Nintendo on expanding the sales of Super Mario Party, Pokemon: Let’s Go, Smash Bros. Ultimate,
Posted on 5 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 0 comments
This information comes from the Q&A portion of Nintendo’s latest financial results briefing…
I’d like to hear about the future of your big hit titles released during October to December last year. The initial response was extremely strong, but will that be met with a drop in sales momentum? Or will the strength of that initial momentum on release help download sales and purchases based on word-of-mouth to grow, resulting in a net positive effect on future sales?
Satoru Shibata (Director, Senior Executive Officer): We feel very fortunate that the initial sales pace for Super Mario Party, Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu!/Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee!, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has been so strong. However, that doesn’t exactly mean we’re satisfied. Before their release, we challenged ourselves to see how we could expand our consumer base with each of these titles. For Super Mario Party, the question was “How could we reach people other than children and parents?”
Nintendo teases plans for future Switch games, nurturing devs
Posted on 5 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Switch | 0 comments
This information comes from the Q&A portion of Nintendo’s latest financial results briefing…
The “expanding” part of “expanding the number of people who have access to Nintendo IP” may be important, but looking at third-quarter software sales and the presence of two titles with sales of over 10 million units in a single quarter, it seems pursuing “depth” is also important. I think it is important to provide more software for consumers who have already purchased Nintendo Switch. I’d like to know your software lineup for next fiscal year and after, and if you’ve considered the possibility of increasing R&D spending to increase title count going forward.
Furukawa: As you’ve pointed out, “depth” is also important, and we’ve considered many factors with regards to our future lineup.
Nintendo says Smash Bros. boosted Switch Online, wants to make it more appealing each year
Posted on 5 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 0 comments
This information comes from the Q&A portion of Nintendo’s latest financial results briefing…
You mentioned (in the presentation) that the Nintendo Switch Online subscriber base (excluding free trials) has exceeded 8 million accounts, which suggests the service has gotten off to a really good start. I assume the people who purchased Super Smash Bros. Ultimate subscribed to the service at once, but I am wondering how many signed up for 12-month memberships. Given the current content of the service and your pace of releasing a few major, first-party titles in a year, I imagine it might be hard to maintain a relationship with those members. The service is off to a great start, but what do you plan to offer to members going forward?
Furukawa: We do think Nintendo Switch Online has had a good start coming out of the holiday season, helped in large part by Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Nintendo on having Switch and 3DS coexist, wanting multiple Switch units on households
Posted on 5 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Switch | 0 comments
This information comes from the Q&A portion of Nintendo’s latest financial results briefing…
Unit sales of Nintendo 3DS have declined significantly. Iʼd like to hear your thought on sales plans, for instance, coexistence of Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo Switch, as well as any ideas for Nintendo Switch at a lower price point or smaller size as such.
Furukawa: While the Nintendo 3DS market has contracted faster than we anticipated, currently many of consumers who newly purchase Nintendo 3DS are consumers purchasing Nintendo 3DS as their first game system. Nintendo 3DS is appealing as a portable game system, that is easy to carry around since it is small and light, and at a very desirable price point. Demand still remains from parents looking to purchase a first game system for their children. That is why our basic policy is to proceed with both Nintendo Switch and Nintendo 3DS in our dedicated video game platform business.
Regarding future sales of Nintendo Switch, what we first need is to drive sales of one system per household, and we will work towards increasing demand to expand the installed base much further than now. On the other hand, in a survey of households asking how many family members use Nintendo Switch, we found that, while a certain number of households have multiple family members who play on a single console, some households have already purchased multiple consoles. Going forward, we aim to generate such demand among consumers as they feel like “I want to have my own Nintendo Switch console” through measures such as software offerings, not necessarily so that each person will have one, but so that each household will have multiple Nintendo Switch consoles.
Nintendo on software development – working better than before, unannounced games on the way, more
Posted on 5 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 0 comments
This information comes from the Q&A portion of Nintendo’s latest financial results briefing…
For the reason the Nintendo Switch hardware sales forecast for this fiscal year was revised down to 17 million units, I would think it is largely because Nintendo Switch hardware sales did not increase during the first half of this fiscal year and the releases of major titles were concentrated in October through December. I’d like to know what kind of process management is currently in place for software development, as well as your approach to Nintendo Switch hardware from the viewpoint of making software easier to develop?
Shinya Takahashi (Director, Senior Managing Executive Officer): Compared to the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) era, there are a lot more developers, larger development teams. We conduct development in a variety of locations as the number of development centers also increased. Even so, development is being managed more systematically than before. So although it’s true that the volume of software is increasing, there are more people involved in developing it, there are more development processes in place to bring it all together, and development scale has expanded, I believe, regarding plans how to develop software, we are working better than before partly because development departments have been integrated. I have heard some people say we have a tendency towards slow development, but thatʼs certainly not true in every case. We have titles currently in development that we havenʼt announced yet, some of which weʼre preparing to release this year, and I donʼt anticipate the kind of delays they would be concerned about.
Nintendo on lowering Switch hardware forecast, wants to further enrich software lineup
Posted on 5 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 0 comments
This information comes from the Q&A portion of Nintendo’s latest financial results briefing…
Regarding the downward revision of the Nintendo Switch hardware unit sales forecast for this fiscal year, what is different now compared to your expectations at the start of this fiscal year? Iʼd also like to know how many units you intend to sell in the coming fiscal year, and your sales strategy for doing so.
Shuntaro Furukawa (President and Representative Director): This holiday season, we were able to release three major titles (Super Mario Party, Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu!/Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee!, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate), and were able to grow our year-on-year hardware sales in every region.
Yet despite having been able to sell fairly large volume of hardware during the holiday season, it is true that we now do not anticipate reaching the forecasted 12-month sales volume set at the beginning of this fiscal year. As we look back so far (for this fiscal year), we now evaluate that our efforts to fully convey the appeal of Nintendo Switch hardware and software to the number of new consumers we originally hoped to reach were insufficient.
Stunt Kite Party launch trailer
Posted on 5 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Switch, Videos | 0 comments
HandyGames has released Stunt Kite Party on Switch today as a digital download. Get a look at the game’s launch trailer below.
More: HandyGames, Stunt Kite Party
Dragon Quest Builders 2 getting “Japanese-Style Pack” DLC in late February in Japan
Posted on 5 years ago by Matt(@OnePunchMaz) in News, Switch | 0 comments
The first paid piece of DLC for Dragon Quest Builders 2, the “Japanese-Style Pack”, will be available in late February in Japan. This DLC pack was initially scheduled to launch in April, but Square Enix seemingly moved the launch forward a bit. It’ll cost 700 Yen and feature various classic Japanese-inspired items and materials such as lanterns, wall scrolls, futons and more. Square Enix will show off the DLC in more detail in a live stream which will take on February 13 at 9PM JST on their Youtube channel.
Dragon Quest Builders 2 has been out since December 20 last year in Japan. It’ll launch sometime this year in the West. It’s not clear yet how Square Enix will handle DLC packs such as this one for the Western release.
Langrisser I & II: new trailer
Posted on 5 years ago by Matt(@OnePunchMaz) in Switch, Videos | 0 comments
Chara-Ani released a new trailer for the Langrisser I & II remake collection, which you can watch below:
The game will be out in Japan on April 18. A Western release has not yet been announced.
More: Chara-Ani, Langrisser I & II
Our World is Ended opening movie
Posted on 5 years ago by Matt(@OnePunchMaz) in Switch, Videos | 0 comments
5pb. published the opening movie for Our World is Ended today, which you can watch below. The visual novel is set to launch in Japan on February 28, in Europe on March 22 and in North America on March 26.
