Nintendo wants to appeal to more mature audiences

Nintendo is often synonymous with our childhoods, marking itself as a staple in pop culture with its family friendly cast of characters padded through its world famous first-party exclusives. While this was a growing concern for many fans looking for more mature content Nintendo has seemingly heard the outcry and is expressing that it wants to “grow up”.

The way in which Nintendo has protected its family friendly image is debatably the reason for both its success and its failures. The accessibility of almost every game being available to everyone has helped the company launch into international recognition, but as other console manufacturers have accommodated the ageing gamers and their craving of more mature content, Nintendo has frequently remained passive on the matter.

A report from The Wall Street Journal is now suggesting that the company wants to break free of this stigma and tap that same audience, which isn’t all that difficult to believe with Doom (2016) and Wolfenstein 2 headed to the Nintendo Switch in the near future. Several developers have apparently been approached by the publisher, with Nintendo surprisingly enthusiastic about bringing undeniably mature content to the platform.

Chief executive of Inti Creates, Takuya Aizu was one of these developers, with Nintendo expressing interest in Gal*Gun 2, a rail-shooter that overtly depicts questionable themes and depictions that is most certainly not found in any Nintendo game I know of. Expressing his shock at the situation, he stated: “I thought it wouldn't be possible to release such a game for the Switch, but surprisingly, Nintendo gave me positive feedback.”

It’s not going to diversify its content overnight, but the firm does recognise that “different content is meant for different audiences” and is willing to explore that a little more with each new title. Doom will start this trend when it releases on November 10th.

KitGuru Says: While I love Nintendo’s line up, I have always wanted to see a bit more diversity in the games it provides. That being said, I can see with the graphical limitations of past consoles, the company wanted to steer away from deceivably mature games that seem like its meant for younger audiences at a glance (looking at you, Persona – great game though). Will you be picking up any of the more mature titles set to land on the Switch?

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