Iwata on Wii U third-party support, hopes for Zelda Wii U announcement in “not-too-distant future”, 3DS success, more
The Guardian conducted an interview with Nintendo president Satoru Iwata during E3 2013, and has just now published the full talk. Iwata commented on Wii U’s lack of strong titles, third-party support, Zelda Wii U, the 3DS’ success, and more.
You can find a roundup of Iwata’s quotes below.
On the lack of strong titles for Wii U initially…
“I’m very happy about the reactions from the visitors: they looked very happy about being able to play those games. And especially because Nintendo could not supply the market with strong software titles, one after the other, in the first half of 2013 and as a result, since we launched the Wii U, we haven’t been able to provide any strong titles.”
On hopes that strong titles will translate to decent Wii U hardware sales this Christmas…
“That’s what we are intending, and that will be the case by the end of this year. Now we are able to demonstrate so many strong software titles which will launch by the end of this year, starting from this summer and, after all, we really needed to energise the momentum of the Wii U, and that’s what we are doing. Software sells hardware.”
On getting back third-party support for Wii U…
“Now that Wii U has lost momentum in the first half of this year, it must be true that some of the third-party publishers and developers have made a weaker decision in terms of supporting it. However, now that we are offering to the world a strong software line-up, we are expecting Wii U hardware to regain its momentum. And regaining the Wii U’s momentum must be the really big factor for us to encourage third-party publishers and developers to support it. At the same time, even though some of the developers and publishers are thinking twice about supporting the Wii U, it isn’t everybody. The fact of the matter is that some of the third-party groups are strongly supporting it. And in addition to regaining the momentum of the Wii U hardware itself, what we really need to do is to establish successful examples of third-party Wii U titles.”
Iwata not talking about specific amount of third-party titles coming to Wii U, some are unannounced…
“I actually do not see the point of trying to boast about the number of third-party titles available this year, but at least I can say that it’s more than a few. At the heart of the matter is that there are third-party publishers who have not announced their software titles for the Wii U. So once again, we really need to make an effort to create the conditions and the circumstances in which the third-party publishers feel like supporting the Wii U, so that they can volunteer to announce which software will be launched at what time.”
On not being able to convey Wii U’s uniqueness…
“In the case of the Wii, for example, just by bundling Wii Sports, it was easily conveyed to the consumers that the Wii was a very unique and different system. But in the case of the Wii U, we have not come to that stage yet. We hoped that Nintendo Land would have been able to execute that kind of responsibility, but for those people who have only seen how other people are playing with the Wii U and Nintendo Land, they could not know how uniquely different the Wii U is from the Wii. As a result, Wii U is a machine for which the evaluation differs greatly depending on whether you own it at home or not. So, what we really need to do now is to launch software titles for the Wii U that can take advantage of its unique aspects, one after the other. So much so that a great number of people are able to touch the Wii U and feel how unique it is. We need to expand the number of such people. And once the number of people has reached critical mass, I think the public view of Nintendo will be changed.”
On Zelda Wii U…
“It is true that Mr Aonuma’s team has been working on a new Zelda title for the Wii U. But the only announcement we have at this time of software which will soon become available is WindWaker HD. But they are actually working on an exclusive new Wii U title in the Zelda franchise and I hope in the not-too-distant future, we will be able to make the relevant announcement.”
On the 3DS’ success…
“Some indie developers have told us that when they offer the same software on iOS and Android, and in the eShop on Nintendo 3DS, the 3DS eShop version sells most. There are various theories that people often talk about, because there has been such an expansion of mobile devices, that handheld videogame devices won’t sell any more. But the fact is, last year in Japan, approximately 5.5m unit sales were made for the Nintendo 3DS, and as you might expect in Japan, 2012 was a phenomenal year for smart devices. But when we look at any hit, popular handheld game devices, the only hardware which managed to sell more than 5m units in one year was the 3DS – that took the DS three years.”
On getting back on track financially and Iwata joking s about his future prospects…
“That’s our goal – by regaining the Wii U momentum and reproducing what is happening in the Japanese market with the 3DS, into the rest of the world, including the US and Europe, we really want to make it happen. After seeing that kind of result, I’m hoping to be able to see you again next year.”
