Shawn Layden, formerly the President and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment America and Executive Vice President and COO of Sony Network Entertainment International, has come out in praise of Nintendo for being the most in-touch with its fan base.
In an interview with HipHopGamer (via GamesRadar+), Layden says that the reason Nintendo hasn’t suffered from the same amount of slowdown as other publishers post-Covid is because the company has “been very intentional in what lane they play in,” by specifically focusing on “who their fans are and what their fans want.”
Layden believes that “No one is more in touch with their fan base than Nintendo. Even PlayStation was never this in touch with the fan base as Nintendo is” and that as gaming sales and revenues climbed during the pandemic, other publishers decided to chase the “curve” by hiring more people.
When lockdown restrictions ended, however, Layden says that Nintendo anticipated the drop-off: “They stayed on course. They had their plan. They’re moving their plan. So they didn’t have to suffer the peaks and valleys so much as if you’re chasing the opportunity.”
“They just know what their opportunity is. They see it. They understand it better than anyone else. And they go for it and they do it really well.” You can watch the full interview below.
Of course, whether you agree with Layden’s opinion is another thing, but the Switch 2 is delivering early days with multiple genres and returning icons. Metroid Prime 4 is due to launch this year, Donkey Kong Bananza saw DK return in his first-grand new game in over a decade, and Kirby Air Riders is a surprise sequel to a GameCube favourite, so we’ll see whether this continues into the new console’s life.
Let us know if you think Nintendo understands its fan base in the comments.
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