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Threats to Terminate the Zelda Franchise......A Cause for Concern?

Sarianae

Infinite Dreamer
Joined
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Location
Storybrooke, Maine
Alright guys, lower the pitchforks I know you came into this thread with, and hear the details on this.

Picked this up from Kotaku in their article, Nintendo Developers Warned of a Future With No More Zelda, Star Fox Games. Apparently Miyamoto has said something that might be worth mulling over concerning the fate of the Zelda franchise.

Luke Plunkett said:
At Nintendo's Q&A session earlier today, Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto revealed that prior to development of the upcoming Skyward Sword, he'd given the franchise team a warning: either it was the best Zelda ever made or there would be no more Zeldas.

He also said the same thing to the Star Fox developers. Either Star Fox 3DS is the best one ever, or no more Star Fox games. Both franchises would go back in the box.

Rather extreme threats (and, to be fair, he surely couldn't have been serious), but sometimes if you want the best out of your troops then you need more stick than you do carrot!"

I completely love Miyamoto but....is he serious? I think Skyward Sword is going to see huge success, but to stake the entire future of the franchise on the game may be too much.

If Skyward Sword is amazing yet not the best Zelda ever, would he really terminate the franchise?
So....he's probably....exaggerating.

.......right?
 

Djinn

and Tonic
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He might be talking more of a sales standpoint for Nintendo and not so much a cancellation of Zelda and Starfox. Nintendo has been taking a lot of risks with their consoles and the 3DS is currently doing poorly in sales. If Nintendo continues this trend then they might be going under in the future meaning that there will be no future for Zelda or Starfox.Mario is a given as it is too popular a name brand alone. Someone will eventually end up purchasing the rights to it and releasing their own version of the series.

At the same time Mario will continue to be a profitable franchise for Nintendo despite failures, while side titles like Star Fox and Zelda might not be so lucky. One or two sequels with terrible sales might bury the series for a while until the company is stable enough to invest more money into them or someone else is in charge. I do not think any termination would be considered if SS is not "the best."

Then there is the possibility that this is Miyamoto giving motivation to his team. Quality control is a large concern for a franchise such as this and managers might say certain things to their teams in an effort to maintain a certain level of quality through development. In this case, this needs to be the best sequel ever, or we will not bother to make another. So do not screw anything up or cut any corners.
 

Ventus

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I repeat what Djinn said, and I'd also like to add that Miyamoto probably meant that SS had better be absolutely groundbreaking a la OoT, because the things in the Zelda series are frequently being reused and face it - people are getting tired of it. SS cannot be a borefest, nor can it have too much of any one thing. It needs to be on steady ground, so to speak (of course that's not possible given that we're going to be in the sky, haha.)
 

Justeazy

Todo is the pfuf!
Joined
Apr 28, 2011
The quote itself....
It sounds more like a threat at the developers more than a threat at the series. Some of the real meaning was probably lost in translation (was this translated?), but the way I would interpret it is "If you guys didn't do a great job on this Zelda game, you're not going to be the people to make the next one." more than "If you guys didn't do a great job on this Zelda game, there isn't going to be a next one." kind of threat.

In which case I would very much believe he's serious. But only Miyamoto could tell us the true meaning behind what he said, and I doubt he browses ZD....
 
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To me it sounds like he made the comment so he can get the best effort from his developer team. You really need that kind of pressure on you if you want to make a great game. As far as being the best Zelda game ever, after looking at the previews from E3 yesterday, I think the game definitely has a chance for that title.

From a sales standpoint, I think the game will sell as long as it has Zelda in it's title. I think Miyamoto is more worried about the quality of the game, since he has a reputation for outdoing himself with each Zelda game that he works on.

As far as the end of the Zelda series, I don't think it's going to be anytime soon. As long as Nintendo is around, they will continue making Zelda games. But like Djinn said, Nintendo is always taking risks. The new Wii U system that was announced can very easily flop and not do so well in terms of sales, and Nintendo could take a big hit because of it. Either way, Nintendo is not going to be around forever, but I think they will be around for a while, in the near future so we have no thing to worry about.
 

Unlucky Monkey

The Great King of Apes
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Shigeru Miyamoto is a crazy guy. But I think he is definitely knowing what he does. He will provide the best Zelda experience of all time for Skyward Sword. It is the first Zelda game for years he is personally deep involved in. So he will cheer up his developers to give their very best for Skyward Sword.

And Justeazy is right. There might be some mistranslation or misinterpretation in this quote. The Zelda games are million seller. The series is too important to get canceled. For Star Fox, the situation is a bit different. After years of absence, Star Fox will return to the 3DS with a remake of the Nintendo 64 classic. So, the game better have a good comeback. But I'm not very worried. Every Nintendo game (can't wait to play Kid Icarus: Uprising) is a gem. And I will buy most of the upcoming Nintendo games. The same goes for millions of fans. Nintendo don't have to worry at the moment.
 
Q

quiteenjoy

Guest
If Skyward Sword is amazing yet not the best Zelda ever, would he really terminate the franchise?
So....he's probably....exaggerating.

.......right?

"Either this is the best Zelda ever or No more money for anyone! and we close Nintendo! And burn Mario at the stake." Hmmm...Motivational speech taken to literally I fear.
 

Sarianae

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Storybrooke, Maine
"Either this is the best Zelda ever or No more money for anyone! and we close Nintendo! And burn Mario at the stake." Hmmm...Motivational speech taken to literally I fear.

Conversely, you may be taking what I said too seriously~ ^^

I wrote that to open the floor to discussion to the extent of the possibility of him having meant it in all seriousness.

I think I might agree that the context in which this may have been said was lost in translation and that it likely was meant to be extreme "motivational speech." However, that doesn't mean different interpretations aren't worth considering or discussing. Miyamoto is a rather....interesting man I'd say, and the things he says may be open to being interpretated in perhaps sometimes a lesser traditional sense than you might expect from someone else. ^^ He might have meant it as just motivational speech when he said it to his employees, but what if in his mind he actually had been thinking on it seriously? It's not something you can necessarily easily disprove so it isn't unworthy of consideration I'd say.
 

Ventus

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Sarianae, you could also look at what that quote says in relation to the Zelda games. OoT is still the best Zelda game ever, just look at it's ratings. Somehow, these newer games pretty much outdo OoT yet garner lower ratings, which indicates that something within these games are repetitive and the players are getting tired of it. With SS being vastly different, it could flop just like the WiiU could. However, Miyamoto doesn't want that to happen. If SS does great with it's very different gameplay and tech, that means those physics and intertwine them with standard Zelda formula, which should get better ratings than any of these current Zelda titles ever did (yes, that means 101 percent). You might say, why can't we keep being repetitive? Mario does it! But you need to remember that RPGs and platformers aren't exactly the same type of game. Where repetition is needed in one, that same type of repetition would be horrible for the other. I doubt the series would get canceled just because SS doesn't do as good as it's planned to, but that could also mean that Miyamoto may quit the Zelda team, or the series would start to dissolve and no more of that "Zelda quality" would ever be produced again.
 

Unlucky Monkey

The Great King of Apes
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Somehow, these newer games pretty much outdo OoT yet garner lower ratings, which indicates that something within these games are repetitive and the players are getting tired of it. With SS being vastly different, it could flop just like the WiiU could. However, Miyamoto doesn't want that to happen. If SS does great with it's very different gameplay and tech, that means those physics and intertwine them with standard Zelda formula, which should get better ratings than any of these current Zelda titles ever did (yes, that means 101 percent).

Well, this is a bit harsh. I agree a bit. But look, every game with a metascore about 90 should make developers proud of their work. The Ocarina of Time Metascore (99) is close to absurdity. And it doesen't mean Wind Waker or Twilight Princess were bad Zelda games. Every Zelda main title starting at the Super Nintendo era received a score about 90 meta points. At the time of its release, Ocarina of Time was a major revolution to the Zelda series. It was the first 3D Zelda ever. So, Skyward Sword may add a lot of more new features never seen before in the Zelda franchise, but it won't be a revolution like Ocarina of Time. Complaining about less innovations in a Zelda game isn't a topic for me.
 
L

Link x Malon

Guest
"Either this is the best Zelda ever or No more money for anyone! and we close Nintendo! And burn Mario at the stake." Hmmm...Motivational speech taken to literally I fear.
Quick! Someone make a motivational poster out of this!
 

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