Iwata on how Nintendo can keep users engaged with QOL
One investor brought up an interesting point about QOL during Nintendo’s most recent financial results briefing. Nintendo will need to find ways to keep users engaged with the product, otherwise the business may not be successful in the long term, and it may not sell in the short term.
Satoru Iwata believes Nintendo will be able to tackle these potential issues in various ways. First, users won’t need to wear any device, and they’ll simply need to sleep in order for it to function. There are also plans to greatly lower the hurdle for measurements. And finally, Nintendo wants to “skillfully combine our video game know-how with the smart device notification functions that are already used in daily life.”
Nintendo has been in the entertainment business for a very long time, and we have thoroughly been trying to understand how and why people become immersed in video games, namely the situation in which people are compelled to play as they get more rewards than the effort they put in. Sometimes our efforts turn out the way we expect, but sometimes they do not. Some consumers resonate strongly with what we offer and others do not. Consumer reactions vary depending on the types of products or services. What is important here is how we utilize our past experiences for the QOL business. We understand that there are two issues. The first one is the hurdle that consumers are forced to go to some effort to measure their biological information, in other words, they have to do something out of the ordinary. If we forced people to wear something or sit down in front of a machine and wait for a few minutes, they would not continue to do so unless they received very large rewards for that action. So, in order for them to continue doing so, the first thing we need to do is to create a situation as close to their usual sleep routine as possible so all they have to do is to go to bed in the same place as usual and sleep. The “Five ‘Non’ Sensing” concept I introduced today is intended for that purpose. Also, we think all of you probably spend some time using smart devices in your various daily lives. The notification system on smart devices can update you when you receive an e-mail, when there is a news update or when the stock price of a company in the spotlight has changed significantly. So, the other key issue is how we use notification functions. As there is still some time before we will actually launch the QOL business, we will not discuss the details at this moment. What I can tell you today is that we will lower the measurement hurdle by such a great degree that users will be measured by simply sleeping. Also, we have a strong belief that we will be able to produce something interesting when we skillfully combine our video game know-how with the smart device notification functions that are already used in daily life.
