Nintendo Direct 2013 - Super Smash Bros - Kirby - 007

Sony has been all hearts and flowers over its aging rival Nintendo these last few months because of the audience it brings into the fold. Sony Worldwide President Shuhei Yoshida believes it is vital to the success of the industry, and now PlayStation UK General Manager Fergal Gara has been joining in to sing the same tune.

In an interview with Trusted Review, Gara makes it clear how much the video game industry needs Nintendo to thrive. Needless to say, his comments echo Yoshida's sentiments in regards to getting kids involved in video games and growing up to buy a big boy console.

"[The decline of Nintendo] could be detrimental to the market, unless people like us raise our game and help tap into the younger consumer group that they serve rather well."

Nintendo is always training the adult gamers of tomorrow in Sony's eyes. Without the Wii U or Nintendo 3DS to get them hooked with easier games while they are young, not many people would be interested in buying PlayStations 20 years down the road. However, Gara does not rule out Sony being able to pick up Nintendo's reins and lead that charge.

"That is the challenge to us. We need to bring maybe more family-friendly, more casual experiences into the market. I think there's a big market segment there that we should take the challenge to engage and I see lots of potential to do that."

Sony has been at the center of the video game market for twenty years now, and while the company might have perfected digital distribution, modeled the modern consoles, and successfully transformed the video game world into a more adult friendly place, I can't recall a time when it has been half as effective at attracting children and casual markets to the PlayStation brand as Nintendo has.

Perhaps the only real success it has seen there is through Insomniac with Spyro and Ratchet & Clank, but that company doesn't seem intent on making those kinds of games forever, nor do those franchises even come close to the numbers Mario has seen either.

Could Sony begin targeting family friendly games for everyone if Nintendo were to somehow kick the bucket, or will it continue to lean on Nintendo's valuable contribution to video gaming forever?