News: Rovio CEO Continues Criticism of Nintendo
Posted 31 Mar 2011 at 07:11 by Ashley Jones
Rovio CEO Peter Vesterbacka continues his criticisms of Nintendo and Satoru Iwata's recent comments.
During this month's Game Developers Conference Nintendo president Satoru Iwata spoke about the need to focus on in-depth games, rather than quick and cheap games found on services such as the Apple App Store. While several Nintendo employees have spoken about their enjoyment of Angry Birds, including Reggie Fils-Aime, it seems that Mr. Iwata's comments aggravated Rovio CEO Peter Vesterbacka.
While Rovio has plans to bring Angry Birds to the Wii and 3DS this has not stopped Mr. Vesterbacka from speaking to MCV recently about his opinions on the industry. In response to Mr. Iwata's comments that smartphones are destorying the industry Peter Vesterbacka had this to say:
"It's interesting to see people like Nintendo saying smartphones are destroying the games industry. Of course, if I was trying to sell a $49 pieces of plastic to people then yes, I'd be worried too. But I think it's a good sign that people are concerned � because from my point of view we're doing something right."
Mr. Vesterbacka does note that the "console market is important" to them, but claims that it is slowing down and there should not be a stigma attached to small budget games.
"Look, the console market is important, but it's also� It's not dying, but not the fastest growing platform out there. So we don't see it the way others do. A lot of people in the games industry, they think the 'real' games are on consoles. You're only a 'real' games company if you do a big budget game. But we don't have that inferiority complex."