Why Nintendo is in no hurry to come up with new brands. Confession of a former developer

Nintendo has been releasing projects based on its famous series for many years and rarely launches new brands.

Ken Watanabe, who previously worked on Splatoon and Pikmin 3, explained why the company from Kyoto does not feel the need for fresh franchises.

According to him, Nintendo owns a huge library of franchises created over the decades. It is thanks to this that the studio does not have to look for new ideas for games.

The main attention of developers is paid to mechanics. First, a new way of playing is born, and then a suitable character from existing worlds is selected for it.

"First of all, the priority is always game mechanics, not the appearance of the hero," Watanabe noted. If none of the old characters is suitable for the idea, a new series appears, as happened with Splatoon.

He cited the example of Donkey Kong Bananza: the idea of destruction perfectly coincided with the character of the hero. Therefore, Nintendo almost does not create new brands - there is simply no need for this.