside and can't go out, a lot of companies hired a bunch of people because they thought this curve is: 'All numbers go up. Let's chase that number. Let's go, go, go. Throw some more gas on the fire.'"
Resultatet blev siden enorme fyringsrunder og tilbageslag for mange - men ikke for Nintendo. Layden afslutter med at rose deres strategi og langsigtede tilgang:
"Well, actually, Nintendo knew that would happen. So, they're like the one team that stayed just in position. They stayed on course. They had their plan. They're moving their plan. So they didn't have to suffer the peaks and valleys so much as if you're chasing the opportunity. They just know what their opportunity is. They see it. They understand it better than anyone else. And they go for it and they do it really well."
Kort sagt mener Layden, at Nintendo allerede gør et fremragende stykke arbejde, og han afrunder med at understrege, at hvis han selv fik posten som Nintendo-CEO, ville han blot "stand back". En ærlig pointe, der egentlig giver ret god mening - eller har du idéer til, hvordan Nintendo kunne forbedre resultaterne endnu mere?