Ideals Worth Their Weight In Sales

I come today to offer my thoughts on the recent controversial statements of Hiroshi Yamauchi, president of Nintendo, regarding future Nintendo/Square relations. Mr. Yamauchi's comments are honest and noble, and deserve a much closer look than most people have afforded them.

It will perhaps lend my view an air of credibility if I first explain that I am a huge fan of Square's and have purchased, played and thoroughly enjoyed nearly every one of their rpg titles. I bought a Playstation due solely to Square's alignment with Sony. I believe this was a wise decision on Square's part. In retrospect, Nintendo's decision to make another cartridge-based system was indeed a poor one, and I do not fault Square for doing what they had to do in order to continue making the best games they could.

Unfortunately, all decisions come with consequences. While Sony clearly dominated the recently-past generation of console gaming, especially in the area of rpg's, I believe that this will not be the case regarding the new generation into which we have begun to move. My early experience with the Playstation 2 has led me to believe that the gaming market will be led not by Sony, but rather by Nintendo and/or Microsoft. Especially with the remarkable capabilities soon to be realized by the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo is poised to reclaim its control of personal gaming. Having come to these same conclusions, Square, realizing the financial cost of a strained relationship with one of the market's leaders, attempted to repair the bridges it had previously burned by offering to re-release some its most popular products on a Nintendo system. As you have probably heard, Mr. Yamauchi has thoroughly rejected this offer, suggesting perhaps that Nintendo and Square may never make amends.

As soon as his rejection hit the rpg world, quick and harsh remarks began to fly amongst role-players. Many have criticized the decision as incredibly stupid and a terrible financial mistake. While I won't admit that the financial ramifications will be terrible, Nintendo certainly gave up assured profits that would have come both from the GBA re-releases and the inevitable release of future Square projects on Nintendo's GameCube. It was not the smartest decision financially. Through it, however, Nintendo has taught us all the noble lesson that honor and loyalty come before dollars and cents.

Square recently released comments stating blatantly that they intended to milk the proverbial Final Fantasy cow for all it is worth in the upcoming years. Of course, the industry is about profit in the end, but such an admitted commercialization of a work of art such as the Final Fantasy series should not be taken lightly. I could not have been happier than when Nintendo announced to the world that they had not sunk so low. Mr. Yamauchi proved by actions, not just words, that Nintendo is a company that will not buy and sell loyalty. When Square announced allegiance to Sony over Nintendo, they sold themselves and their loyalty. I for one praise Nintendo for refusing to buy back that which is worth so much more than money.

Admittedly, it is my belief that a compromise between the two video game giants may indeed be reached, and I will not be at all surprised if I someday play a new Final Fantasy on a Nintendo system. After all, there is a time for punishment and retribution, and there is a time for forgiveness and the healing of wounds. Regardless of the final outcome, however, Nintendo has forever demonstrated its high regard for loyalty and its disdain for crass commercialism. I applaud Mr. Yamauchi. He has nobly represented a noble company.

Notes:
A very nice editorial, on a subject that surely will become heavily contested over the next few months, but is refreshingly new at this moment in time - especially seeing it from Nintendo's perspective. The editorial is very nicely written - good flow, excellent arguments over Square's decisions and Nintendo's motivation. Although there were two notable mistakes, one being the use of RPG's as a plural, and the lack of capitalisation of RPG, as it is an acronym.

There could have been more content, though - worth mentioning would be the Japanese business ethic, where honour is held in high esteem and past snubs are most definitely remembered. Nevertheless, a very nice editorial, and I expect it to generate a lot of controversy over the coming weeks.