Fils-Aime: iPhone Apps not a "mouthful"

By Robert Purchese Published 6 April, 2010

Nintendo has "snacks" and "meals".

Reggie Fils-Aime has dismissed the threat that iPad and iPhone may pose to Nintendo and called gaming on Apple's platform a "mouthful" experience - whereas Nintendo serves up both "snacks" and "meals".

"[Apple] is not having an impact on Nintendo when you look at our business, our volume, our hardware, our software. I've seen data that suggestions that while consumers are constantly downloading Apps, they play with them for a few times and then they are moving on to the next thing," Fils-Aime, Nintendo US boss, told Kotaku.

"Clearly it doesn't look like their platform is a viable profit platform for game development because so many of the games are free versus paid downloads.

"If our games represent a range between snacks of entertainment and full meals depending on the type of game, [Apple's] aren't even a mouthful, in terms of the gaming experience you get," he added.

The iPad has launched in North America and sold over 300,000 units during the opening Easter weekend.

The oversized iPhone will be available in the UK and Europe in late April, although specific dates and prices have not been announced.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (52) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Ignatius_Cheese #1 2 years ago

    They're a banquet in comparison to the DSiWare!

    Silly Reggie...

  • woodnotes #2 2 years ago

    It's true that iPhone games rarely hold my attention. Although I seem to have accumulated a ton of them as a result of cheap prices/promotions etc. NDS games certainly can offer a much deeper experience though.

    Difference is, you take your iPhone with you everywhere. It's the convenience > experience.

  • uglygamer #3 2 years ago

    Some could argue the Wii is NOT a mouthful while only serving snacks while the PS3 and Xbox 360 are snacks and meals

    Stop being so arrogant Reggie Fils-Aime.

    Edited by uglygamer at 06/04/10 @ 15:43

  • Eraysor #4 2 years ago

    Seriously Reggie, don't even bother. Both systems have advantages and disadvantages. Go home and start making the 3DS good instead of spouting rubbish.

  • Alatair #5 2 years ago

    Even though Final Fantasy I and II are both over 40 hours long...

  • pacifika #6 2 years ago

    He is right however I do not touch my Nintendo handhelds but I constantly play at my iPod Touch. So perhaps it does not matter.

  • andywilkie35 #7 2 years ago

    I'd love to give this cunt a mouthful of a knuckle sandwich

  • Pac-man-ate-my-wife #8 2 years ago

    It's a shame that the iPhone doesn't have any games like Broken Sword, Myst, Final Fantasy, Zenonia, Tiger Woods, Real Racing, Beneath A Steel Sky, Battle For Wesnoth, Mecho Wars etc etc ...

  • uglygamer #9 2 years ago

    One thing Apple has to do and that is put out a proper controller. Then it will be difficult to criticise from a gaming perspective as everything else is top notch.
    Edited by uglygamer at 06/04/10 @ 15:55

  • mattius30 #10 2 years ago

    Since getting my iPod Touch, I haven't played on my PSP or DS once. There is a huge diverse mix of games, and thousands of them on the Apps store. Some short, some really rather meaty such as GTA:China... I would much rather graze daily on a huge eclectic variety of 'mouthful experiences' and full-length games, rather than wait for a single, worthy 'meal' from Nintendo once a year.

    Additionally, it is saving me a fortune what with 'meal' games like GTA, Rayman 2 and Assassin's Creed costing more than £20 each on the DS - whereas on the iPod they are 5.99 and 2.99 respectively. It also means that I am much less likely to risk £20/£30 on a new release on the DS or PSP when I know I can play free games or nothing much over a fiver on the iPod. I can't help but feel that Reggie's comments have come from him having a bit of a 'play around' with the iPhone/Touch but didn't dig deeper than the Top 25 lists.

  • darc #11 2 years ago

    Recently downloaded Dungeon Hunter and got the first glimpse of an iPhone game I'll actually play. It's not all there - the writing and artwork are beyond cliche and often amateurish, and the gameplay is not particularly deep... but if this engine were to meet with good creative talent, it would be a nice portable Diablo clone. IMO it's a good proof-of-concept indicating that an engaging, full-length game can be realized on the iPhone.

    I think I paid something ridiculous, like $1.99, for it. Which is a good thing and a bad thing. It's easy to excuse the games weaknesses at that price, but at the same time, it follows through with the precedent that iPhone games will always be cheap, bite-size, impulse purchases. I wonder what could be accomplished if the developers could have assumed the game would sell at, say, a $20 price point, and invested accordingly in art assets etc. Right now, the glut of cheap apps, and a consumer's tendency to be distracted by them, makes crappy iPhone games something of a matter of self-fulfilling prophecy.

    (LOL I can't even guess at what the -1 is for. How about an intelligent comment instead?)
    Edited by darc at 06/04/10 @ 16:07

  • Batfink #12 2 years ago

    I've spent more on games for my touch in the last 6 months than I have for my xbox and wii. Sorry Reggie, but this is a genuinely successful platform and not a flash in the pan.

  • smelly #13 2 years ago

    You lot fall for this every time.

    A website interviews someone high up at a console company. ONE question is one about another platform. The answer is hardly going to be in favour of the competition is it? EG then posts said answer as if he's just got up on stage and slagged off other platform for no-reason.

    To my knowledge sony is pretty much the only company out there at the moment slagging off their competition without being asked it in an interview first.

  • Toothball #14 2 years ago

    This is the sort of analogy I'd normally expect to see from Sony.

  • Acrid #15 2 years ago

    The iPad has fail written all over it in my opinion, once the fools who have to own every gadget released have bought it and then realised they're never actually going to use it, the iPad will go the way of Xybernaut's Poma Wearable PC.
    Think what you want about Reggie and his big mouth but when it comes down to it no one actually wants an oversized phone you can't even make a call from, or to look like a retarded midget holding an iPhone.

  • peterfll #16 2 years ago

    Outspoken company spokesman in sweeping generalisation shocka!

  • Brianstorm #17 2 years ago

    Iphone civ rev and pvz are 7 course spectaculars....

  • Tachiki #18 2 years ago

    Reggie, Reggie, You are talking a lot lately. Never underestimate the competition.
    whisper * Nintendo Wii 2006 *

  • babblingcook #19 2 years ago

    He'll be eating his words soon enough...

  • macmurphy #20 2 years ago

    Didn't Chinatown wars do great business on the iPhone? I'm not saying it made more than it did on the ds, but it shows Its a viable platform.

    My iPhone is with me constantly, so I know I'll play the games. My ds gathers dust because I have my iPhone. I won't buy the next nintendo handheld despite owing every previous one, because of my iPhone.

    Add to that the fact that the traditional ds mainstays, kids, are getting phones younger and younger because they like the social networking aspects, and you have a massive problem.

    iPhones are too expensive for kids now, but like iPods before them they will soon become ubiquitous. That smells like ballache Reggie.

    My iPhone has made my ds redundant, i can't be the only one.

  • el_pollo_diablo #21 2 years ago

    "If our games represent a range between snacks of entertainment and full meals depending on the type of game, [Apple's] aren't even a mouthful, in terms of the gaming experience you get"

    I was initially a bit 'meh' about the appstore until I got an ipod touch. Now I'd much rather pay 59p for something that'll last me a week than upwards of £20 for something that'll last me a month. Bitesized experience or otherwise. And the numbers suggest that I'm not the only one.

    An arsehole comment from someone who should know better.

  • alcides #22 2 years ago

    My playstations just do plain games but that sounds all yummy...

  • Malek86 #23 2 years ago

    Wasn't the food metaphor already used by Pachter? Oh, Reggie.

    Anyway. I think both Sony and Nintendo still have to be careful. The iPhone has an advantage over the DS/PSP, which is that being a phone, you always have it with you. That means that some people might rather play with it, rather than bringing another portable with them. Ironically, this doesn't apply to the iPad, so we'll have to see whether that will be successful or not.

  • Woffls #24 2 years ago

    Speaking from personal experience, iPhone games very rarely hold my attention and a lot of them are just bad games. It's very easy to dismiss Nintendo outright as offering 'bite-size' experiences compared to other consoles, but you really need to look at this in the context of iPhone vs DS, not Wii vs XB/PS3. In the case of iPhone vs DS, it is as simple as one being made for games, and the other being made to accommodate games.

    Rastamonkey was pretty sick :D

  • GamesConnoisseur #25 2 years ago

    Ditto my wife who used to love playing DS in bed every night... until I got her iPhone for her birthday last November.

    Never touched DS once and she plays everything on iPhone every night and even more irrating... sometimes while we are watching House, Heroes or such!

    Flash in a pan?!

    Nope Apple is on a winning strategy here and if the quick consumer of cheap games is the rule of the day of society we lives in now. Everything instant and fast.

    Sure there will still be market for us committed and serious gamers, and i m sure App will matures to allow for diversity in the same way that DSiWare is all about emulating apps.

    There is simply room for everyone and the truth is that Apps is starting to affect the marketshare of the handheld games sales but not in a massive way. So just COMPETE and do your software/vapourware better please Nintendo?!!

  • Wyrm #26 2 years ago

    I don't like eating full meals on the go, I prefer to do that sat at home.

  • UncleLou #27 2 years ago

    Well, my DS hasn't been out of the drawer in 18 months or so. Bought a fat one, a Lite one, and a ton of games, but nothing since I had an iPhone.

    Utter marketing and delivery failure on Nintendo's part to lose a customer like me with enough disposable income. Obviously, I alone don't matter, but I am certainly not alone. Talking clueless bollocks like Fils-Aime does here doesn't help matters. :)

  • riz23 #28 2 years ago

    I too am like Uncle Lou.

  • Dizzy #29 2 years ago

    There were some stats last month that said that Psp software sales in 2009 went down 8% and Ds 2% or so due to the iPhone.

  • RodHull #30 2 years ago

    Let's add Reggie to the annoying games mouthpieces then. And I thought you different Reg!

  • jambii267 #31 2 years ago

    Make the DS smaller and stick a phone in it, problem solved.

  • paulf #32 2 years ago

    there certainly seems place for both in the marketplace at the moment, I don't even think they are direct competition. The best thing about iphone is that it's relatively easy to get your game on there (and to make it in the first place, if you can get your head around the verbosity of objective c) however of course this is also it's downfall due to lack of quality control

  • CaptainScarlet #33 2 years ago

    Iphone Apps might not be a mouth full but for far less than the price of a DS game you can have yourself a banquet of choice

    I loved my DS and even went for the DSi in the hope that the DSiWare would be the start of something. Unfortunatly Nintendo went all "Epic Fail" on me! My Nokia broke and I bought an I phone and I haven't looked back.

    A wash of titles like N.O.V.A, Dungeon Hunter, We Rule, GTA:CTW, Across Age, Broken Sword, Astro Ranch, Zenonia, C64 Emulator, Real Racing I could just keep going on but all I need to add is that together all that lot cost about the same as a single good DS game.

    But I also use Apps like Stanza (ereader), Sketchbook by Autodesk, many music apps not limited to the ipod, oh and also iplayer and Catchup TV for TV on the move. The list is almost endless!!

    I love Nintendo but I fear for their future if they don't shake themselves up a little or maybe even spend some of that ooodles of cash they now have on something ground breaking and new.

  • hy4000uk #34 2 years ago

    the iphone sucks dick.

    DSiware gets most of its best stuff anyway on top of its own gems. the fact that the DS gets an unparalleled selection of proper games too is just icing on the cake

  • UncleLou #35 2 years ago

    the iphone sucks dick.

    Don't believe this fanboy, that's a shameless exaggeration, that's one of the very few things it actually doesn't do.

  • cheekyjay #36 2 years ago

    Whilst I do agree that most (certainly not all) iPhone games lack huge amounts of longevity, I would also point out that I haven't spent a single penny on DS software since my iPhone became the single platform that goes with me everywhere.

    I loved the DS in it's time, and I certainly miss the ability to press digital buttons whilst gaming, but the truth is that my DS hasn't been touched on-the-go for the past year, and in my case the iPhone is solely to blame. I'm sure I'm not alone.
    Edited by cheekyjay at 06/04/10 @ 21:07

  • hy4000uk #37 2 years ago

    the iphone does indeed suck dick. unles your idea of gaming perfection is paid for flash games controlled using an on the touch screen control pad

    DS got better shooters, puzzlers, sports games, platformers, adventure games and RPGs. iphone aint got shit

  • Weezer #38 2 years ago

    The iPhone/iPod Touch games are yummy little sweets that often cost as much as a Mars bar. A good DS game is equally tasty, and (occasionally) longer-lasting, but costs the same as a fucking giant Easter egg from Switzerland by comparison.

    Sort out the pathetic DSiWare situation before saying ANYTHING negative about the app store, you golem-faced mouth-droid.

    EDIT: Just noticed some Ninty fanboy posts above. Unbridled loyalty is a blind thing indeed...
    Edited by Weezer at 06/04/10 @ 23:25

  • UncleLou #39 2 years ago

    unles your idea of gaming perfection is paid for flash games controlled using an on the touch screen control pad

    Funny, that reminds me of most DS games these days. I prefer the more original and technically far more accomplished games on the iPhone now, but to each their own.
    Edited by UncleLou at 06/04/10 @ 23:53

  • hy4000uk #40 2 years ago

    bwahaha some of you iphone loving pussies crack me up. i'm not one of you tech fetishest wanker tosspot mates and this isn't starbucks

    the iphone app store is swamped with hordes of shit. the odd glittering piece of sweetcorn that does stand out amongst the faeces is normally something akin to a flash game, a low budget pc game or (shock horror!) a mobile phone game. basically the same shit you gt on dsiware but it's harder to identify the good stuff

    the iphone has shit graphics (barely on par with the DS never mind the PSP) and the iphone interface is about as retarded as you are. anyone who's tried to play one of its shitty games with an onscreen control pad can attest to that (omg now i can play a GTA game that's uncontrollable lol!). hell even the touch screen has a complete lack of finesse

    i'm not saying iphone games can't be good. there are a few bespoke games that work with the limitations of the device like rolando. but comparing them to DS or PSP games is laughable

    now if you'll excuse me i've got some strange journey and syphon filter dark mirror to play through

  • Flooq #41 2 years ago

    the iphone does indeed suck dick. unles your idea of gaming perfection is paid for flash games controlled using an on the touch screen control pad

    Don't be silly, Apple wont allow Adobe to release Flash on the iPhone OS.

  • fknetwork #42 2 years ago

    @hy4000uk
    Fuck off twat, your the definition of a cock sucker, look it up, your in the dictionary....

    And you mentioning DSi Ware LMAO, that is complete shit, have you seen the crap on sale there? and you actually have the nerve to slag off the content on the appstore? wow.....


    It's pretty clear to all of us you don't own an iphone/touch/ipad and have never even tried one based on the complete shit your coming out with, bet you get a hard on just by looking at pictures of your DS.


    P.S, you say the iphone/touch touch screen is bad yet you praise the ds lol, the ds/dsi have the worst screens I have ever seen in a portable device, low resolution, horrible colour/contrast, FAR from precise, the iphone/touch screen/technology/multi touch has won loooooads of awards, what does that tell you? your a tool.

    Edited by fknetwork at 07/04/10 @ 08:03

  • UncleLou #43 2 years ago

    the iphone has shit graphics (barely on par with the DS never mind the PSP)

    Glol.

  • GamesConnoisseur #44 2 years ago

    People who OWNS or tried iPhone would be a lotta more informed about the state of the graphic, iPhone can looks better than PSP but in reality is in between DS and PSP in term of what games can actually do.

    I love my DS more than PSP, but iPhone actually storms far ahead in taking numbers of playing hours off me. I dont think I m a minority and initially I was peeved with iPhone daring to rain on the handheld parade but now of a different opinion.

    Sure there is a lot of trash in app but so is there in DSI and PSP Mini! I would say its pretty much comparable but with iPhone you have better chance of getting the game you want/like to play. RPG, Tower Defence, Puzzle, etc.

    Best of iPhone Apps doesnt yet come close to the cream of PSP or DS to be fair but its fast approaching behind.

  • UncleLou #45 2 years ago

    People who OWNS or tried iPhone would be a lotta more informed about the state of the graphic,

    Yes. But then this is the internet, where clueless idiots have strong opinions. If it wasn't obvious before that hy4000ukhas never played an iPhone game, it was from that sentence on.

    Best of iPhone Apps doesnt yet come close to the cream of PSP or DS to be fair but its fast approaching behind.

    I don't know, I find Space Ore Bust or Spider are easily in the same league as the best the DS has to offer. Bar Phoenix Wright, of course. :)

  • Les #46 2 years ago

    Wow, lots of people still don't have a clue about iPhone gaming. Yet it doesn't stop them from talking about it. What generates all the hate though? Is it fear? And if so, of what exactly?

    As for iPhone game sophistication: Space Invaders Evolution and the already mentioned Civ Rev are excellent examples of what the system is capable of.

  • UncleLou #47 2 years ago

    What generates all the hate though? Is it fear? And if so, of what exactly?

    I don't get it, either. Instead of gamers embracing a device that let's you effortlessly download games for bargain prices wherever you are, often with demos, you get lots of irrational, mostly ignorant, hate. It's ridiculous, really.

  • KillerMonkey #48 2 years ago

    I like the analogy in spite of it's blatantly fallacious nature.

  • Jackface #49 2 years ago

    I'm struggling to follow his backwards logic that's it's "clearly" not a proftable model because the games cost little to nothing to download.

    Surely that's evidence that profitability is high enough to warrant the low prices? The low prices themselves are indicative of high customer numbers in the app store?

  • Les #50 2 years ago

    "I'm struggling to follow his backwards logic that's it's "clearly" not a proftable model because the games cost little to nothing to download."

    He has a point in a sense: Apple primarily sees the App store as a means to sell its hardware. And while lots and lots of Apps have been downloaded so far, a huge chunk of that consists of free Apps on which Apple loses money (they still have to host the infrastructure).

    That is diametrically opposed to the old video game model in which hardware is sold at low or negative margins and the main source of profits for a platform holder are the software license fees.

    These two models now collide and as more and more people enjoy iPad/iPhone/Android/etc. games at low price levels, chances are they'll be less and less inclined to pay € 39 for a DS game. If I were Nintendo, I'd worry. And Nintendo isn't stupid so they know their investors can do the maths as well. Thus you get PR statements like this.

  • malexous #51 2 years ago

    I don't know what people expect Reggie to say when the interview asks him whatever he asked him.

    "If our games represent a range between snacks of entertainment and full meals depending on the type of game, [Apple's] aren't even a mouthful, in terms of the gaming experience you get"

    It's true for the majority of games. It's not a bad thing, though but you shouldn't expect him to add that.

    Edited by malexous at 07/04/10 @ 18:17

  • Marshall2008 #52 2 years ago

    Fils is just pissed off that apple are shipping as many iPhone os based devices as nintendo shipped handhelds in the same period of time and the install base is now growing at a faster rate than the DS after it's first 2 years. Now that the ipad is with us game companies can and have raised their prices and are now making more profit but still at a third of the cost if a ds title. How can they make money ? For starters they make 70% of the revenue. They don't have to pay for the delivery device ( cartridge) they don't have to pay for distribution they don't have stores adding their cut. They dnt have packaging etc etc. Fils is well aware that publishers are lucky if they get 30% of the retail price of games sold in the high street out of which they have the publishing costs.
    Edited by Marshall2008 at 08/04/10 @ 08:05