In a great feature over at MCV, Peter Vesterbacka – boss of Angry Birds creator Rovio – struck back at negative comments made by various Nintendo executives stating, “if I was trying to sell a $49 pieces of plastic to people then yes, I’d be worried too.”
Satoru Iwata had directed veiled negative comments towards the proliferation of cheap iOS Games, whereas Reggie Fils-Aime was more direct, claiming that by selling its content so cheaply Rovio was at risk of derailing the video games market.
“Angry Birds is a great experience, claimed Reggie, “but that is one compared to thousands of other pieces of content that for one and two dollars actually create a mentality for the consumer that a piece of gaming content should only be two dollars. I think that some of these games are overpriced for one or two dollars.”
But Peter Vesterbacka sees these comments as a sign of Rovio’s success in the marketplace.
“It’s interesting to see people like Nintendo saying smartphones are destroying the games industry… But I think it’s a good sign that people are concerned – because from my point of view we’re doing something right,” said Vesterbacka.
“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.”
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