Comments such as this, by Tatsumi Kimishima, are not uncommon in the current sphere of gaming. There’s no escaping esports, and that’s something companies are starting to realise when developing games. The need for a competitive atmosphere, and how lucrative it’s becoming, is something which has existed in big companies like Blizzard, Valve and Riot Games. While countries like Japan haven’t yet left a dent in the esports industry, Nintendo hopes to maintain esports as part of their core thinking when creating future games.
Kimishima was asked during the Q&A as part of Nintendo’s mid-fiscal year financial report where questioned varied from Nintendo’s overall strategy, including those of a competitive nature. When asked about esports, and Nintendo’s efforts going forward, it was stated that esports may not be as popular in Japan, but from a global perspective there is a need for esports, to which Kimishima responded:
“The main enjoyment in whatʼs called e-sports is that players themselves can enjoy competing in the game, and those around the players can enjoy watching. This has been part of our core thinking in creating games at Nintendo, and we intend to continue creating games along these lines.
“We are well aware that many consumers are interested in the e-sports genre, and that this genre is showing signs of growing worldwide. For example, in the e-sports world right now, winners generally receive some form of compensation. Weʼve been engaging in various activities to get everyone to have a Nintendo kind of experience using our own competitive games, and weʼve been thinking a lot about quite what kind of reward would make winners happy.”
Games like Splatoon, ARMS and Smash Bros have shaped the competitive esports scene for Nintendo, with the former being on the Nintendo Switch. Smash Bros is yet to arrive on the Switch, but we can dream. Furthermore, Kimishima talked about compensation for players which didn’t necessarily point at prize winnings, but following other methods implemented by companies which look at support full-time competitive players.
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Last Updated: November 15, 2017
