News from Nintendo’s latest investor’s briefing – 250k on GameStop’s Wii U wait list
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 0 comments
Update: Now over, basically. You can see a more comprehensive version of the presentation through the slides posted here.
It’s that time once again! Nintendo is holding its usual investor’s briefing in Japan today, and analyst David Gibson is in attendance as usual.
We’ll round up Gibson’s tweets from the events below. I suppose you can consider this a live-blog of sorts.
– 9 of the top 20 titles in Japan are for the 3DS
– Europe/USA only has 3
– Nintendo doesn’t consider 3DS to be having a significantly positive performance given market is double in Japan
– 3DS has a 57% share of sales in Japan this year
– Only 18% share in Europe
– Only 20% share in the USA
– 3DS XL helped
– 3DS’ seven quarter sales have exceeded the DS
– On Wii U: Nintendo thinks there will be shipment bottleneck to meet demand
– GameStop sold pre-orders in 1.5 days
– 250,000 people are on the retailer’s wait list
– Wii price cut and bundles will drive sales
– Nintendo believes Wii buyer user base is different from Wii U, meaning the two won’t cannibalize each other
– 3DS connection rate increased from 10% to 72% in a year
– Japan and USA exceeded a rate of 80%
– The rate is lower in Europe/Australia, but Nintendo thinks that’s infrastructure-related
– Some retail software in Japan exceeded a rate of 15% from eShop downloads
– New Super Mario Bros. 2 is the highest digital game in the USA with Japan next
– Wii U digital downloads will be available “right after launch” (not clear if it this will literally be at launch)
– 3DS losses improved in the second quarter
– Decided on the Wii U price based on user acceptance of price, not on cogs
– “booked some WiiU costs in 2Q”
– Nintendo considering Nintendo TVii-like service for Japan; a different service is needed in Europe, and Nintendo has plans to announce that in detail in the near future
– “said nintendo’s focus is on game services, synergy with web and increased user satisfaction (rather than other services)”
– Admits smartphones have changed the environment
– Smartphone is “our friend”, not a threat
– Nintendo wants to provide entertainment that exceeds the 85 yen offered in the App Store and do something that can’t be done on smartphones
– Nintendo will collaborate with smartphone companies
– Miiverse fits into these plans with the larger the group of friends the larger the game opportunity
– Anticipating that the mix of third-party games for Wii U will be high initially which contrasts with the Wii
– The Wii saw low third-party support initially, but it gradually improved
– Nintendo has no intention of offering DLC extras for all games since they think it is unhealthy
– Will be done on a game-by-game basis
Japanese Nintendo Direct promises updates on 3DS and Wii U titles
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Wii U | 0 comments
As far as we know, tomorrow’s North American Nintendo Direct will be focusing on the 3DS. But a presentation has now been confirmed for Japan as well, and it’s promising the latest news on 3DS and Wii U games.
The Japanese broadcast will take place at 4 AM PT / 7 AM ET. Again, three hours later, the North American Nintendo Direct will be shown.
Be sure to check on the site for the latest news from both events.
North American Nintendo Direct confirmed for tomorrow… 3DS-focused?
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 0 comments
There’s been a lot of speculation that a Nintendo Direct would soon be announced so that the Big N could share some news about the Wii U. Looks like the rumors were right… sort of.
There is a Nintendo Direct taking place tomorrow – at 7 AM PT/ 10 AM ET – but it appears to be 3DS-focused.
Take a look at the following message just posted on Nintendo’s Facebook page:
“Tune in to Nintendo.com tomorrow at 7AM PT for a new Nintendo Direct! We’ll be taking an in-depth look at several announced Nintendo 3DS games coming this holiday season, and there might even be a sneak peek at a few 2013 titles!”
And so it looks like the wait for Wii U continues!
n-Space disappointed with Heroes of Ruin sales, sequel in doubt
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 0 comments
Heroes of Ruin could be the first and only entry in the series. n-Space studio co-founder Dan O’Leary has expressed disappointment over the game’s sales, noting that it “did not appeal to enough of the installed base.”
As a result, the chances of a sequel aren’t so high. O’Leary also said that he is concerned that “Heroes did not have enough commercial impact to justify a sequel.”
“No, we’re not satisfied with the sales. The 3DS attach rate is… challenging at best and it seems that, for all its promise, Heroes of Ruin did not appeal to enough of the installed base. I am super pleased with what we made and would love to return to the genre one day, but I fear that Heroes did not have enough commercial impact to justify a sequel.”
Style Savvy: Trendsetters takes up over 10,000 blocks on an SD card
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 0 comments
On its surface, Style Savvy: Trendsetters may not seem like a huge game. But it really is.
If you plan on downloading Trendsetters from the eShop, you’ll need a pretty big SD card. The game takes up 10,500 blocks, which is roughly 1.35GB.
In case you were wondering, those two figures do not take DLC into account.
Mutant Mudds originally featured Metroid-inspired design
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 0 comments
Renegade Kid’s Mutant Mudds is a pure platform at heart. Before the final product was decided on, however, the studio was considering making the game similar to Metroid.
Co-founder Jools Watsham revealed on Twitter that “Mutant Mudds was ‘Metroidlike’, with power-up abilities being used as ‘keys’ to access new areas.” The title we know of today pretty much disregarded that gameplay, though it is somewhat represented in the secret levels.
Japanese Family Golf 3D trailer
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, Videos | 0 comments
Media Create software sales (10/15 -10/21)
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, DS, News | 0 comments
01./00. [PSP] Little Battlers eXperience W
02./02. [PS3] Resident Evil 6
03./01. [3DS] Bravely Default: Flying Fairy
04./00. [PS3] FIFA 13
05./04. [PS3] World Soccer Winning Eleven 2013
06./06. [3DS] New Super Mario Bros. 2
07./00. [PSV] The Legend of Heroes: Zero no Kiseki Evolution #
08./00. [PSV] Little Battlers eXperience W
09./07. [3DS] Style Savvy: Trendsetters
10./08. [3DS] Tousouchuu: Shijou Saikyou no Hunter-Tachi Kara Nigekire!
11./03. [3DS] Project X Zone
12./13. [NDS] Pokemon Black 2 / White 2
13./00. [360] Monster Hunter Frontier Online: Forward .5 Premium Package
14./00. [PSP] Hakuouki: Yuugi Roku Ni – Matsuri Hayashi to Taishitachi #
15./00. [PSP] Shiren the Wanderer 4 Plus: God’s Eye and the Demon’s Navel
16./11. [PSP] SD Gundam G Generation: Overworld
17./17. [3DS] Taiko no Tatsujin: Chibi Dragon to Fushigi na Orb
18./16. [3DS] Art Academy: Lessons for Everyone
19./10. [PSP] Diabolik Lovers #
20./05. [PS3] Tokitowa: Time and Eternity #
New Bravely Default free-to-play PC game connects to 3DS title
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 0 comments
A new Bravely Default game is in the works, but it may not be what you expect.
This week’s Famitsu revealed a new free-to-play game for the PC, which will see a beta test shortly.
So why are we posting about it here? Because Square Enix is planning on having the 3DS title and new PC game connect in some way. The exact details on this aren’t yet available, but it will be interesting to see how the two connect.
More information about the PC game is posted here.
Details from Nintendo’s latest financial report
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
Nintendo’s latest financial results are in. They aren’t so hot, but there are a couple of positive notes.
For the full rundown of the report, read on below.
– Full-year profit predictions cut from 20 billion yen to 6 billion yen
– Poorer than expected overseas 3DS sales
– ¥23.2bn (£182m/$290m/€224m) loss from exchange rates unfavorable to the strong Yen
– For the six month period ending on September 30, 2012, Nintendo recorded global sales of ¥201bn (£1.58bn/$2.52bn/€1.94bn)
– This is down 6.8 percent on the same period for the year previous, recording a loss of ¥28bn (£220m/$350.7m/€270.2m)
– Nintendo is recovering from the ¥70.2bn loss it made for the first six months of the last financial year
– Net income per share stabilized from a loss of ¥549.53 for the first six months of last year to a loss of ¥218.93 for the period just ended
– Results were slightly below target for Nintendo, which had predicted losses of just ¥20bn rather than ¥28
– Predicted figures for the full year have been adjusted accordingly
– Profit of ¥20bn adjusted to ¥6bn
– For the last financial year, the company’s books registered a loss of ¥43.2bn
– In the first quarter of FY 2012, Nintendo recorded a record loss of ¥17.2 billion ($220.4m/£142m)
Nintendo statement:
“The Company continues to focus on selling Nintendo 3DS during the second half of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2013 and aims to expand its business by launching the Wii U system as the successor of Wii in the year-end sales season in the main regions of the world. The earnings forecast has been modified to reflect a yen appreciation stronger than expected at the beginning of the fiscal year, the actual sales result for the six-month period ended September 30, 2012 and a change in the outlook for the following six-month period from October 2012 through March 2013 by reviewing the mix of each hardware and software sales unit forecast. During the second half of this fiscal year, the assumed exchange rate of the yen to the U.S. dollar has remained at 80 yen per U.S. dollar, while that of the yen to the euro has been revised from 105 yen to 100 yen per euro.”
