News from Nintendo’s investor meeting – no Wii U pricing at E3, NSMB2 for retail/download, more

Update: Event appears to be over. You can find more updates on the home page and here.

As is typical for the company, Nintendo is holding a meeting with investors following the release of their fiscal results yesterday. When there was a briefing similar to this in January, we received some interesting information, such as individual accounts and NFC support for Wii U.

We’ll be keeping this post updated with all of the tidbits from the latest meeting. In one way, I guess you can say this is a live-blog! Keep checking back for updates, which come from David Gibson.

– Nintendo’s release schedule hasn’t changed much, but there are 3 Pokemon games on track for the U.S.
– 3DS sales post-Christmas have accelerated in Japan, but not overseas
– Next Smash Bros. games will be key in the U.S. and will have long-term demand
– “3ds has only 2, 3, 2 titles in top 20 in germany, france, spain respectively, 2 in UK”
– Again: Wii U shipping in the U.S., Europe, Japan, and Australia this year, with more details at E3
– Nintendo will not announce pricing information for Wii U at E3
– “3ds standard title globally include mario kart etc, but also monster hunter, fire emblem, kid icarus, plus pokemon titles on ds will help”
– Mario Kart is a core title for the 3DS globally, but so are Monster Hunter and Fire Emblem according to Satoru Iwata
– 3DS launching in Korea tomorrow
– Nintendo planning to bring the 3DS to other countries as well
– New Super Mario Bros. 2 will be sold at retail or full download to an SD card
– “Digital buys will also include retail as place for payment and download, but said ‘it does look complicated’ in demo”
– Because game life is getting shorter, retails carry fewer games
– Digital downloads will help retailers since the inventory risk will be reduced
– Retailers will sell titles digitally, so there won’t be a big pricing different in packaged/digital releases
– Downloading retail games digitally will be available for Wii U’s launch
– Digital packaged release prices will be set by retailers and not Nintendo
– Nintendo is focused on improving quality and having long-term relationships with customers
– “Overall focused on improving quality, and having long term relationship with customers, hopeful digital will long term +ve”
– Nintendo wants to find the Wii Sports equivalent for Wii U
– Regarding concerns that downloading games will take too long, consumers can purchase these titles directly or download them late at night
– “WiiU – will need to consider social game play, cannot say more”
– Nintendo not commenting on wholesale price to retail for digital vs. packaged software
– Regarding hardware, Iwata says consumers buy hardware for the software, not the console
– Again: Nintendo has learned from the 3DS’ launch, so Wii U will have a rich lineup from the beginning with a few rich titles
– Nintendo not worried about Japanese vs. international performance of the 3DS as overseas 3DS support was rising and will catch up to Japan by E3
– “Forecast profit this year is not nintendo type and not a satisfactory level”
– Demand for the 3DS in Europe/US has been weak
– 3DS’ third year will be crucial; if it surges, Nintendo will achieve Nintendo-esque profits
– Nintendo won’t go all out with digital since it doesn’t suit all users and the company wants a win-win relationship with retailers
– “Digital wholesale price will not be the same as packaged as inventory risk is different”
– “Iwata doesn’t think retail margins will be coming down as a result of digital”