Details from Nintendo’s latest investor results meeting – Miiverse out today for PC, this year for 3DS

As is typical for the company, Nintendo is holding a meeting with investors following the release of their fiscal results yesterday.

We’ll be keeping this post updated with all of the tidbits from the latest event. In one way, I guess you can say this is a live-blog! Keep checking back for updates, which come from analyst David Gibson.

– Nintendo claims that it has increasing market share globally in markets that are in decline
– Says they need to rebuild momentum for Wii U
– One of Nintendo’s biggest priorities is to improve the 3DS in international markets with major software titles
– Nintendo claims that the press’ tone has been more positive, citing Kotaku and USA Today comments that 3DS has the best games
– Nintendo says Wii U sales will improve from July onwards with first-party titles
– Miiverse can be accessed from PC today
– Miiverse coming to 3DS this year
– 87% connection rate for 3DS
– 80% connection rate for Wii U
– 25% of Animal Crossing’s sales in Japan were digital; 2/3 purchased at retail
– Wii U will get Sucia (trains) card compatibility in Japan in the near future to make payments easier
– Nintendo open to new business models on its platforms such as FTP or cheap price
– Cloud-based games not suited for their platforms and no plans to take advantage of the tech
– Iwata is taking over direct report of overseas business so there will be more alignment and product potential will be enhanced
– Iwata is giving up some of his roles in Japan
– Nintendo sees driver of this year profit improvement from hardware cost reduction and rise in first-party mix
– Nintendo said that with US purchases larger than sales that currency benefit was limited but should increase as sales rise
– Nintendo says that Wii U momentum is already lost and now wants to release software continuously
– Also important that consumers are satisfied with the software
– Nintendo said advertising expense doesn’t rise much this year because of efficiency of using Nintendo Direct, social media, and eShop
– Last year’s advertising included brand building for Wii U, which won’t be needed this year
– Regarding software delays, this was because people had to work on hardware more than planned and min expectations rising
– Nintendo on share buyback: said it’s only benefit is to those who exit their shares into it, only short term benefit