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Nintendo CEO Apologizes After Lackluster E3 Showcase Leads to a Collective Fanboy Meltdown

Updated Jun 17th, 2015 9:42PM EDT
E3 2015 Nintendo CEO Apology

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PS4 gamers and Xbox One gamers were given a lot to be excited about at this year’s E3. Many Wii U gamers, on the other hand, feel like they’ve been given a big lump of coal.

RELATED: Every New Game Trailer Nintendo Showed Off At E3 2015

There’s no one exact reason why so many Nintendo fans walked away from E3 disappointed but this comment from a Redditor at /r/nintendo sums it up nicely: “Basically every big title for the Wii U that we saw, we’ve known about since 2013 (correct me if I’m wrong) with the exception of Star Fox. Heck, the 3DS selection came across as a bunch of B-Teams putting together spinoff games to pad out a drought/make easy cash. Almost shovelware with the exception of a few titles.”

Essentially, it looks like Nintendo isn’t putting much of an effort into releasing first-rate Wii U games even as the Xbox One and PS4 are gearing up for major new exclusives such as Halo 5 and The Last Guardian. In fact, MCVUK.com reports that the fan disappointment has been so acute that Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata actually issued an apology on Twitter and vowed to improve his company’s efforts in the future.

“We take opinions of this year’s Digital Event seriously and will work to better meet your expectations,” Iwata said.

So, just how intense was this fanboy meltdown? This comment posted on a massive NeoGAF thread might be the single most overwrought comment we’ve ever seen about video games, and that includes all the comments we saw from rage-consumed BioWare fans about the ending of Mass Effect 3:

I was literally shaking with anger during that conference. Tears formed in my eyes and my fists were clenched. ‘Announce something,’ I shrieked at my computer. I’m 31 years old and this was, without a doubt, the worst conference I’ve ever seen in my life. It’s clear that Nintendo is not just done with the Wii U but done with the company. There is no recovering from a conference that bad. I loved this company and put my heart and soul into dedicating my gaming life to them. But now, I have nothing. I’m an empty shell.

OK, so, wow. There is no way anyone should ever get this upset by anything related to video games. This sort of meltdown would be over-the-top for a 10-year-old boy, let along a supposedly grown up 31-year-old.

And it doesn’t stop there. Many fans were particularly outraged by the announcement of Metroid Prime: Federation Force, which marks the first time Nintendo has worked with the Metroid IP for years. Unfortunately, this game isn’t a AAA Wii U game but a four-player co-op that will be released for the Nintendo 3DS.

Outraged fans who wanted a new Metroid for the Wii U have started a Change.org petition asking Nintendo to cancel the new game and have almost reached their goal of hitting 10,000 signatures.

“With the release of the Wii U and its greater technological capabilities thousands of fans were expecting a new and improved Metroid game,” the petition reads. “What we got however is a disgrace of a game with the name “Metroid” slapped on the title. It has no elements at all of what Metroid is about and its a disrespectful manner to old and new fans of the series of showing them that the Metroid franchise is not dead afterall.”

Again: No one should ever take video games this seriously. On the other hand, it seems that Nintendo has really, really angered a big portion of its fan base, which is exactly what it doesn’t need right now.

Brad Reed
Brad Reed Staff Writer

Brad Reed has written about technology for over eight years at BGR.com and Network World. Prior to that, he wrote freelance stories for political publications such as AlterNet and the American Prospect. He has a Master's Degree in Business and Economics Journalism from Boston University.