Latest news with #KitEllis
Yahoo
29-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Ex PlayStation boss thinks Nintendo's cheaper Japan-exclusive Switch 2 is an "amazing business decision," but doesn't think "PlayStation would emulate what they did"
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Former PlayStation boss Shuhei Yoshida has called the Japan-exclusive edition of the Nintendo Switch 2 an "amazing business decision." Worlds collided recently as former PlayStation head Shuhei Yoshida joined forces with Nintendo of America's former marketing leads Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang on an episode of their podcast. They spoke about their time working at the respective companies, with the topic of the rivalry between the DS and the PSP naturally coming up during the conversation. Despite being a player for the other team, Yoshida was extremely positive about the Switch 2, especially the Japanese-only edition that costs $110 less than the worldwide edition, with the caveat that you'll only be able to play Japanese region Nintendo games on it. Yoshida said the direction from Nintendo was "mind boggling," but an "amazing business decision." "I do not necessarily think other companies like PlayStation would emulate what they did," he added. "It doesn't make sense to me, you know, selling the same thing for such a different price for other consumers." Yoshida notes "it's clearly showing they want to keep the strong hold in Japan that they already have… that's an amazing decision they have made." Handhelds are an extremely strong market in Japan, and pretty much always have been. It's the reason Monster Hunter was pretty much a handheld-exclusive series for so long before the series took off worldwide. So Nintendo offering a cheaper way to get more handheld systems out to Japanese consumers is arguably a good plan, even if selling a console at a significant regional discount at launch is, as Yoshida said, "mind boggling." Wind Waker on Nintendo Switch 2 made two tiny changes that break it wide open for Zelda speedrunners – a strategy so hard "only a few people in the whole world can do it" is suddenly a lot easier.
Yahoo
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
"When they do a business analysis, Nintendo doesn't show up": Ex PlayStation boss says Sony's only real competition outside Japan is Xbox, even though they have "huge respect for what Nintendo does"
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Former PlayStation boss Shuhei Yoshida says Sony really only views Xbox as its main competitor outside Japan, despite the company's immense respect for Nintendo's unique positioning in the industry. In a real Avengers-style crossover moment, Yoshida sat down with former Nintendo employees Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang for the latest episode of their Kit & Krysta podcast (timestamp), and Yoshida was asked how the higher ups at Sony view Nintendo as a competitor. His answer was essentially, they don't, not outside Japan at least. "Their perception of their competition is always Xbox," said Yoshida. "They see Microsoft as being their competition, because Xbox is very similar performance hardware. You know, high-end console, mature games. And Nintendo is very different. Family friendly, games for everyone. Not about technologies, more about having fun with friends and families ... So, inside Sony, even when they do a business analysis, Nintendo doesn't show up even." Yoshida added that, at least during his time at Sony, PlayStation was happy to see Nintendo succeed because it meant more people were playing games, and that opened up the potential for PlayStation to take a cut of that market share. "Nintendo is bringing a younger audience into gaming, and some of them when they grow up, might graduate into more mature systems like PlayStation or Xbox," said Yoshida. "Of course, they have huge respect for what Nintendo does in terms of how Nintendo should be doing in the industry. We all felt like it's great to have Nintendo to continue to be successful so that we can continue to grow the industry." Yoshida also noted that Sony's perception of Xbox as its "primary competitor" applies to markets outside Japan, because, "In Japan, Nintendo is hugely strong and Xbox almost doesn't exist." Ellis and Yang both co-signed that statement, saying, "facts." Of course, none of this is going to be hugely surprising to even casual observers, but it's really something else hearing it from a group of people with unique insights into the inner workings of both Sony and Nintendo, respectively. With the Switch 2 specs not even rivaling the lightweight Xbox Series S on paper, and also by virtue of it being a handheld console, it doesn't look like Nintendo's aiming to shift its place in the market in this generation, which absolutely makes sense following the generational success of the OG Switch. Speaking of: Switch 2 is Nintendo's fastest-selling console despite high prices, former Nintendo marketing leads say "you're basically teaching them that they can continue to do this"
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Switch 2 is Nintendo's fastest-selling console despite high prices, former Nintendo marketing leads say "you're basically teaching them that they can continue to do this"
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. After the Switch 2 was revealed to be $450 along with the $80 Mario Kart World, the internet was overrun with cries to "drop the price." Nintendo, however, did not drop the price, and it's since been revealed that its new console sold 3.5 million units in its first four days, becoming the new fastest-selling hardware for the company. Now, though, two former Nintendo marketing leads say the company is essentially being taught "that they can continue to do this." In the latest episode of the ex-Nintendo Minute hosts' podcast, Nintendo of America's former director of social media marketing and original content, Kit Ellis, and former senior manager of creator relations and original content, Krysta Yang, discuss some of the lessons the company is likely to have learned from the Switch 2's launch. They point to the backlash the Switch 2 faced for its pricing (as well as its game-key cards), with Ellis noting that Nintendo "made a decision that they were not going to engage on these topics." This, he says, "is very much in line with what they have always done, which is just sit it out," rather than going for the opposite approach of responding but then getting stuck in an "endless cycle of like, you respond, people get mad, you respond again, people get more mad, and it's like what are we doing?" Yang notes that "when we were inside the company working on the comms team," situations like this (not exclusive to launches) would "come up all the time," which would lead to "a discussion of like, what should the response be, and I'm telling you, 99.99999% of the time, the strategy is do not engage. Pretend it didn't happen." Nintendo, Ellis says, knows "something about human nature which is not always a comfortable thing, but it is a true thing, which is if you just wait, most people will not be mad anymore." Agreeing that the company doesn't seem to feel the "pressure" of having to respond to backlash, Yang chimes in: "They don't have, like, any human emotion. I'm not saying this to be mean or something, but it's like you're talking to a robot with no heart. [...] They are not human. They are like a faceless corporate robot. And so their response to you screaming on the internet and being mad is like, 'I don't care. This is not triggering any emotion in me at all, like I just will wait you out. And I know that I can wait you out, too.'" As Ellis highlights that we've seen plenty of other examples before of people expecting that something is "'going to bomb because we're mad,' and then it doesn't bomb and it breaks a record," Yang says: "You're basically teaching them that they can continue to do this to you. [...] The thing is that this is not a good lesson to learn. "Let's be clear that we're not advocating for Nintendo to be like a corporate monster," she adds, "because we did see this a lot from the inside and we would have like human emotions when people were mad, and sometimes we would be like, 'Oh man, I wish we would respond to these things,' but they won't." Ellis agrees that "long-term aggravating your most passionate fans, it doesn't seem like a good thing to do, you probably shouldn't do that," even though the two say that actually arguing such a point within the company was easier said than done. "They always had this other thing that they do that you can't argue against is 'the next thing that we do will make them happy again,'" Yang explains. "And you're like, 'you're probably right. The next game that you announce is probably going to [make people] happy again.'" Concluding, Ellis says: "I just hope Nintendo does not go down that path of like, 'We're going to get away with whatever we can, we're going to squeeze as much money as we can.'" As Yang points out that "that's the lesson that they learned, though," Ellis warns: "This is gonna get ugly at some point." While you're here, be sure to check out our Switch 2 review as well as our roundup of the best Switch 2 games.
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Nintendo "won't know" if the Switch 2 eShop will crash on launch day as everyone rushes to download Mario Kart World, former marketing leads warn, but "they're prepared"
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The Switch 2's launch is finally upon us this week, and there are understandably a few concerns from fans wondering if the Nintendo eShop will be able to withstand the surge of people rushing to download Mario Kart World as soon as its metaphorical doors are opened. According to two of the company's former marketing leads, that's not something Nintendo will know in advance, but it will be "prepared" to fix any problems. Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang – once the hosts of Nintendo Minute, and respectively the former director of social media marketing and original content and senior manager of creator relations and original content at Nintendo of America – have released a new video (further below) discussing what the company is likely to be busy with behind the scenes in the run-up to the console's launch on June 5. Ellis mentions the worries from players that the eShop could potentially "burst into flames," noting that all those who've purchased the Mario Kart World console bundle will be receiving a download code that they must redeem in order to play it. That's in addition to other things like the Switch system transfers, and returning fans redownloading their Switch libraries, that are likely to keep Nintendo's servers busy. Addressing this, Ellis notes that not only is the new console's launch thankfully staggered worldwide thanks to time zone differences, but "there are a lot of people right now who are planning for this, have probably been talking about this for weeks if not months." Specifically, he says these employees will have been discussing "what can we do, how can we stay in touch," pointing out that Nintendo of America will likely want to hear how things go in Japan, where the console will be launching a few hours sooner. "'Please give us your updates, is there anything that you did, is there anything that you saw that you didn't expect so that we can be ready,'" he says, giving an example of a conversation likely to be happening very soon. "This game of like Telephone and, you know, collective planning is happening in a big way right now." Yang notes that this process is called "triaging," and it's something that only happens "during really, really big things like big launches like this." It requires those involved to "be on a call about every two hours or so," even into the night, to give updates on the current situation – good or bad. The communications team is on hand to potentially "communicate out to the general public, like 'hey we recognize that there's an issue happening, here's the fixes that are coming" if things start to go awry, giving indications of when things might be back online and what's being done to fix it. She notes that Nintendo won't "know 100% what is going to happen, it's a wait and see," while Ellis agrees: "They won't know until the thing actually happens." Although this could sound a little bit concerning, Yang reassures: "Yes, but they're prepared in terms of like having a team that can either fix it, or work on a fix, and communicate that out to people." Yang adds that a team will be "on call," with Ellis saying that he can "remember many Christmas days where we had these calls scheduled, like 'Oh the eShop has died, and here's what's happening.'" On the other hand, however, launches that Nintendo had "been nervous" about, like Fortnite's Switch release, ended up going without a hitch. Here's hoping that issues are minimal when the new console's launch actually rolls around on Thursday. If you're keeping up with Nintendo Switch 2 news, also be sure to check out our roundup of upcoming Switch 2 games.
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Switch 2 Startup And Menu Settings Appear Online As Early Player Shows Off Console In 'Code Red' Leak For Nintendo
The Switch 2 is just days away from its official June 5 launch, but already footage is beginning to spread online of people going hands-on with Nintendo's next console. One fan based in Russia recently uploaded a nearly 10-minute video that includes the Switch 2's startup sequence and a tour through its menu settings. 'Respects to this man for sacrificing his life to unbox the console a week before launch,' reads the top comment on YouTube. The early player in question runs a Telegram channel where he's been answering questions about the new hardware. His video includes a demonstration of what sounds like some bespoke Nintendo menu music for the boot-up sequence, though it unfortunately goes away once hitting the main menu. Fans of the ambient Wii theme music will have their hearts broken once again. The leaker did answer as many fan questions as he could, and said a second video is on its way. Here's what we've learned about the Switch 2 hardware in practice, according to him: The only menu themes are black and white He couldn't find a toggle for variable refresh rate HDR calibration does exist in handheld mode The firmware version listed for the console is 19.0.0.0 The available storage is 221GB Game Share and other features don't work without the day-one update Like the Switch 2 unboxed in a separate brief video (since removed by Nintendo), this one appears to need a day-one patch to be fully capable. While early players have reported not being able to run Switch 1 games on the new hardware, it's not clear yet if that means Switch 2 games won't work right out of the box or not. Switch 1 games require a software layer for backwards compatibility, and it's possible that Switch 2 cartridges might play just fine even ahead of the launch date, though it's not yet clear if anyone out in the wild has both a Switch 2 and a Switch 2 game in their possession and has been able to test that yet. Nintendo didn't respond to a request for comment about what the reported day-one patch will entail. A similar leak happened with the original Switch when someone with early access began sharing images of the home screen and menu settings weeks ahead of release. At Nintendo it was 'like code red to find out what happened,' former marketing manager Kit Ellis said on a recent podcast episode. 'It was actually really surprising for me to see that, like, 'Oh! You actually can track this,'' he continued. 'Like, again, these things get scanned and identified, and there are so many little identifiers that you might not even think of, like they will find who it is, but the fact that the leak has happened...' 'It's almost too late,' his co-host who worked alongside him at Nintendo said, finishing the thought. The Switch 2 leaks should in many ways be less exciting to fans since the console is more of a straightforward upgrade to the existing hardware than a radical departure from the past, like the original Switch was from the Wii U. But the current console's massive success has also propelled Switch 2 hype to new levels, with players combing through each new piece of footage and information until they can try it for themselves. Watching someone else do that is the next best thing, and comes without having to worry about any consequences from Nintendo. . For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
