Nintendo president Satoru Iwata commented on the sales of Super Smash Bros. for 3DS during the company’s latest investor briefing yesterday. You can find his full comments below.
I think the good global start for “Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS” has several implications.
First of all, it proved that the “Super Smash Bros.” series, which has been popular for home consoles, can have a strong presence for handheld devices. Before the release, some in the video game industry were skeptical of the sales potential of “Super Smash Bros.” for handheld devices, but now I can say that they were worrying about nothing.Secondly, the initial sales pace was faster than either Nintendo or anyone in the industry could expect and we are afraid that the lack of stock caused inconvenience for some consumers for some time after the release both in Japan and the U.S. After a vast number of consumers started this game at one time and it spread by word-of-mouth, Nintendo 3DS has been used more actively, and we have noticed increased attention and enthusiasm in the entire market for the device. Considering that the software was released just before the year-end sales season with many anticipated titles scheduled, we believe it has really contributed to improving the momentum of the Nintendo 3DS market.
Furthermore, since characters from various Nintendo games appear in “Super Smash Bros.,” consumers naturally get to know the entire lineup of Nintendo IP and this title could make them interested in other game franchises. In other words, the more this game is played, the higher the overall value of the Nintendo IP lineup becomes.
