Iwata outlines Nintendo’s plan for the year
CEO of Nintendo Co., Ltd., Satoru Iwata has admitted that Nintendo has failed to create enough drive for both the 3DS and the Wii U.
Nonetheless, Iwata insists that the coming year will bring about a better future for both machines. In a statement to investors, Iwata acknowledged that they were unable to create enough sales for the 3DS in North America and Europe. But with the launch of Fire Emblem: Awakening, Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon and Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, sales in the two continents have been looking up.
“Currently, the overseas sales of Nintendo 3DS are still at a stage where the changes in the market are starting to emerge. We are aiming to make the momentum of Nintendo 3DS in the overseas markets more visible before summer this year.”
With regards to the Wii U, Iwata noted that although it managed to sell well at launch, they were unable to maintain the momentum because of the lack of software titles and the lack of a Wii Sports-type ‘killer app’ was a significant mistake.
Iwata also goes on the mention that they have failed at properly communicating the capabilities of the Wii U to consumers as many of them misunderstood that the Wii U is just an addon for the Wii.
“Some have the misunderstanding that Wii U is just Wii with a pad for games, and others even consider Wii U GamePad as a peripheral device connectable to Wii. We feel deeply responsible for not having tried hard enough to have consumers understand the product”
However, he assures that starting with Pikmin 3 in July, Nintendo will intensively launch key titles to give the Wii U the sales momentum it needs. Iwata also promises that at E3, Nintendo will disclose more information about release titles for the rest of the year as well as early 2014.
“We have many titles whose release dates are yet to be announced. At E3, we will disclose more specific information about the titles for the rest of this year and early next year.”
Do you think Nintendo can pull it off at E3? What release title do you wish for Nintendo to announce next? Share with us in the comments section below.
Christopher Deleanides
April 29, 2013 @ 9:26 pm
Obviously I’m in the minority here when I say this, but I don’t see why not. There’s plenty of 3DS games to come, some more details about Smash to be revealed, gameplay footage of X, Pikmin 3, etc. They have the tools, it’s just a matter of whether they’ll decide to use those tools or not.
If they bite the bullet and just get past their usual secretive nature, I think it can all go pretty smoothly this E3.
Daniel Flatt
May 4, 2013 @ 11:47 pm
I think everything will do fine. After all, all console launches do poorly game wise for the first six months and this is the first console release we’ve seen in a long time. The market has intrinsically changed and I don’t think that we are going to see huge numbers from PS4 or Xbox Next anytime soon either.
Either way, Nintendo turned the 3DS from a dud into an absolutely must have system. All it will take for them to do so again this E3 is showing a new Zelda, Smash Bros footage in glorious HD, and maybe trot out a game or two we don’t know about already. With some of their big inside studios still mysteriously quiet I’d say we are in for a shock this E3 from Nintendo.