And Nintendo are talking to people shopping in this space: the SKUs for Labo are called “Variety Kit” and “Robot Kit” and use a totally different method of pricing and releasing than Nintendo’s usual products. Instead of, for instance, shipping a $60 “Custom Robo Switch” video game that comes with a cardboard cutout addon, they’ve reversed it: buy a kit containing a bunch of different maker toys, and get a game that allows you to make those come to life.
Everything about the marketing on this is targeted right at people looking into getting maker stuff for their kids. (Or at kids looking to make cool things move.) And it’s intuitively attractive, because it’s the first maker toys platform that solves the software user experience question, ships at scale and has a quality bar few others can match.
Not only that, but Labo shows that Nintendo are keenly following trends in kids’ toys and acting on them. If you thought the Switch meant they were back in the console wars, think again — Nintendo are an entertainment and toy company.
The obvious next step for the Nintendo accessories ecosystem
From the multitude of addons for the Wii Remote (many with arguable success), to the versatility of Wii Remotes being the accessory for the Wii U, to the creation of a platform for digital gameplay enhancement with amiibo, Nintendo have experimented more than any other game platform holder with ways to extend the diversity and life of their systems.
It makes sense that they would seek out a new strategy that allows them to experiment with even more different kinds of control mechanisms, some which might rise to inform major new ways to play and others which will fall by the wayside out of disuse.
Nintendo stand to gain from such an ecosystem, and should obviously do what they can to make it easy to try lots of different approaches without suffering too much cost if they fail. Cardboard is cheap. Each kit includes a bunch of options. Within months, they’ll know how successful each of these experiments is.
Lateral thinking with seasoned technology returns
Nintendo’s hardware philosophy, created in the 80s by Game Boy creator Gunpei Yokoi, has been translated as “Lateral thinking with seasoned technology”. That philosophy has held over the years, much to many fans’ dismay, as Nintendo shipped game consoles using off the shelf components.
To some extent, the Switch has avoided the criticisms most would hold against it on this topic: being portable yet capable has afforded it the kind of respect most Nintendo platforms do not receive. But Labo is quintessentially lateral thinking with seasoned technology. The maker market has been around for over a decade. It’s matured; there isn’t much movement. Components are cheap and commoditisation is a primary feature of the ecosystem. Price wars are common between market players. This is a great time and place to enter and apply the technology in a new way.
Nintendo are sensitive to parents’ concerns
The Nintendo Switch already launched with a unique parental control feature that asked parents to be a part of their kids’ play rather than just setting time limits at a distance. That they would even come up with this angle shows some amount of self-awareness, where Nintendo can say, “Hey, we hear you, and we’re going to act on it, but we also know a lot about this topic, so here’s how we recommend you handle things.”
So it’s no surprise that they also know that an important criticism parents have about their products it that they keep kids glued to screens. How about letting kids play in the real world? The Wii was an important step in that direction, but Labo steps it up big time. Perhaps, by making a game console look like a maker toy, someone who wouldn’t otherwise will pick it up and play with it?
Nintendo are an entertainment company. They produce toys, amongst other things (they’re even calling these kits “Toy Cons”), and as described in the classic Nintendo Genre Innovation Strategy (2005) have a handcrafted, time-tested approach to entering into new markets. This is Nintendo at their best: taking a risk, daring to imagine a new way to play, but really just making a very crafty move into a market full of opportunity where no one has figured out the right way forward yet.
In other words, we’re watching Nintendo wade into a new blue ocean. It’s been time.
So what’s the next market Nintendo will come and disrupt? Look for a recent technology innovation that’s been around for a bit but with no major player emerging. Look for declining cost, a constant low buzz of press, increasing interest, and where the missing piece is a great software user experience. There’s a good chance Nintendo are looking in the same place.