Iwata on differences between promotion for Wii U and consumer attention in Japan vs. overseas
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata discussed two important topics for Wii U and how they apply to Japan versus overseas territories last week.
When it comes to promotion for the system, Iwata explained that more resources were devoted to Wii U as opposed to 3DS because Monster Hunter 4 and Pokemon X/Y were able to carry the handheld to a certain extent. Because Nintendo was in a position to properly “focus our energy on communicating Wii U in the year-end sales season”, sales in Japan rose to roughly 100,000 units per week.
Overseas, Nintendo was looking “to boost Nintendo 3DS sales to an explosive level”. The company also needed to provide resources towards Wii U at the same time. “As a result, we were not able to fully focus on promoting either of them,” he admitted. Nintendo originally hoped to “achieve sold sales” for 3DS by the time Pokemon X/Y had arrived and then shift towards Wii U, but “this plan did not work and we had to spread our resources over two platforms.” Additionally, “neither of them achieved explosive sales, a point we need to deeply reflect on.”
On the topic of “consumers’ attention,” Iwata said “there is a difference between the overseas markets in which other companies launched new home consoles, and the Japanese market in which their launches have been held off until this year.”
He continued:
I believe not many consumers wavered between Wii U and those new consoles from other companies because I believe that our user demographics are different to a certain degree. We tried to create a buzz in the overseas markets with Wii U that would encourage many people to look for information about Wii U, making it easier to get our messages across, but this proved to be more difficult than we had expected. I truly need to reflect on the outcome of this year-end sales season, which, in my opinion, was the worst year-end sales season in the overseas markets since I became president, and I would like to bring them back on the right track as soon as possible.
As for Wii U, I would say there are two aspects to consider. For one thing, in Japan we were able to focus our energy on communicating Wii U in the year-end sales season to a certain degree because “Monster Hunter 4” in September, and “Pokémon X/Pokémon Y” in October had already boosted Nintendo 3DS sales. We focused our promotional efforts on encouraging people to get together and play with Wii U at the end of the year, and this led to bringing Wii U sales back to 100,000 units per week, which seems to have surprised many people. On the other hand, in the overseas markets, we had to boost Nintendo 3DS sales to an explosive level and we also had to do something about Wii U at the same time. As a result, we were not able to fully focus on promoting either of them. We initially planned to achieve solid sales for Nintendo 3DS around the time we released “Pokémon X/Pokémon Y” and then focus on Wii U promotion during the year-end sales season. However, this plan did not work and we had to spread our resources over two platforms. Because of this, neither of them achieved explosive sales, a point we need to deeply reflect on.
With respect to consumers’ attention, there is a difference between the overseas markets in which other companies launched new home consoles, and the Japanese market in which their launches have been held off until this year. I believe not many consumers wavered between Wii U and those new consoles from other companies because I believe that our user demographics are different to a certain degree. We tried to create a buzz in the overseas markets with Wii U that would encourage many people to look for information about Wii U, making it easier to get our messages across, but this proved to be more difficult than we had expected. I truly need to reflect on the outcome of this year-end sales season, which, in my opinion, was the worst year-end sales season in the overseas markets since I became president, and I would like to bring them back on the right track as soon as possible.
