Skyward Sword's Marketing Strategy?

[Planatoid]

Well, I was thinking, "Why does Nintendo insist on making a game with Cartoon Graphics, when so many people despise it?" WELL!!!!! HERE IS MY THEORY!

I think it all comes down to making money. Zelda all started with the people who were around when the first Zelda came out, and over the years, they grew older, and many lost interest in Legend of Zelda. SO, they had to start attracting the younger customers who would insist on making their parents to buy the game. My 4 year old sister saw the trailer and said that it looked cool. I showed her the Twilight Princess trailer, and she was scared... SO!

Nintendo is ignoring their nostalgic customers who enjoy better graphics, while trying to reel in more customers like my 4 year old sister.

Personally, i really don't care TOO much for the graphics, but it still affects what I think of the game.

Why do you guys think Nintendo chose these graphics? (Which I think are killer for the most part)

 

[shan-tastic]

Perhaps this is an obvious remark, but I'm sure they're just trying to appeal to a larger, family-friendly audience.
Like you said, younger children will be drawn to the more stylized graphics, however I feel that with the way things are going now, older children, teens and adults will probably find the controls and gameplay to be really challenging and interesting. While I personally consider graphics to be important, gameplay definitely should be the main priority in further developing this game, as having control glitches in this game will really ruin the experience.

 

[Phantom Ganon]

I agree Planatoid. As we all may know that the first Zelda game spawned about a good 25 or 20 years ago which attracted people who are about either 26 or in their 30's.
As time went less people started playing and the next generation came into hands.
After that graphics became more parent friendly such as the cel-shaded Wind Waker type.
Soon after once Twilight Princess came out it attracted many of the lost players that played the old/original Zelda game and now after facing the newest game they will think to themselves that maybe the new game known as "Skyward Sword" will now be a better game while appealing to the younger audience.
In my opinion the strategies that Nintendo comes up with are genius.
Absolute Genuine.

 

[13foxes]

Well, Nintendo is a big company, so they must find a way to make more money. I mean, ALL companies want to make money.

But, I think there's some more reasons. Maybe because Nintendo has made many family-friendly games now, so if they change their style, it wouldn't be Nintendo anymore. And that's would make people go away from the company. In terms of graphics, Nintendo couldn't compare to those Xbox, PS3,... So, instead of focusing on something money-consumed like that, they just simply make cartoon graphics. I think, what Nintendo cares about, it's the gameplay, not the realistic graphics. And, remember, Miyamoto has 2 little children, so he would want to stick with the cartoon.

By the way, not all people despite toony graphics. With that graphics, Nintendo has outsold many other companies. If people despite it so much, why would they even bother buying it?

 

[Dr3W21]

I think they made SS cel-shady because they're not afraid to experiment, take risks, etc. They're trying not to make everything seem alike. I couldn't say the same for other companies. I mean even the games in the Halo series (which I am a BIG fan of) are really similar to each other.
Personally, I like the whole cel-shaded-with-TP-Link thing, It's pretty cool.

 

[yann]

You're right with your observation.

I don't like it though. I mean they're gonna make more money by broadening their audience, but what about the gamers that have stuck by Zelda through the years and have grown out of the cartoon like graphics? I'm not saying that it's going to be a bad game, I love Zelda too much to hate it, but I really would have preferred it if they had updated the graphics from TP rather than degrading to Cell-shading.

 

[Ooccoo Watcher]

A lot of people actually like cel-shaded graphics, like myself. to make cel-shaded graphics would mean it would appeal to all audiences.

 

[Ver-go-a-go-go]

You're right with your observation.

I don't like it though. I mean they're gonna make more money by broadening their audience, but what about the gamers that have stuck by Zelda through the years and have grown out of the cartoon like graphics? I'm not saying that it's going to be a bad game, I love Zelda too much to hate it, but I really would have preferred it if they had updated the graphics from TP rather than degrading to Cell-shading.

This is my exact opinion. I agree with the OP completely too. It's all about appealing to the most people possible in order to get the most money. Think about it: You have the younger audience who weren't into TP who'll now get into this one, which is what the Wii's main audience is anyway, and where arguably the most money is. Then you have the fans, who'll always buy it no matter what regardless of their age just because it's Zelda. The only audience they miss out on is the older more hardcore group that the big brother systems have, and there's really no money to be made there because of the Wii's reputation.

Nintendo was extremely smart with this one, adapting to what the Wii has established itself as and all. Can't say I like it personally, since I've just figured out this week that I truly have grown out of Nintendo and have become the " PS360" gamer that I've always hated, but it was the best way to make money I guess.

 

[Link-182]

No, they said with wii motion plus they wanted to exaggerate the enemy movements so you knew which way to swing your sword, and they said the exaggeration worked best with a less realistic graphics. Plus zelda is a fantasy game, and I personally think adding this new kind of graphic style makes hyrule seem fresh and more within an imagination, and it really fits with what zelda is, an adventure game for all ages. I'm 20 almost, and I love the direction they are going.

 

[NorthApple]

No, they said with wii motion plus they wanted to exaggerate the enemy movements so you knew which way to swing your sword, and they said the exaggeration worked best with a less realistic graphics. Plus zelda is a fantasy game, and I personally think adding this new kind of graphic style makes hyrule seem fresh and more within an imagination, and it really fits with what zelda is, an adventure game for all ages. I'm 20 almost, and I love the direction they are going.

THIS. x100.
I could quote the exact developer quote, but I'm to lazy to. Sure, money and wider audiences might be a small part of it, but the main reason is exactly what they said- they style's been used to help to subtley convey to players what they should do, without a blunt, in-your-face hand-holding session every single dang time. This required distortion, and would simply not WORK they way they wanted it to with realistic graphics. It's really not much to do with appealing to children or anything, I mean, look at Link-182 above me, and me: I've now officially left school and am moving onto college (UK) now, and I ~adore~ the direction they've decided to take this in: it feels really zelda-ish to me. So no, I wouldn't really say it's much to do with a marketing strategy at all...

 

[Ver-go-a-go-go]

THIS. x100.
I could quote the exact developer quote, but I'm to lazy to. Sure, money and wider audiences might be a small part of it, but the main reason is exactly what they said- they style's been used to help to subtley convey to players what they should do, without a blunt, in-your-face hand-holding session every single dang time. This required distortion, and would simply not WORK they way they wanted it to with realistic graphics. It's really not much to do with appealing to children or anything, I mean, look at Link-182 above me, and me: I've now officially left school and am moving onto college (UK) now, and I ~adore~ the direction they've decided to take this in: it feels really zelda-ish to me. So no, I wouldn't really say it's much to do with a marketing strategy at all...

I'd be a fool to say you weren't correct, and I do believe the developers when they say that the graphic style is more convenient for them because they can over-exaggerate and things like that. But our way of thinking goes along with that in the way that the convenience game play wise can be also be accompanied by a convenient marketing strategy, as I'm a firm believer that everything comes back to the money at the end of the day. WW and TP are two very different examples of marketing strategy I think, and each went along perfectly with its game play as well. Think about it: Could the Game Cube have handled all of that water in WW with TP graphics? Of course not, the water in TP was far too detailed too be featured so much like it was in WW. I think this is one of the ideas behind WW's style, to prevent having either really bad looking water or disguise it in WWs style so that it took very little strain graphic wise (keep in mind I don't think the sea was the ONLY reason, but a major one nonetheless). So why not accompany this strategy with a more light hearted look that was WW? They could have the game play ideas that they loved so much, and also turn it into the marketing strategy that we're talking about. Pretty convenient huh?

Then you get to TP. Nintendo obviously drew inspiration from the ever popular OoT; no major new game play changes would occur like in WW, so why not have fun with the graphics? Taking the Oot/MM style and building on it with the TP style would accompany the game play perfectly, since there was really nothing so prominent that would take its toll on the GC because of the realistic style. They could also draw in the hardcore audience that they had missed out on before, and they wouldn't have to sacrifice their beloved game play ideas either since it was never part of the plan. This allowed them to go darker and more mature, something that couldn't be done before because their system specs just wouldn't let them. And then we get to SS, and I think it's the same as WW in this respect. SS is introducing a whole new way of playing Zelda, and they're having to sacrifice the TP style because, like in WW, the game itself wouldn't be able to handle their beloved game play ideas. So, like with WW, it makes sense to accompany the game play needed style with the more lighthearted feeling, which is what I'm truly expecting because of what the past has shown us with WW, PH, and ST.

I view the marketing strategy and overall mood of the game as the by-product of whatever Nintendo had in mind gameplay wise. I fully expect another realistic style 5 years from now, either in an attempt to emulate OoT once again, or just because they can with their new system that will hopefully be very strong hardware wise.

 

[Link-182]

I really just think they wanna make an awesome zelda game. Eiji Anouma loves working on the series, I'm sure he gets a crap ton of money no matter what, and I'm sure Nintendo doesn't breathe down his neck. Honestly, they are gonna make crap tons of money off of zelda, and the more realistic graphics have sold more copies than the previous ones so I'm sure they're not like... oh, realistic graphic games sell more so lets make a cel-shaded one to make more money!

No, they are making zelda the way they feel it should be.

 

[Ver-go-a-go-go]

I really just think they wanna make an awesome zelda game. Eiji Anouma loves working on the series, I'm sure he gets a crap ton of money no matter what, and I'm sure Nintendo doesn't breathe down his neck. Honestly, they are gonna make crap tons of money off of zelda, and the more realistic graphics have sold more copies than the previous ones so I'm sure they're not like... oh, realistic graphic games sell more so lets make a cel-shaded one to make more money!

No, they are making zelda the way they feel it should be.

I think marketing strats go along great with whatever they're planning game play wise. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure they really want the best for their series and that they want to create a great game. But by what we've seen in graphics-gameplay-mood in the past can't be a mere coincidence. The three always fit perfectly better, with the game play being the main foundation as the graphic style and mood stemming off and being what the game play needs them to be. Great marketing strat on the side really.

 

[Iamerror]

the money definitely ties into it, but i think that they also noticed that the people who disliked TP's graphical style disliked it a lot, and the people who disliked tWW's graphical style were not so extreme about it, so they get a choice of who will dislike the game's graphical style, and they saw that the amount people will dislike it is less for a cell shaded game

 

[Planatoid]

I really just think they wanna make an awesome zelda game. Eiji Anouma loves working on the series, I'm sure he gets a crap ton of money no matter what, and I'm sure Nintendo doesn't breathe down his neck. Honestly, they are gonna make crap tons of money off of zelda, and the more realistic graphics have sold more copies than the previous ones so I'm sure they're not like... oh, realistic graphic games sell more so lets make a cel-shaded one to make more money!

No, they are making zelda the way they feel it should be.

Well, Eiji loves making cool games, but i'm sure many can agree he likes making money even more. Even so, i like your input and was waiting for someone to come out with a comment like yours. anyone else agree/disagree?