Iwata: More unannounced games coming to Wii U by 2014
During Nintendo’s latest investor’s meeting, president Satoru Iwata fielded a question regarding the lack of new innovation with new consoles. The Q&A is only available in Japanese currently, but a summary of Iwata’s response has been translated.
Most of what Iwata said actually pertained to new titles for Wii U. Iwata said that additional, unannounced titles for the console are planned by 2014.
Why weren’t these games mentioned during Nintendo’s E3 2013 Nintendo Direct? First, the company felt that there was more information than could be shared during E3. And generally speaking, Nintendo likes keeping a minimal gap between announcements and the release of new games to keep consumers excited and prevent competitors from copying ideas.
“New consoles have always produced better graphics, but the work required may not be related to customer satisfaction. There are more unannounced Wii U titles coming by 2014. There was more info than could be released at E3. Wanted to ease owners’ fears. Don’t want to leave a long gap between announcement/release of new game types that would lessen the impact or allow competitors to copy.”
The second portion of Iwata’s answer focused more on the topic of surprising players:
“Nintendo has the job of both introducing video games to people who’ve never played before as well as satisfying existing fans. Looking for ways to surprise customers in other ways than just creating pretty graphics.”
Miyamoto then took over for Iwata to discuss Pikmin 3:
“We made Pikmin 3 with all of our effort. Beginners and fans alike can play. Game industry change comparable to manga to anime. Nintendo’s accused of having the same series again at E3, but that’s because they’re character-centered, which is a strength. You don’t have to start by creating new characters in order to present new ways to play or new ways to use media.”
