This information comes from Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa…
We are continuing to implement a variety of initiatives in our IP expansion business. Starting in April, we launched a T-shirt collaboration with UNIQLO CO., LTD. in various regions of the world earlier this month. We will continue our efforts to increase opportunities for people to have access to Nintendo IP and increase the value of that IP, which is the source of our competitive edge.
This information comes from Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa…
Next, I will cover our mobile business. We are continuously implementing events and updates and adding more ways to satisfy consumers as we work to optimize how we operate each application. Overall revenue from the mobile business has expanded compared to the previous fiscal year. As previously mentioned, we will release both Dr. Mario World and Mario Kart Tour this summer. This means we will be operating a total of six applications globally starting this summer.
As we announced the other day, we are accepting applications for closed beta testing of Mario Kart Tour. The closed beta is scheduled to start on May 21 (Pacific Daylight Time). Based on the information we gather from this testing and from the opinions of the participants, we will proceed with final preparations for release.
The six applications including Mario Kart Tour deal with different IP, and the goals and the characteristics for the
applications also differ. Going forward, we will leverage the ubiquity of mobile devices to expand the number of
people who have access to Nintendo IP through multiple applications like these.
This information comes from Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa…
We are also bringing an even richer variety of new titles from other software publishers as we enter the third year of Nintendo Switch. What you see here is just a sample. These will range from evergreen titles for video game fans to titles that can be enjoyed by anyone, regardless of age or gender, characteristic titles created by indie developers, a variety of genre-specific games, and more. By bringing them together, the Nintendo Switch library will continue to meet consumers’ diverse tastes.
Many publishers are developing titles for Nintendo Switch because it has met our expectations of widespread adoption, and because we made our development environment available from the very beginning. The number of Nintendo Switch development kits shipped to publishers continues to greatly exceed the number of kits for any of our previous platforms, and many developers are creating titles for Nintendo Switch.
This information comes from Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa…
As you can see, we will constantly release new titles during the fiscal year ahead. And there are still more titles that we haven’t yet discussed. We intend to continue to expand the lineup of software that can be enjoyed by consumers around the world and that will keep people playing Nintendo Switch.
In addition, we will continue with efforts designed to keep consumers playing software long after it has been released. For example, we released a major free update to Super Smash Bros Ultimate that adds a Stage Builder and the ability to edit and post gameplay videos, simultaneous with the release of the first set of paid add-on content this month. Mario Tennis Aces was released back in June of last year, but we have continued to hold tournaments and distribute new characters, and in a major free update added a new kind of gameplay, also this month. By releasing content online and holding events that build excitement for a game, we are making the game fresh for consumers and
encouraging them to keep playing.
This information comes from Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa…
We also released a fourth Nintendo Labo kit this month, Nintendo Labo Toy-Con 04: VR Kit. Users can construct five Toy-Con from cardboard parts, including a Toy-Con Blaster, Toy-Con Camera, and Toy-Con Bird, then pair them with Nintendo Switch to enjoy unique experiences in a VR space through their body movements. For example, while controlling the in-game action, users can press a pedal with their foot to create and feel an actual breeze. This is probably different from the image you have of a VR device. Users can also create their own games in VR.
The three Nintendo Labo kits released last year received an Innovation Award at the Game Developers Conference in the US this March, and a BAFTA Family award and Game Innovation award at this month’s British Academy Games Awards. The product has been recognized for its innovation in many countries and we are exceptionally proud of these achievements. Nintendo Labo is even being used in schools, and we are continuing to pursue sales so that even more
consumers can enjoy the series.
This information comes from Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa…
Super Mario Maker 2 is scheduled for release in June. This title is a completely new sequel to Super Mario Maker, which was released on the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS systems.
This title is filled with new gameplay mechanics and new ways to play that were not previously available in the series. The game takes full advantage of the features of Nintendo Switch to allow anyone to freely create and play their own custom Super Mario levels.
This information comes from Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa…
One pair of major titles being released this new fiscal year is Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield.
These new titles, first announced in a Pokémon Direct in February, have generated a huge response from consumers. Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee!, which were released in November of last year, are designed to highlight the fun of Nintendo Switch in TV mode, for example by waving the controller at the TV screen to capture Pokémon. Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield are being developed to emphasize the fun of playing Nintendo Switch in handheld mode. We want these games to be played not only by longtime Pokémon fans, but also by consumers whose first encounter with the series was on a dedicated video game platform with Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee!.
Nintendo expecting increased Switch hardware adoption, evergreen and new titles will provide a boost
This information comes from Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa…
Currently, the Nintendo Switch business remains in a growth phase. This term, we can expect hardware adoption to once again expand at a faster pace than the previous fiscal year.
Nintendo Switch is a home gaming system that can also be brought away from the front of the TV and played on the go. If we can specifically and more broadly convey messages of what kind of play experiences this game system can offer in what kind of situations in the consumers’ everyday lives, we believe more and more people worldwide will come to view Nintendo Switch as something relevant to them.
In the new fiscal year, in addition to the evergreen titles that have been enjoying long, continued sales, Nintendo
and other software publishers will release many new titles, including the ones that I will introduce shortly, that can convey the fun of playing Nintendo Switch to even more people. We will make efforts to bring the broader awareness of a variety of different entertainment experiences that the unique combination of Nintendo Switch hardware and a variety of different software can offer, not just among video game fans but even among people who have never before been interested in video games.
This information comes from Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa…
Digital sales have expanded greatly since the launch of Nintendo Switch. This graph compares sales of digital content within our dedicated video game platform business over the years. Sales nearly doubled in the fiscal year ended March 2019 compared to the previous fiscal year, and exceeded 100 billion yen for the first time ever. The Nintendo Switch business has expanded over the previous year not only in download versions of packaged software, but also in download-only software and add-on content, plus contributions from Nintendo Switch Online.
I’d now like to address the Nintendo Switch business from a slightly different angle. One conventional metric used in the dedicated platform business is the tie ratio, or the attach rate of software per unit of hardware. This is calculated by dividing the number of software units sold by the number of hardware units sold. However, with the rise in digital sales, we are witnessing the rapid sales growth of indie titles at a wide range of price points, and add-on content sales that cannot be counted with the number of software units sold. As a result, software attach rate calculated using conventional methods no longer adequately reflects the actual state of our business.
This information comes from Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa…
Finally, let me talk about the E3 video game trade show that will be held in Los Angeles this June. Once again, Nintendo will not be hosting a large-scale conference for institutional investors, securities analysts, and the media. Instead, we plan to continue our practice of the past few years, which is to release a video presentation discussing the games that are planned for release during the fiscal year, provide hands-on opportunities, and so on. The world championship tournaments for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Splatoon 2 will be held on June 8, right before the start of E3.
