SEGA talks again about Sonic, bigger focus on quality, appealing to new and old fans
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 19 Comments
SEGA has once again commented on the Sonic franchise, plus what fans can expect in the future.
Chris Olson, SEGA of America’s chief operating officer, highlighted two key points while speaking with Polygon. He pointed to “a greater focus on quality” as well as interest in appealing to new and old fans. Additionally, SEGA isn’t looking to rush Sonic titles out the door.
Olson’s comments in full:
“(SEGA) wants to bring Sonic to where gamers are. …there’s still a very large-sized audience with old-school Sonic fans who grew up with the Genesis. We have an obligation to the fans of Sonic and the consumer.”
“The business is always a conflict of weighing bringing a title to a market and making the yearly plan versus maybe waiting and bringing something else. You can see that on the mobile side of things. In the earlier day of mobile development, there was a tendency to bring things out immediately. Those days are … gone. Consumer expectations have been raised.”
“Video game development is a pretty chaotic thing, and it’s important not to rush things, because we want to be sure we’re bring out the most polished thing. When we look at bringing Sonic to modern-day gamers, we … obviously want to appeal to as many people as possible but still focus on what it means to be Sonic and a Sonic game. Maybe that might lose some fans along the road, but we’re picking up new fans that will hopefully grow with us as Sonic grows.”
Olson also said SEGA will continue to “[evaluate] different ways to bring cool experiences” based on Sonic, it will do so with an increased emphasis on combining “cool” with “quality.”
More: Chris Olson, interview, SEGA, Sonic, top
Nintendo – more on mobile and IPs, cooperation with Facebook/Twitter
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 11 Comments
Earlier this week, Nintendo held its latest financial results briefing. The event consisted of both a presentation and a Q&A. The latter part has now been published online as a transcript, though only in Japanese at the moment.
Twitter user Cheesemeister has come up with a few translations of notable topics. These include more on Nintendo and mobile, the company’s usage of IPs and new IPs, and use of Facebook and Twitter. You can read on below for the full translations.
The smartphone app market seems to be out of new ideas and growing boring, do you intend to dramatically change gameplay with your games? The app you just introduced (Miitomo) may just be 1 app, but isn’t heavily emphasizing communication a bit off from Nintendo’s strengths?
Kimishima: Miitomo is a unique app and can be enjoyed by communicating using Miis, even by those not normally in constant communication. Miitomo is closely integrated with My Nintendo and Nintendo Account. We’ve already demonstrated the joy of discovering things about people you thought you knew well in internal tests during development. With the likable Mii IP, smart device users will enjoy it. Other than Miitomo, we’re thinking of apps that integrate w/ consoles, as well as things just for mobile and users who don’t normally play.
More: Tatsumi Kimishima
VIZ Media thinks Yo-kai Watch will be the next Pokemon
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 31 Comments
VIZ Media has high hopes for Yo-kai Watch. Waell Oueslati, EMEA associate brand manager at Viz Media, recently told MCV that he believes the franchise could be the next Pokemon.
Oueslati said:
“This will be the next big boys’ brand, essentially the next Pokémon. We have very high expectations for the market and for the UK. We are certainly bigger than Pokémon in Japan; we currently have 95 per cent market share in that region.”
In case you’re curious, VIZ Media is in charge of Yo-kai Watch’s comics and TV show in both North America and Europe.
More: interview, Level-5, Viz Media, Waell Oueslati, Yo-kai Watch
Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire Happy Meal to offer figures and cards
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 2 Comments
The Pokemon partnership with McDonald’s doesn’t just extend to the Hoopa distribution for the 3DS games. We’ve now also received the announcement of the Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire Happy Meal, which will be available at locations in the United States and Canada between November 27 and December 23.
These Happy Meals will include one of eight collectible Pokemon figures from Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire as well as one of twelve Pokemon TCG cards. The figures include Pikachu, Primal Groudon, Primal Kyogre, Lugia, Rayquaza, Mega Latios, Wobbuffet, and Hoopa.
Source: Pokemon PR
Kimishima – wants 100-200 million My Nintendo members, Miitomo talk, NX offers new experience
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Mobile, News, Switch | 32 Comments
More tidbits have been translated from Nikkei’s interview with Nintendo president and CEO Tatsumi Kimishima.
We already heard Kimishima’s mention that Nintendo has interest in bringing its mobile apps to over 100 countries (with eight supported languages). We also heard him mention that he believes Nintendo could exceed profits from the Wii and DS days.
In terms of what’s new, here’s what Kimishima said when asked when the localization of Nintendo’s mobile apps will take place:
“I want to do it as soon as possible. This is because our goal is to increase the number of My Nintendo members. It would be good if we reached one hundred or two hundred million members.”
Kimishima was also asked if Nintendo will lose money on Miitomo. He replied with the following:
“If you want to dress your Mii in certain outfits, it’ll be so that you can select and purchase them. Also, it will have game elements.”
Finally, Kimishima did briefly touch on NX. Of course, Nintendo won’t be talking about it until next year, but it “offers a totally new experience.” He also wants it to be adopted quicker than the 3DS and the Wii U.
More: interview, Tatsumi Kimishima, top
Falco amiibo pre-orders up on the Nintendo UK store
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
Pre-orders have now gone up on the Nintendo UK store. To get yours in, head on over to this page. The figure is due out on November 20 for £10.99.
Capcom reports latest financial results – profits down, MH4U still doing well
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
Today, Capcom issued its financial report for the sixth month period between April and September. While the company did experience an increase in sales, it saw a decrease in income.
Capcom reported a total of $262 million in net sales, up 22 percent over the same six month period in 2014. However, net income decreased from $25 million last year to $16 million. Digital sales of games such as Monster Hunter 4 were said to be “firm, particularly in overseas markets”.
More: Capcom, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, sales
Nintendo on maximizing the value of its IP
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 24 Comments
Nintendo commented on how it intends to maximize the value of its IP during its latest financial results briefing. Here’s what was shared by CEO Tatsumi Kimishima:
“As you know, Nintendo’s basic strategy has consistently been “expansion of the gaming population.” A variety of popular characters, including Mario and Link, appear in Nintendo’s video games and these characters are the source of Nintendo’s IP value. By increasing the number of people who have access to this Nintendo IP or video game characters, music and world view, and by increasing the value of Nintendo IP, we aim to further expand the gaming population.
More specifically, we will provide people with new applications on their smart devices by utilizing our Nintendo IP. We are also planning to offer new attractions at theme parks by using Nintendo IP. Further, by using Nintendo IP in a variety of other ways, such as licensing and commercializing this IP for visual content and merchandizing products, we are planning to maximize the value of Nintendo IP, which has traditionally been used mainly for our dedicated video game systems. Needless to say, there is no change to the fact that dedicated game systems remain at the core of Nintendo experiences.”
More: top
amiibo – cumulative sales rankings, most shipments in the Americas
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 3 Comments
As part of its latest financial results briefing materials, Nintendo posted a slide showing the cumulative sales rankings of amiibo. We’re able to see what’s popular in the United States, Europe, and Japan. Check out the full rankings above.
Nintendo also revealed that most shipments came from the Americas:
This is a graph that shows the latest ratio of shipments by region for figure-type amiibo. The blue colored area represents the Americas. In the US, the so-called “Toys to Life” category, in which games work together with figures, are well recognized and people are familiar with this way of having fun. This is why during the previous fiscal year the percentage of shipments for the Americas was 66 percent, which represented a significant portion of total amiibo shipments. The Americas market still holds more than half of the total sales but you can tell from the graph that regions other than the US, where “Toys to Life” products had a late release, are gradually expanding. For your information, the majority of sales for “Other Regions” are from Australia. In addition to Australia, we started to ship to Asia from this financial period.
More: Amiibo
Nintendo’s latest financial results briefing transcript now available in English
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 4 Comments
Update: Okay. I lied. Couldn’t resist posting the amiibo sales rankings, excerpt about 3DS localizations, and IP plans.!
Nintendo has now shared a full English transcript of its latest financial results briefing. Access it here. I won’t be posting any additional snippets since we’ve pretty much covered everything major in various posts over the past couple of hours. However, you can read up on a little bit of additional information concerning Wii U and 3DS sales at the link.
