Details from Nintendo’s E3 analyst briefing – strong 2014 3DS lineup, first free-to-play game, more
Nintendo has just kicked off its E3 2013 analyst briefing. Macquarie Securities analyst David Gibson is in attendance and is live-tweeting from the event. We’ll be rounding up details below.
– UK market share of the 3DS in the UK has grown from 19% in January-March, 23% in April, and 26% in May
– Animal Crossing boosted US 3DS sales by 4 times versus prior week and set digital sales record in eShop
– Nintendo saying 3DS lineup next year will be strong and not have intervals driven by 1st party titles
– Nintendo plans to turn Wi-Fi access points of 28k in USA and 24k in Europe into StreetPass relay stations to boost StreetPass usage ex japan
– Nintendo aims to use first-party Wii U games to boost hardware sales and third-parties will follow
– Nintendo plans to boost digital sales with launches like New Super Luigi U but also the first free to play game
– Nintendo saying 3DS success in Japan is proof specialist hardware can succeed in smartphone era
– Nintendo free to play game will be released this fiscal year but will not be a Mario or Pokemon game as they already have a good relationship with those brands
– Nintendo talked about keeping cash so it can take risks, delays in schedule were driven mainly by quality focus and some getting used to the Wii U hardware
