Nintendo shamelessly commodifies Chinese New Year

by Alejandro Quan-Madrid, BITMOB STAFF

Wednesday, February 01, 2012

2012 is the Year of the Dragon, which means it’s the perfect time to buy dragon-themed games on the Nintendo 3DS eShop! At least, that’s how the company seems to be pitching Chinese New Year.

I’m not sure how I missed this last week, but currently buried in Nintendo’s online store for their latest portable console, is a link simply titled “Year of the Dragon.” It's accompanied by a 3D picture of the creature. The company apparently did not deem it necessary to include any other information...like, say, how in Chinese culture, every year in a cycle of twelve corresponds to a different animal. Or that this holiday can be kind of a big deal for about 1/5th of the world’s population. I’m not sure if they left those parts out as some form of ironic tact or just laziness. Clicking on the link just brings up a list of games for sale that have the word “dragon” in them.

That’s pretty damn lame, and I find it a bit disrespectful. Never mind the countless number cheaply made, Chinese-themed trinkets that the owners of those small shops in Chinatown sell to tourists. I expect more from Nintendo, and I’m taken aback by this shameless marketing gimmick.

Perhaps last week Nintendo had more information on Chinese New Year in the eShop, when the holiday was a little more relevant, and now that it’s old news, they just left the link up. But why would they take out that important context? What about folks who live in remote areas who rarely come into contact with Asian people and know little to nothing about Chinese culture outside of what they see in movies, TV, and games? Maybe Nintendo is just taking a “who cares whether or not those consumers learn something” approach. All they’re doing is promoting titles like Double Dragon and Dragon’s Lair, right?

And that’s the stupid part. Why go through the trouble of superficially acknowledging a very significant holiday in another culture when all they want to do is highlight and sell more games? When Ramadan comes along, will Nintendo group together games that have crescent moons and stars in them? Even if the company featured more information on Chinese New Year last week, what we have now is an ambiguous yet crass promotion that commodifies the holiday and diminishes its cultural relevance.

I recognize that showing off different titles is important to drive sales, especially for content made by independent developers who lack marketing resources, but next time, Nintendo, try to do it with a little more class. That is, if we ever see a next time. 2013 is the Year of the Snake, and I can’t seem to find any relevantly named games for them to show off.

Tags: Double Dragon, Dragon's Lair

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Jarrod Bell

February 01, 2012

I'm slightly confused by the ouraged nature of this article and maybe this is just my being a naive American on the subject. If you're rolling through Nintendo's eShop on your 3DS hoping to learn a thing or two you're doing it wrong. This is simply a link to a couple of games with Dragon in the title and it just so happens to be the year of the dragon according to the Chinese calendar.

Now again maybe I'm just a naive white boy who is completely uncultured but why expect a Japanese based company to make a big deal out of the Chinese New Year and go so far as to educate and post all kinds of information simply because they did this? It's not like they built a Year of the Dragon game and posted it in there hoping to cash in on the craze surrounding the holiday.

Maybe I'm by myself in not understanding being this upset over something this simple. Nintendo always has different "themes" for grouping games together and this is just another one of them. Does this mean we can expect next year's Chinese New Year animal to be featured for a week or so? No.

Should we be outraged if Nintendo does a Christmas section featuring games that have a winter theme to them but never bother expanding on the origins of Christmas or anything like that? What about stores that advertise deals and savings for every holiday out there with items that don't have much to do with it and never bother expanding on the holiday itself? Where do we draw the line with this? Valentine's Day is right around the corner, should I be prepared to rage out if Nintendo features games with hearts in them?

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Alejandro Quan-Madrid

February 01, 2012

Those are all great points, Jarrod.

I'm not saying that I expect to learn stuff strolling through the store, nor do I necessarily expect Nintendo to provide history lessons. I just found it messed up that they would have "Year of the Dragon" without any sort of reference as to what that means, as a way to promote dragon games.

Do they do this with other holidays and occasions? Of course. But many of those holidays, say for Christmas or Valentines Day, are very much a part of American culture, so the average consumer in the US should get those references.

I feel like if they were going to half-ass reaching out and celebrating another culture in this sales-driven fashion, Nintendo just shouldn't have bothered at all.

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Ron Dippold

February 01, 2012

What's not Chinese about commercially explitoiting the hell out of Chinese New Year?

Yes, they could have done it more respectfully, but you're demanding more of the Japanese than the Chinese afford the occasion. Though as you say, you expect more from the Japanese than the Chinese. Especially when they're exploiting a Chinese holiday and given the horrible past they have with the Chinese...

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Alejandro Quan-Madrid

February 01, 2012

Touche on your first point.

As for the second, I don't consider Nintendo be Japanese, necessarily, since they have a huge North American wing that caters to a North American market.

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Jon Irwin

February 02, 2012

I'm with Jarrod. Of all the things to be outraged about, this ranks far below "grocery store selling milk one day before expiration date." If anything, I think it's neat they're even acknowledging the Chinese New Year, if only at face value. Then a kid might actually become curious, find out more on their own.

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Julio Lopez

February 02, 2012

I'm glad you didn't see these then:

Nike "celebrating" Year of The Dragon. Every company does this. FYI they sold out. What does that say?

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Jonathan Oyama

February 02, 2012

To tell the truth, I never understood how America commodifies the Year of the Dragon. Then again, I could say the same damned thing about Pick Up Stix. And then I could also raise a fit over how the new Karate Kid movie uses kung-fu instead of karate. Blah, blah, blah...

I raise a toast to America and how backwards everything seems anyhow. At least the kiddie cartoon shows aren't using that slanty-eyed Asian stereotype anymore. Except in the Powerpuff Girls..

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lola ish

February 03, 2012

Just wanted to share that Japanese do celebrate the Chinese astrology too, it has meanings to Japanese people too if you're born in the current astrology symbol.

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Jarrod Bell

February 03, 2012

I hear the people in Tamriel have same thing about being born under certain signs.

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lola ish

February 03, 2012

Well played sir. Are you born in the year of the Dragon?
Maybe you're the dragonborn and just don't know it.

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Jarrod Bell

February 03, 2012

I'm actually a tigerborn. I take epic naps and have other amazing feline abilities.

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Andrew Whitehead

February 07, 2012

I'm just glad no other religious, superstitious or long standing traditional/historic holidays have ever been exploited for commercial gain. /sarcasm

"I don't consider Nintendo be Japanese" - tell that to the Japanese! You're worried about people not understanding the true nature of Chinese New Year and you write this?! So because you don't consider their 100+ years of being a Japanese company relevant and it doesn't help your arguement you dismiss it. That's just as culturally insensitive as what you're accusing Nintendo of being.

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Alejandro Quan-Madrid

February 07, 2012

Hi Andrew, I think it's a little unfair to take part of what I said and leave out the rest of the context.

The full comment was: "I don't consider Nintendo be Japanese, necessarily, since they have a huge North American wing that caters to a North American market."

So I was arguing that they're this huge multi-national entity and not exclusively a Japanese comapny (Nintendo of America, Nintendo of Europe, Nintendo of Japan, etc.). I'm sorry if I was unclear about that.

Obviously the company has a long history and origins in Japan and I'm not trying to deny that whatsoever. Plus, as Iola pointed out in another comment, the Japanese also celebrate the Lunar New Year, so it wouldn't make sense to say that the company's percieved nationality accounts for its decision to not acknowledge the significance of "Year of the Dragon." If anything, it just adds to the confusion.

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Andrew Whitehead

February 07, 2012

"I don't consider Nintendo be Japanese, necessarily, since they have a huge North American wing that caters to a North American market." -- The North American arm is marketing and distribution. That's basically all it is. The games are made in Japan and the BIG decisions are made there too. They're a Japanese company with international interests, but multi-national is a massive stretch. It's not like General Motors who have brands and models exclusive to certain regions or News Limited with country specific media interests.

The overall point was, however, is that is Chinese New Year really so sacred? Really? I'm pretty sure it's just as commercial as ANY other holiday. It's a celebration, not something like Rememberance Day or a commemorative holiday or a tragic event. I'm pretty sure Play-Aisa and a HEAP of other websites have Chinese New Year sales. Why get up in arms about this? Cut Nintendo some slack, it's the Year of the Dragon and they have a dragon sale.

Over sensitivity is why we have "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" in shopping centres. People need to relax. Too much "somebody please think of the children!!" hysteria is all too common.

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Alejandro Quan-Madrid

February 07, 2012

"The North American arm is marketing and distribution" Right, so the text that goes on the eShop would probably fall under their watch, no?

And I'm not saying that other people don't commodify Chinese/Lunar New Year, as you pointed out, that DEFINITELY happens. I was just taking issue with Nintendo's half-assed attempt at cashing in. I'm not exactly sure what would have been better, either them not doing it at all or doing a more earnest attempt at celebrating.

I agree that in some instances our culture is definitely over sensitive, but I think when reaching across to another culture, it's better to err on the side of caution.

Thanks for sharing your opinions.