Nintendo on why Wii Mini removes functionality, Canada-only release explained, more
Nintendo of Canada communications director Matt Ryan has answered a few questions about the upcoming Wii Mini, a new version of the old console. He commented on why certain features were removed (including online), discussed the system’s market, talked about why it will only launch in Canada, and touched on the Mini’s lifecycle. There’s also talk about how Ryan feels that the Wii Mini and Wii U won’t interfere with each other.
Look for Ryan’s full answers below.
Ryan on how removing features keeps the cost down…
“To answer your question, is it based on price: Yeah, of course it is. We want the system to be as affordable as possible to everybody, and the widest audience possible. By taking out functionality, that allows us to keep the cost down.”
Ryan on the market for Wii Mini…
“There’s a consumer out there, there are gamers who have not bought a Wii yet, and there are gamers who have a Wii and want a second one for the cottage, or the chalet, or whatever, who actually don’t need the online functionality. So we basically stripped all the online functionality out, and the end result is cost savings for the person buying Wii Mini at $99. When you look at that price, and you look at what you get for it, we’re pretty confident that that’s the right tipping point to get Wii Mini noticed.”
Ryan on why online functionality was removed…
“The reason that we took [online functionality] out was that we don’t believe that everybody needs that to play games. I mean, a lot of the Wii experiences, and there’s over 1,400 of them that are disc-based Wii games, don’t require online functionality for you to have fun. Now, when you played Wii, or you played some of those games on Wii U, there’s enhanced fun factor when you play them online. But this system isn’t designed for the player who’s looking to have an online experience. Wii Mini is designed for families, or a late adopter, or someone who maybe isn’t even a gamer yet, and maybe doesn’t realize they’ve got a gamer hiding inside of them.”
Ryan on how there are still people out there who haven’t purchased a Wii…
“Frankly, I don’t know when the R&D department in Japan decided that this was the product coming, and when the decision was made that it was going to be in Canada only. But what we know is there are people who still haven’t bought a Wii. Obviously, we don’t have a 100 percent penetration of Wii out there, and if we did, we’d be high-fiving each other. Humbly! Because we’re a very humble company.”
Ryan on how the decision to release Wii Mini only in Canada happened at “very high levels”…
“It’s not the fact that there’s red in it, and we love red in Canada. That’s not it at all. It’s just, we’re the market that’s been chosen to launch this product, and no other territories has made the announcement that they’re launching it. Whether or not we’re a test market will have to be seen, but we plan on it working really well.”
Ryan on the lifecycle for Wii Mini…
“The life cycle of Wii Mini will be determined — I mean, the experience you can get from it has been around since 2006. How long are we going to keep this going? We’ll have to see how it sells. We have no idea what the response is going to be. We’ve had a lot of attention about the Wii Mini, and we’ve had some good results so far from Wii U, but until we go into this holiday time frame we won’t be able to assess whether the Wii Mini is a popular product or not. We hope it is, and think it will be, but it’s up to the people who buy it to determine that.”
One other note not included in lengthy quote form – Ryan said that Nintendo isn’t worried about Wii Mini interfering with Wii U. He explained that the two systems are “fundamentally very, very different products”, and both appeal to different consumers.
