Iwata talks all about handheld gaming, threat of smartphones, and more
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has fielded a number of questions relating to handheld gaming – competition in particular. Head past the break for his comments on what it would take for his company to stop making dedicated gaming handhelds, the threat of smartphones, how the two platforms differ, and more.
Iwata on when Nintendo could potentially stop making dedicated gaming handhelds…
“I think that if we are able to provide experiences on handheld devices that consumers cannot get on another device, then we will continue creating software and hardware going forward, and if it comes to a point when we’re not able to do that, I think, yeah, you will see portable handheld gaming devices go the way of the Dodo, I guess.”
Iwata on how the DS offered experiences you couldn’t find on a smartphone and how this technology is advancing…
“I was asked during the Game Boy Advance period by folks who said, ‘Hey, now you’re able to play games on mobile phones so maybe the time of the handheld is done’. Because we understood that, that’s what drove us to create the Nintendo DS. And I believe we were able to offer on the Nintendo DS an experience that you could not get on phones that were available at the same time … after the DS that kind of slowly faded into the background. That being said, with more smartphones and more tablets being on the market now and becoming very popular this conversation has risen again. Obviously it’s a fact that smartphone technology is advancing very quickly and the things you can do on a smartphone are much different than what you could do on a regular cellphone back in the day.”
Iwata on having the 3DS and future platforms also being able to provide experiences you can’t have on a cellphone…
“It’s just like in the day of the GBA our challenge was to provide experiences you could not have on a cellphone at that time. In the same way, we have to look at the Nintendo 3DS and other platforms in our future as being able to do the same thing in terms of what smartphones can provide as well.”
Iwata on those who say the handheld gaming device market is shrinking…
“I think a lot of this discussion is based on the premise that the handheld gaming device market is shrinking or vanishing and I don’t think that is true and I’d like to address that. Something that [Nintendo of America president] Reggie [Fils-Aime] said at E3 was that the Nintendo 3DS hardware was selling more or faster than the DS, and I think that’s something.. that a lot of people are aware of. But something that Reggie also said is that the 3DS software sales were exceeding DS software sales. I think this is proof that even though we see an increase in smartphones and tablets and whatnot and there’s obviously a huge flood of games in the market, I think the software sales that Reggie alluded to and pointed out really prove that these people, even with this flood of free games and whatnot for these portable devices—[these] non-game-centric devices—are not keeping people from purchasing software for dedicated hardware.”
“As of last week, 3DS sales in Japan reached seven million, and that’s the 77th week post-launch. If we look at DS and DS Lite which people were saying, ‘oh my gosh this thing is selling like hotcakes, it’s crazy!’ it reached the seven million mark at week 72. And for the Nintendo DS that was two Christmases. For the 3DS it’s only been one Christmas. And we also had a large earthquake in Japan. And of course now there’s a smartphone boom in Japan, we’re right in the middle of it. I’m not saying there aren’t people out there who aren’t going to purchase a dedicated handheld device based on the availability and the fun factor in their smartphones. The examples you gave are factual. I’m not saying that that’s not true. I do want to say that there are still people buying our devices and that is also factual. I don’t think there’s not a bright future for handheld devices but I understand that the competition, again with the rise of smart devices is different, and I do recognize that. Previously we had to think, ok, ‘How are we competing with Sony?, How are we competing with Microsoft?, How do we compete with all the other software titles and all the other publishers out there?’ That environment has changed. And the games available for smartphones, I’m not saying that none of these are interesting, rich or fun experiences, because I know that there are some. And one way we can ensure that there’s a market for handheld gaming devices is by continuing to bring out entertaining and engaging software that will provide users experiences that they cannot get on these other devices.”
Iwata implying that Nintendo’s systems fills the need of those who want deep and rich gameplay experiences…
“I think within games you have two needs that people fill. One is the time-filler need. The other is that it’s a very important time for me and I want to have a rich experience. Those are two separate needs, I think. The other thing is how much are consumers willing to pay to play. I think that consumers who are willing to pay money for a gaming experience are looking for something that is more rich and are willing to spend some of that valuable time on that experience. I believe that as environments change and as the world progresses we’re going to have different ways in which people want to spend their time. That being said, I don’t think we’re going to see the desire to have, again, rich and deep sort of gaming experiences… we’re not going to see that vanish. That’s not going to go away.”
