The gaming world seems to change faster than most industries these days. Several years ago Nintendo was on fire with the Wii, and now everyone seems down on the company and Wii U. How did things change so fast? Well, it shouldn’t be surprising in a world where cheap apps are flooded onto the scene, offering new options daily for gaming fans, and online gaming options seem to expand exponentially as well, with everything from slot games at Sports Interaction, massive multiplayer games and then games like Minecraft that seem to turn conventional wisdom on its head. The console makers seemed to rule the world just several years ago, and then social gaming companies like Zynga suddenly became powerhouses, but now we’ve seen how quickly things change. Wii also will be facing the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in coming months, so even in its own console space the competition is fierce.

But many still have faith in Nintendo. Oddworld Inhabitants founder Lorne Lanning recently made the bold statement that Nintendo would be around for another 100 years, while Zynga would not. Casual observers might be startled a bit by this statement, but when you look more closely at the history, the man has an excellent point. Nintendo is a 124-year-old company that was founded in 1889 as a producer of playing cards. The concept of innovation has been ingrained in this company and its financials are very healthy. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has made it clear he won’t be laying off development staff to deal with short term problems, as that would destroy the company long term. He understands that the key to long term success involves consistently producing great products. He shouldn’t let the short term analysts distort his thinking.

While this culture is ingrained at Nintendo, a young company like Zynga has less to fall back on in tough times. Their games exploded in popularity off of Facebook, but then reality set in when the landscape was changed a bit. Now who knows how they will react to adversity? I wouldn’t make a long-term bet on them.

So when you look at the landscape out there, it’s clear that games will come and go, and so will gaming companies. But I think a company like Nintendo with a tradition of innovation should be able to ride out the highs and lows.

Majora’s Mask still stands as my favorite Zelda game of all time. The world was immersive and addictive, to the point that I blew through the game almost without realizing it. That micro-world idea, where you play through the same three days on repeat, wasn’t the result of years of planning but instead a tight development schedule that only afforded the team a year.

“The ‘Three-Day System’, the idea of a compact world to be played over and over again, came down from Miyamoto-san and one other director, (Yoshiaki) Koizumi-san,” said one of Zelda’s top developers, Eiji Aonuma. “We added that to the mix, and then, finally, we saw the full substance of a The Legend of Zelda game we could make in one year.”

Satoru Iwata added, “Actually, I feel as though, back then, we were given a glimpse of the concept that ‘Deep, compact play is one form of the games of the future’. I think in that sense, as a product, The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask was a big turning point for Nintendo.”

I don’t know what it is about the month of December but it’s got developers thinking. Again, I love the idea. Few things can ruin a game for me quite like over-ambition.

Source: CVG