Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile | 12 Comments

Smart device game applications are drawing attention in the game industry because so many people around the world own smart devices (smartphones and tablets) and because, even though the total number is small, there have been several successful applications that have been hugely profitable after becoming very popular.

On the other hand, the competition among smart device applications has been so fierce that Nintendo cannot succeed just by releasing any software title with its popular characters or the themes in its popular game franchises. Any company that releases a new smart device application must face the challenge of making it stand out among the crowd.

About the shareholder’s question on how to charge for smart device applications, in general, there is one system to ask consumers to make a one-time payment for the application and another system to ask consumers to pay for additional downloadable content. As for the latter, people often call it the “free-to-play” system. However, since Nintendo is a company that wants the value of the games to be appreciated by consumers and wants to keep the games’ value at as high a level as possible, we do not want to use the free-to-play terminology that implies that you can play games free-of-charge. Instead, we use the term “free-to-start,” as this term more aptly describes that at the beginning you can start to play for free. And, the fact of the matter is, game software with a one-time payment system has not been doing a great job on smart devices. Because there are so many competitors making smart device applications, there is fierce competition and the pressure to lower prices. As a result of this competition to discount products, smart device game applications are being sold at far lower prices than the ones for dedicated video game systems. I think some of you would have seen such campaigns as “90 percent discount for smart device applications” in the shops on your smart devices. Because it is a digital product, it does not require transportation fees nor other constant expenses necessary for packaged software, and some may think it is good if it sells (even at a low price point), but once the value of a software title decreases, it can never be increased again. Since Nintendo wants to cherish the value of software, there will be a limit to how low of a price we might want to attach to our game applications for smart devices. The price of our game applications on smart devices will be compared with the prices of other smart device game applications. We believe we should not limit our payment system only to one-time payments, even though this is not something that we can announce as a general principle because different payment systems suit different kinds of software.

If I can add a few more explanations about the free-to-start system, even though you can start playing with the application for free, it later requires you to pay if you want to play beyond the initial area or to pay for items if you want to play the game in a more advantageous position. In extreme examples, some games are designed so that the players will be so excited psychologically as a result of, for example, being able to obtain a very rare item that they do not think twice about pushing the button, which immediately completes the monetary transaction and the player is charged with the bill. We know that some of such games have become a social issue. For your further information, in Japan, among those who are playing free-to-start games on their smart devices, the number of people who are actually spending money is very small. Yet, because this small group of people is paying a large sum of money, with which they could have even purchased several dedicated video game systems, this is one reason this free-to-start model can be very profitable. On the other hand, when we look around the world, the situation is different, and such a charging system has not necessarily been working well. When we look at successful smart device game applications abroad, a number of companies have been asking each of a greater number of consumers to pay less money. Companies may be able to make a very profitable business in Japan by asking a small group of consumers to pay a large amount of money (for their smart device applications), but we do not think that the same approach would be embraced by people around the world. Accordingly, even though we recognize that it is not an easy path to take, as long as Nintendo makes smart device applications, we must make them so that they appeal not just to some limited age group but to a wide age demographic just as our games thus far have been doing, and they should appeal to anyone regardless of their gaming experiences and gender, and most importantly, regardless of different cultures, nationalities and languages. We would like to make several software titles that are considered worldwide hits as soon as possible.

Regarding your question about the target audience, we are trying to make applications that appeal to a wide variety of people so that the games can receive payments widely but shallowly from each consumer. In other words, even if a consumer makes a relatively small payment, because of the large consumer base, the game can generate big revenue. This is the business model we would like to realize. I think the shareholder has just asked these questions partially because he is concerned that Nintendo might shift to the notorious business model that asks a small number of people to pay excessive amounts of money and that Nintendo’s brand image might be hurt. Please understand that Nintendo will make its proposals by taking into consideration what Nintendo really should do with this new challenge.

On a different note, we are not planning to release many game applications from this year (when our first smart device application will be released) to the next. The reason for this is that software for dedicated game systems is considered a “product” that tends to produce the strongest and most fresh impact on the world at the time of its release into the market but its impact can be lost gradually as time goes by. With that analogy, smart device applications have a strong aspect of “service.” Even though the initial number of players tends to be small, those who have played invite others to play too, and as the total number of the players gradually increases, so does the revenue. This, however, means that the release of the game does not mark the end of its development. If the game cannot offer services that evolve even on a daily basis, it cannot entertain consumers over the long term. Accordingly, we would like to spend sufficient time on the service aspect of each title, and we would like to grow each one of our small number of game applications with the objectives that I just mentioned.

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Switch, Wii U | 27 Comments

Nintendo is not sharing any specifics about its next system – tentatively known as NX – until next year. There’s a reason for this.

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, speaking at the company’s latest shareholders meeting, explained that revealing details early “could also give other companies the opportunity to come up with counterplans or implement the ideas that they find interesting.”

Iwata also touched on plans for Wii U and 3DS following NX’s launch. Even when the new system hits the market, we can apparently expect continued release for the two platforms.

Below are Iwata’s comments in full:

As I mentioned earlier, I cannot speak about the details of NX today. If I mention every detail of what we are newly thinking, it could be persuasive but it could also give other companies the opportunity to come up with counterplans or implement the ideas that they find interesting. There may also be the possibility that it will spoil the sense of surprise for consumers. Of course these factors are all against the interest of the entire company and they would ultimately harm the interest of our shareholders, so we appreciate your understanding in this respect.

Regarding your concern about what will happen to Wii U or what will happen to Nintendo 3DS, NX is a new platform, so the installed base will have to be built up from zero. When NX is launched, there already will be a certain volume of Nintendo 3DS and Wii U hardware widely existing in the market, so from a software business perspective, it would be highly inefficient to stop releasing titles for Nintendo 3DS or Wii U right after the launch of NX. Therefore, while we are preparing NX for the future, we are discussing within our internal development teams as well as with the second-party developers we co-develop software with and also with third-party software publishers about how to continue creating software for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. So, I believe that your point of concern should not happen immediately. As for Wii U, we will continue to make efforts, as it is a priority within the company to think about how we can satisfy the consumers who purchased this system to the maximum extent possible.

More: Satoru Iwata

Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 7 Comments

Whereas Nintendo’s E3 showing was generally well-received in 2014, the same can’t be said of this year’s event. A number of fans have expressed disappointment in terms of what Nintendo brought to the table during its latest Digital Event last month.

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata and Shigeru Miyamoto both addressed the reaction to the company’s E3 2015 presence at a recent shareholders meeting. The two of them noted the following:

Iwata:

E3 this year was held a week later than it has been held in the last few years, and it was held right before our general meeting of shareholders. Including the preparations for this meeting, I prioritized my works in Japan and did not travel to the U.S. to attend E3. As a representative of our board of directors who attended E3 this year, I would like to ask Mr. Miyamoto to talk about it. There will be a video that I would like to show afterward.

Shigeru Miyamoto (Senior Managing Director and General Manager of Entertainment Analysis & Development Division):

E3 is the annual industry trade show that is usually held around May or June in the U.S. It is true that E3 has the aspect that the shareholder just mentioned. It actually started as a trade show for the U.S. market, and due to the spread of the Internet, the information dispatched at E3 spread around the world. Nintendo views E3 as not only an industry trade show in the U.S. but also as an occasion with which the entire Nintendo group should be involved.

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Switch, Wii U | 12 Comments

During Nintendo’s latest shareholders meeting, one attendee brought up the slow launches of both Wii U and 3DS. This same person expressed concerns about NX meeting a similar fate.

Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo, addressed this by stating:

The situation for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U is in line with what you mentioned. For Wii U in particular, it cannot be said that it had a successful launch. As for Nintendo 3DS, in Japan there was a temporary slowdown but we managed to make a recovery by offering a number of initiatives collectively. On the other hand, Wii U has not been able to recover at this point in time. Because of this, the size of the installed base compared to the Nintendo DS or Wii eras appears not to be as solid and this is reflected in the company’s profitability. But taking a look back, it was not the case that Nintendo DS sold with huge momentum from the beginning. When it first started to lose momentum, we offered a number of titles from a new genre, such as “nintendogs” or “Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day,” and these titles were widely accepted even by those who had never played video games in the past. This sequence of events led to a very large business. The platform business can sometimes be referred to as a “momentum business.” Thus, it is ideal to have a jump start and drive momentum. Looking back at some of Nintendo’s past platforms, this ideal launch has been achieved 100 percent by perhaps only Wii. Even the Nintendo DS launch had areas in which we could have done better. I cannot disagree with your indication that Wii U is experiencing the most unfavorable situation.

Since the word “NX” has been mentioned, please let me elaborate. When Nintendo announced the collaboration with DeNA on March 17 of this year, I mentioned that Nintendo is currently developing a new dedicated video game system codenamed “NX.” The reason I mentioned this was, at that time, there were more than a certain number of people that thought that Nintendo would give up on the dedicated game system business and concentrate on smart device application development, or that Nintendo should take that path. In addition, such tone could be seen frequently through the media. I felt it was necessary to communicate that Nintendo is not pessimistic about the future of the dedicated game system business but rather more and more eager to continue it. On the other hand, details on the new platform essentially should come later. This is because the entertainment business has an aspect where there is value in surprising consumers. It is not convincing enough to the consumer if we describe how the magic works before actually showing it to them and then expecting them to be surprised or delighted. Having the element of surprise or doing the unexpected is the premise for introducing new ideas and having them welcomed with surprise. That is why I have been repeatedly saying that the next news on NX will not be announced during 2015 but will be announced in 2016. Nevertheless, since NX has news value, when I am interviewed on various occasions, I am asked about it almost every time. I will not share details on NX today but with regard to the launch of Nintendo 3DS and Wii U not necessarily having progressed well and not acquiring sufficient support from software publishers, we intend to offer NX through a Nintendo-like solution. Thank you for understanding that we are making various considerations and preparations in order to avoid what happened with the previous generations.

On a different note, I believe the standard for software publishers in selecting what hardware to provide their games for is the installed base after all. The larger the installed base or the more it is believed that the installed base will largely expand, there is an aspect that more software publishers are likely to join in. On the other hand, Nintendo is collaborating with various software publishers. At E3, which was held in the U.S. and is the largest trade show in the video game industry, we received many proposals for joint initiatives. In addition, Japanese software publishers have close relationships with our licensing department on a regular basis. As for collaborations with software publishers or their games, please consider that there are various ongoing projects below the surface.

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

Nintendo conducted its 75th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders a couple of weeks back. The event featured some brief opening remarks from president Satoru Iwata, but the main highlight was the Q&A. Nintendo now has the entire transcript up in English here.

We already covered the Q&A in-depth last month, so we won’t be posting all of the information here. However, I’ll be picking out a few highlights throughout the day.

Thanks to Thomas for the tip.

Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 0 comments

According to the latest issue of Jump, Dragon Quest VIII on 3DS will feature an additional dungeon. Jahagaros, a new boss monster, is located here. You can view a scan from the magazine above that provides a look at the new box art illustrated by Akira Toriyama.

Jump is also teasing the reveal of a “big title” for its next issue due out next week. Since it’s on the Dragon Quest VIII page, it should be something related to Dragon Quest. It’s unclear if the game in question is for Nintendo platforms.

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS eShop, Videos, Wii U eShop | 0 comments

Nintendo released a new video today showcasing a few European digital game highlights from June 2015. You can watch it below.

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS eShop, News, Wii U eShop | 2 Comments

This week’s North American Nintendo Downloads are as follows:

Wii U Download

Roving Rogue – $7.99
Quadcopter Pilot Challenge – $8.99

Wii U Virtual Console

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time – $9.99

3DS Download

Samurai Warriors Chronicles 3 – $39.99
Mercenaries Saga 2 – $4.99

3DS Themes

Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies Mood Matrix
Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies Court Record
Ace Attorney Trilogy Pixel Art
Ace Attorney Trilogy Main Characters
Pokémon: Mega Charizard Y & Mega Rayquaza
Pokémon: Eevee Collection: Espeon & Umbreon

eShop Sales

Wii U

– Bombing Bastards and Spot the Differences: Party! from Sanuk Games are on sale until 8:59 a.m. PT on July 9.
– Ittle Dew is 50 percent off (reduced from $9.99 to $4.99) until 8:59 a.m. PT on July 30.
– Plenty of Fishies is 40 percent off (reduced from $4.99 to $2.99) until 8:59 a.m. PT on July 31.

3DS

– Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies from Capcom is 44 percent off (reduced from $29.99 to $16.79) until 8:59 a.m. PT on July 16.
– Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy from Capcom is 25 percent off (reduced from $29.99 to $22.49) until 8:59 a.m. PT on July 16.
– Talking Phrasebook – 7 Languages is 40 percent off (reduced from $4.99 to $2.99) until 8:59 a.m. PT on July 9.
– European Conqueror 3D, The Legend of Dark Witch and Tappingo from Circle Entertainment are on sale until 8:59 a.m. PT on July 23.
– Toy Stunt Bike is 50 percent off (reduced from $4.99 to $2.49) until 8:59 a.m. PT on July 30.
– Mystery Case Files: Dire Grove, 4 Elements and more games from Tulip Games are on sale until 8:59 a.m. PT on Jan. 1.

Activities

Splatoon: New Game Mode and Splatfest – Tower Control, a new game mode that finds Inklings riding a tower into the enemy’s base, has been added to Ranked Battle. In addition, the theme for the first Splatoon Splatfest is “Cats or Dogs” and starts July 4. Learn more here: http://splatoon.nintendo.com.

Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. “Independence” Tournament – See how your Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. squad stacks up online in Nintendo’s Public Tournaments. Top players earn unique titles that are visible online and earn major bragging rights with their friends and around the world. The new “Independence” tournament runs from July 2 to July 6. Opt in via the SpotPass feature for notifications on future tournaments, and click here for more information about multiplayer tournaments. Good luck, agents!

Source: Nintendo PR

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U eShop | 0 comments

This week’s Wii U eShop charts are as follows:

Software

1. Splatoon
2. EarthBound Beginnings
3. Cube Life: Island Survival
4. Super Mario World
5. EarthBound
6. Super Mario 64
7. Paper Mario
8. Mario Party 10
9. Zelda: The Wind Waker HD
10. Zelda: The Minish Cap
11. Super Mario Bros. 3
12. Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
13. Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
14. Super Metroid
15. LEGO Jurassic World
16. Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time
17. Donkey Kong 64
18. Yoshi’s Island: Super Mario Advance 3
19. Golden Sun
20. Super Mario Bros.

Videos

1. Super Mario Maker – E3 2015 Trailer
2. Star Fox Zero – E3 2015 Trailer
3. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS Here Comes a New Challenger
4. Yoshi’s Woolly World E3 2015 Trailer
5. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS New Content 6/14/15
6. Splatoon Direct 5/7/15
7. Cube Life: Island Survival Trailer
8. Skylanders SuperChargers E3 Trailer
9. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS Roy Seals the Deal
10. EarthBound Beginnings Trailer
11. LEGO Jurassic World Launch Trailer
12. Splatoon amiibo Trailer
13. Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games E3 2015 Video
14. Play Nintendo Introduction Video
15. Never Alone Trailer
16. Xenoblade Chronicles X E3 2015 Trailer
17. Zelda: Tri Force Heroes E3 2015 Trailer
18. Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash E3 2015 Trailer
19. Art Academy: Home Studio Launch Trailer
20. Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival E3 2015 Trailer

Source: Wii U eShop

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS eShop, News, Wii U eShop | 0 comments

This week’s video additions to the Wii U/3DS eShops are as follows:

Wii U

Splatoon – Splatfest Incoming
Nintendo Minute – E3 Vlog
Roving Rogue Trailer
KEYTARI: 8-bit Music Maker Trailer
Quadcopter Pilot Challenger Trailer
Art Academy: Home Studio Launch Trailer

3DS

Splatoon – Splatfest Incoming
Nintendo Minute – E3 Vlog
Art Academy: Home Studio Launch Trailer

Source: Wii U/3DS eShops

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