the heart of a gamer

One thing that has not changed—and will not change—is our nature as a form of entertainment. Like any other entertainment medium, we must create an emotional response in order to succeed. Laughter, fear, joy, anger, affection, surprise, and most of all, pride of accomplishment. In the end, triggering these feelings from our players is the true judgement of our work. This is the bottom-line measurement of success.

Secondly, we must always weigh challenge and reward. How much work—and frustration—a player is willing to withstand? Depends on the personality and skill of the player. Core gamers have a huge appetite for challenge. Casual gamers want less difficulty. At Nintendo, we believe it is our responsibility to make games for all skill levels. And most definitely, that includes people who are not playing our games now.

The third thing that has not changed is the importance of the idea. Of course it is valuable to devise an extension or offshoot of a current idea. But it is invaluable to come up with a brand-new idea of what a game can be. I’m sure there are a few of you out there in the audience today with such creativity—and our industry needs you!

Fourth, this truth never changes—software sells hardware. People buy game systems to play the games they love. I agree with Steve Jobs, the head of Apple, when he says, “software is the user experience. Software is the driving technology not just of computers, but of all consumer electronics.”
— Satoru Iwata GDC Keynote