Can you imagine a job harder than marketing the Nintendo GameCube? How about marketing the
Nintendo Wii U? Emily Rogers over at Not Enough Shaders takes
a closer look at those issues with a fascinating interview with Kyle Mercury, a marketing consultant and specialist that worked for Nintendo from 2001 to 2007. Mr. Mercury is rather realistic about his tenure at US Concepts, Nintendo's North American marketing company during the GameCube, GBA, DS and early Wii years. As expected there was some serious disconnect between Nintendo Co. Limited in Japan and Nintendo of America, which led to some really weird promotions including Nintendo showing off the GBA SP at a party hosted by Maxim.
The whole thing is definitely worth a read if you're interested in Nintendo history, and how (hopefully) they can learn from their mistakes and apply those lessons to Wii U's current struggles. Kyle Mercury offers an insightful, sobering and a little bit sad perspective on what it was like working for a company that refused to see its own weaknesses. Let's hope Nintendo can turn things around for Wii U like they did with 3DS, because like the GameCube the Wii U has a ton of potential.
