Iwata discusses VOD partners, Nintendo TVii-like service for Europe/Japan
Nintendo is partnering with a number of VOD partners such as Netflix for its US Nintendo TVii service for Wii U. There are also other companies in talks with the publisher.
President Satoru Iwata told investors last week that a Nintendo TVii-like service could head to Europe and Japan. Iwata said they’ll be “taking into account how people watch television in each region, and I believe I will be able to share more details in the not-so-distant future.”
One other important note, which we’ll highlight here:
“Also I regret having to have used Nintendo’s limited game development resources in order to provide non-gaming features on Wii. This time, we are working to see how we can enrich our services without having to rely on Nintendo’s internal development resources, and because the Wii U system itself is now fairly powerful, I believe that standard web technologies can be applied to achieve a sufficient degree of speed and convenience, and we will deploy our services in this fashion in the future.”
Head past the break for Iwata’s full comments.
I will now move onto the second question about our outside partners. You mentioned Netflix and Hulu Plus, which are VOD service providers. Since we created Wii U, because it is located right next to the TV set and is connected to the Internet, we have been thinking of ways to turn Wii U into a system that changes the relationship between the TV, the Internet and the user. And in fact, this has been our goal since we launched Wii. However, the Wii hardware did not have a screen of its own, and while the controller allowed for intuitive gameplay which enabled one to move his/her body, it was not suited for typing. This time, we thought that we would be able to create a new service using the Wii U GamePad and announced what is known as “Nintendo TVii” in the United States. Thanks to the success of cable television in the United States, there are numerous TV channels as well as VOD services, including Netflix and Hulu Plus, and we therefore thought that a universal search feature that enables you to look for programs to watch in one unified way would be suited to how people watch television in the United States. Indeed, it might be more probable for the system to spread among consumers if it is successful in providing services and putting smiles on the faces of our consumers even when it is not being used to play games in the living room. In fact, services like Netflix in the U.S. and BBC iPlayer in the U.K. are already popular on Wii, and many people are still actively using these services. As a result, VOD service providers are aware that the Wii system and Wii users go very well with VOD services. Everyone in the VOD industry recognizes the possibilities of Wii U, and we are receiving other proposals which we have not announced yet.
By the way, one thing to note is that the way people watch television is significantly different in each country. In Japan, for example, television watching is usually limited to a handful of terrestrial television channels, whereas in the United States, where cable television has grown in popularity, there are literally hundreds of channels to choose from, so what we mean by making television easier to watch and more enjoyable should not be the same in every region. We did consider making Wii U into such a system in Japan, as it will be located right next to the TV and will be connected to the Internet, but I feel that Japanese consumers would not appreciate a service that is designed for the U.S. market. The same applies to Europe. We are currently considering offering “Nintendo TVii” in Japan and Europe by taking into account how people watch television in each region, and I believe I will be able to share more details in the not-so-distant future. In this sense, many partners, including third-party publishers and non-gaming partners, as exemplified by VOD service providers, are seeing a lot of potential in Wii U, especially because it can also be used freely in the living room even if the TV is in use, and there are many possibilities, such as a shopping service or some other service that uses the Internet. Also I regret having to have used Nintendo’s limited game development resources in order to provide non-gaming features on Wii. This time, we are working to see how we can enrich our services without having to rely on Nintendo’s internal development resources, and because the Wii U system itself is now fairly powerful, I believe that standard web technologies can be applied to achieve a sufficient degree of speed and convenience, and we will deploy our services in this fashion in the future.
