Nintendo's Miyamoto: Casual Gamers Are "Kind Of Pathetic"

Nintendo's Miyamoto: Casual Gamers Are "Kind Of Pathetic"

Nintendo's phenomenal success with the original Wii and DS is largely attributed to the popularity of titles such as Wii Sports and Wii Fit to casual gamers. Nonetheless, it seems that the company is finally fed up with catering to that audience.

Speaking to Edge Magazine, Nintendo's lead designers Shigeru Miyamoto expressed his frustration with casual gamers and their unwillingness to challenge themselves.

"[These are] the sort of people who, for example, might want to watch a movie. They might want to go to Disneyland," he said. "Their attitude is, 'Okay, I am the customer. You are supposed to entertain me.' It's kind of a passive attitude they're taking, and to me it's kind of a pathetic thing. They do not know how interesting it is if you move one step further and try to challenge yourself [with more advanced games]."

Miyamoto admitted that casual gamers were the target audience of the company's previous generation. "In the days of DS and Wii, Nintendo tried its best to expand the gaming population," he said. "Fortunately, because of the spread of smart devices, people take games for granted now. It's a good thing for us, because we do not have to worry about making games something that are relevant to general people's daily lives."