Nintendo UK on Wii U sales, encouraged about the future, price not a barrier, audience, 3DS/2DS, more
MCV recently had the opportunity to interview Nintendo UK marketing boss Shelly Pearce. Needless to say, Pearce had a whole lot to say about the Wii U, including the system’s sales, future, price, audience, and more. Some 3DS and 2DS topics were addressed as well.
You can find the full interview at MCV here. There’s also a Q&A roundup after the break.
On the need to start selling more consoles…
“Retailers need to start seeing Wii U sales picking up. Everyone is looking for that. We haven’t had the sales we have wanted on Wii U hardware. We haven’t had the software for the beginning part of this year. But we have some quite ambitious targets, particularly as we have some of our biggest franchises coming. We are delivering a really strong software line-up. Retailers are feeling Wii U is in a much better place than last Christmas.”
On how upcoming Wii U titles has Nintendo encouraged about future sales…
“We are very lucky to work for a company that delivers such great things. Like everybody else, we’ve been disappointed by the sales at first. But we know what has been coming, so we’ve been quietly confident. There’s a real feeling of momentum in the office now.”
On educating parents that the Wii U is different than Wii…
“There was a big misconception at launch about what Wii U is. And one of the big messages is to explain to mum that this is a new console and a new controller. In terms of the marketing work we’ve done against dads, there is now a pretty good understanding there. But many mums don’t know what this is. They’re buying what they’re advised to and going into shops, so we are relying a lot on retail to explain that this is a new piece of hardware.”
On how families are still actively playing Wii…
“What we are seeing with our monthly tracking is that Wii remains the No.1 console for brand awareness. And we have done several studies, and there are so many families actively playing on Wii. Perhaps sometimes as an industry we don’t see it, because we are so focused on core fans who are obviously not the ones that are still playing. I sit in this target audience as a mum that has kids of this age, and amongst my peer group I have people that are just buying their first console and people who are still playing their original Wii sometimes. That has been one of our biggest barriers, but it is also a great opportunity because it means they are still with Wii. And it’s through the insight from the Tesco deal that we know families are still playing and have not bought anything else yet. So it’s a great opportunity if we can get the job right in educating people.”
On Wii U’s price not being a barrier…
“There was a lot of talk last peak season about whether price was the barrier. We don’t think it is. I think the problem was education and giving them desirable things. This peak, Wii U will be at a slightly lower price than last year and comparatively it will look a little cheaper because of all the other consoles coming out that are more expensive. But value is the important message. Backwards compatibility, the fact that you don’t have to buy more controllers – that for a mum is a very important thing.”
On how Wii U is different than the PS4/Xbox One…
“Wii U is very different to these other consoles. Our heartland is with family and kids, but we must not forget core Nintendo fans are a fundamental part of it. Yes, there’s a cross-over with the core fan and those that buy the other consoles, but generally those are quite different audiences. I imagine our marketing activity will look and feel very different. When you have new consoles coming out, wherever they are coming from, it gets people talking about games again. It gets games in the news. And that brings much more excitement to the category. So hopefully from a retail point-of-view it is going to be a very good Christmas.”
On Nintendo’s belief that 3DS’ lineup will keep it selling this Christmas…
“3DS has been the biggest selling console over the summer. We’ve seen some real momentum, which is great. It is going to be by far the biggest selling hardware this peak, really driven by those key franchises we have coming.”
On promoting Pokemon X/Y and pre-orders…
“While we know there are massive fans out there, there are a load of young boys, my son included, who do not know Pokémon, because they weren’t around when it was massive. So we’ve done an education piece explaining Pokémon to newbies In terms of pre-orders we are tracking higher than we were with Black and White. But I imagine it will also be a constant build over time.”
On promoting older 3DS games, including new TV ads aimed at tween girls…
“At launch we saw the majority of people that bought Animal Crossing were core Nintendo fans. And now we are moving to the next phase: tween girls who we know bought previous iterations. We are also looking at re-promoting some of our other titles at this audience.”
On the 2DS…
“Retail is very excited about 2DS. We need to raise that awareness amongst mums and kids. October half-term is when we ramp it up. When talking to a mainstream audience, you don’t want to shout about something that they can’t buy. 2DS has that magic price point, which for families and kids, makes a big difference. 2DS will be out and about wherever we have family and Pokémon activity going on.”
