More Nintendo financial briefing details – possible Pokemon game, Wii U launch date hint, working with external devs, more
More information has emerged from Nintendo’s latest financial results briefing. Some points are unclear – such as a new Pokemon title that isn’t listed internally – but there are some interesting details nonetheless.
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata shared the following information during the briefing:
– Once again, Kid Icarus coming to Japan between January-March
– Possible Pokemon game coming, could be in the spring
– First 10 months in Japan have 8 of top 20 Nintendo titles vs. 13 last year
– USA: first 3 weeks in October has Wii hardware sales up year-over-year
– USA: 3DS/DS sales trending in-line with DS last year
– Nintendo wants to obtain bigger sales year-over-year by the end of 2011
– Satoru Iwata elieves Christmas sales will be up year-over-year for Nintendo
– USA/Japan: 3DS purchase rate is higher than the DS last year
– USA: Active users in October vs. March hasn’t changed for Wii/DS/3DS
– Improved profits driven by lower cost and continued momentum in 2012
– Nintendo hopes to accelerate digital offerings
– Iwata implied a launch date for Wii U later than June 2012 (makes sense since Nintendo will show the console at the show)
– USA: StreetPass opportunities are small; need to get a group together and they’ll have positive views of the feature
– Nintendo’s priority in 2011 is 3DS hardware sales, profitability sacrificed, want to grow 3DS into a core platform
– Big improvement in 3DS profitability next year; targeting 16 million units; conservative goal, not aggressive
– Lack of 3DS software won’t happen again
– Nintendo will collaborate more with external developers since they can’t do everything internally; external companies better at network service
– Nintendo still interested in expanding the gaming population
– Iwata: Industry will shrink is audience doesn’t expand
– Children are asking for the 3DS more for Christmas
– This is why Nintendo is more confident about 3DS sales
– There is a plan in place to enhance the 3DS line-up internationally, aand this will be one of the drivers for improved profits in 2012
