Nintendo president Satoru Iwata closed out the company’s latest financial results investor briefing with plenty of comments regarding QOL plans. Check out what Iwata had to say below:
During our Corporate Management Policy Briefing in January this year, I said that we were aiming to redefine our interpretation of entertainment. I explained that Nintendo was aiming to broaden the scope of its business fields by redefining entertainment as something that “improves people’s QOL or Quality of Life in enjoyable ways.”
Today, I would like to spend some time to explain a little more about the QOL business that Nintendo will deploy. In January, I stated that the first theme of our QOL business would be “health.” Now, I would like to explain which aspect of health Nintendo’s project will focus on. I will also elaborate on my previous remark that it would be “non-wearable.”The health-related theme that Nintendo will first deal with in our QOL business is:
Visualizing sleep and fatigue.
Everyone needs to sleep, and all of us get tired.
There is no argument that whether or not we have sound sleep or not significantly affects our health, and many of us recognize through our daily lives that accumulated fatigue makes it difficult to maintain good health. However, we tend to recognize these conditions in a subjective fashion. Fatigue and sleep are themes that are rather hard to visualize in more objective ways. At Nintendo, we believe that if we could visualize them, there would be great potential for many people regardless of age, gender, language or culture.Of course, there are currently several existing ways to measure our sleep status. However, even though there must potentially be significant demand to visualize sleep, there have not been any definitive products to date. We believe that this must be because devices launched so far have required consumers to make some kind of effort, which made it rather difficult to continue.
I decided that Nintendo should step into this QOL business because:The company has now reached the point where we will be able to realize the Five “Non” Sensing elements.
Five “Non” Sensing is the concept that in spite of eliminating the five things that have been necessary so far, we still can measure the status of sleep and fatigue automatically.
Among these Five “Non” Sensing elements, I mentioned the first keyword, “non-wearable,” which means that you do not need to attach anything to your body, during our last Corporate Management Policy Briefing. I believe, and I think many of you will agree, that we want to wear only things that are very comfortable when we go to bed. If we need to wear a device, say, on our wrist, or if we need to install some special equipment in our bed, we will sometimes forget, which therefore makes it hard to continue. Thus, I believe the “non-wearable” concept is very important. The next one is “non-contact,” which means that the product will not have any physical contact with your body. While attaching a sensor to your body is convenient for giving you a read out of your biological information, few people appear to enjoy having unusual objects attached to their bodies while sleeping. Therefore, the ability to measure without physical contact is another important point. The next one is “non-operating.” Not requiring the user to operate the device is another key point, as it can encourage continuity. Not everyone has a clear head when they get into or out of bed. Whether we have to operate a device or not when we get into and out of bed significantly changes our ability to continue. Another factor is “non-waiting,” or in other words, eliminating the wait for measurement results to be produced. From sensing to analysis, measuring biological information inevitably takes some time. This is one of the issues we could not overcome with our “Wii Vitality Sensor” project. However, if we can make it so that the measurement can be done automatically while the user is sleeping, and if it can be done without any operation, the user does not need to wait. Finally, “non-installation efforts,” or not requiring users to go through the trouble of installing the product to start is another important key factor.Visualizing sleep and fatigue by automatically measuring sleep condition under this concept of Five “Non” Sensing is going to be the first step for Nintendo’s QOL business.
We will prepare the QOL Sensor that will automatically measure sleep condition under this Five “Non” Sensing concept. All you have to do is place the QOL Sensor on your bedside.
Inside the QOL Sensor is a non-contact radio frequency sensor, which measures such things as the movements of your body, breathing and heartbeat, all without physically touching your body. This automatically gathered data will be transmitted to the QOL cloud servers, which will then analyze the data measured by the sensor and visually represent sleep and fatigue results.To achieve the visualization of sleep and fatigue, we have formed a business alliance with ResMed, which is headquartered in the U.S. and is the leading corporation in the world that develops, manufactures and markets medical equipment for the treatment, diagnosis and management of Sleep Disordered Breathing, COPD and other chronic diseases. The company operates business in dozens of different countries around the world while its main business is conducted in the U.S. I understand that they have many users in Japan too.
They have now provided Nintendo’s QOL business with the core of the Five “Non” Sensing elements, namely, non-contact sensor measurement technology and sleep condition estimation technology.
ResMed has been contributing to improving patients’ QOL in the medical equipment field by improving their sleep condition, and for Nintendo, a company that develops, manufactures and markets products for the general public, we think this partnership is a good fit as both companies can bring out each other’s strengths.Since fatigue per se is not regarded as a disease in the medical world, it is said to be a field where sufficient research has yet to be conducted. We have been fortunate to encounter several experts who have been conducting cutting-edge research in the science of fatigue. Together, we are now developing technology to estimate fatigue.
Dr. Yasuyoshi Watanabe is an expert in a wide variety of health-related fields, and his name is recognized in fatigue science around the world. Dr. Watanabe kindly provided us with his comment: “Accurate and simplified fatigue measurements enable self-comprehension of the body which is very significant for contemporary humans, and I think it can be used as the benchmark to improve our QOL. We will all do our utmost to achieve this world-first product.”
The state-of-the-art research results in fatigue science that Dr. Hirohiko Kuratsune and Dr. Seiki Tajima have been jointly conducting will also be used in fatigue visualization for Nintendo’s QOL platform.If we can realize the visualization of sleep and fatigue with Five “Non” Sensing elements, the QOL improvement cycle will go as follows:
First, with Five “Non” Sensing aspects, your sleep and fatigue can be automatically measured. All you will have to do is place the QOL sensor near your bed and then sleep as usual. The collected data will be transmitted to the QOL cloud servers and will be analyzed and evaluated. Based upon the sleep and fatigue status of the consumer which have both been “visualized,” services intended to improve QOL will be proposed. More specifically, a variety of actions will be recommended. Consumers will be encouraged to take certain actions, such as exercising or changing diet. Then, the results will be measured through Five “Non” Sensing elements each day. By continuing the measurements every day, users will be able to observe a gradual change achieved by their actions. This cycle can contribute to the improvement of QOL, and the QOL improvement platform can help realize it.To summarize,
With Five “Non” Sensing aspects, we will make it easy for anyone to use it.
With Nintendo’s know-how of hospitality as well as of making people want to continue, we will encourage people to enjoy using it every day. As a result, a meaningful cycle will be established aiming to improve people’s QOL. These are the basic elements of our QOL improvement platform.A total of 125 years have passed since Nintendo started its business as a Japanese Hanafuda playing cards manufacturer. By believing that putting smiles on people’s faces is the goal of entertainment, the company has continued to develop, manufacture and market many different products. The company has shown significant growth in markets overseas since 1983 by positioning dedicated video game platforms as its core business.
As I stated during our last Corporate Management Policy Briefing in January this year, we have redefined entertainment as something that “improves people’s QOL in enjoyable ways” and aim to broaden our business fields. As a part of this endeavor, we are now going to newly establish this QOL improvement platform.When we say, “platform,” so far it has meant what we have proposed to the public by way of integrated video game hardware and exclusive software. When it comes to the new QOL improvement platform:
The definition of “platform” will be expanded as you can see on this slide.
When we look at the prevalence of smart devices today, if we can use them to help visually represent sleep and fatigue status, it would be a waste not to make use of them to, for example, check the status or offer service to users. Needless to say, it would also be possible to use dedicated video game systems that could help to improve QOL. As with the definition of entertainment, Nintendo is willing to expand the definition of “platform” without being bound by traditional thinking.
This information comes from Nintendo president Satoru Iwata…
Also, we will be implementing what we call a “pre-download” system with “Super Smash Bros. for Wii U” that will be released at the end of this year.
The “pre-download” system is a system in which consumers who have purchased the game before its release can download most of the game content in advance. Using this system, consumers will not have to wait for a long time to download the game after its release. They will then be able to start playing the game by only downloading a requisite minimum amount of update data.
In addition to the automatic distribution system at the time of purchase, which I have just explained, the “pre-download” system will be available with download cards sold at stores as well, by entering the download code at Nintendo e-Shop in advance. Consumers will not be required to save the download card until the release of the game if they enter the download code on the day of purchase.
This system will be implemented on Wii U first, and is planned for Nintendo 3DS next year.
As I have mentioned today, we are working on various approaches to make the digital business more user-friendly by providing a variety of payment methods, expanding distribution channels and enhancing consumer convenience.
This information comes from Nintendo president Satoru Iwata…
From this summer, we commenced public transport e-money payments, starting with JR East’s “Suica,” on Wii U.
By the introduction of this function, the barrier to make small payments has been lowered, and more consumers who had never purchased products digitally before are trying them. In other words, with the increase in the number of Wii U hardware, which has cleared the barrier for digital purchases, introduction of the Suica payment function has played a role in “lowering the payment barrier,” which is an important issue in the digital business.
In addition, one clear example of the increase in the usage rate for payments under 500 yen is the 24-hour karaoke ticket.We are considering making Suica payments available also on New Nintendo 3DS. If this is made possible, since there is an abundance of under-500-yen digital content for Nintendo 3DS, we are expecting new possibilities and opportunities.
“Super Smash Bros. for Wii U 50-Fact Extravaganza” seemed to have been a very smart move for Nintendo. According to president Satoru Iwata, pre-orders increased “rapidly” after the presentation was shown.
Iwata stated during the company’s latest investor briefing yesterday:
As I have mentioned, “Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS” kicked off very well. Now I would like to explain how it will affect the Wii U installment.
As for bringing the “Super Smash Bros.” franchise into multiplatform format and releasing the Nintendo 3DS version first, there had been skepticism that each would end up consuming the demand for the other or it would weaken a key title for the Wii U platform. We now have a strong belief that our decision is giving the “Super Smash Bros.” franchise even more momentum. On the morning of October 24 in Japan, we released a trailer titled “Super Smash Bros. for Wii U 50-Fact Extravaganza.” A great number of people watched it online and we received a large amount of feedback.
The two installments of “Super Smash Bros.” are packed with elements that utilize the specific features of each platform. Before disclosing the “Extravaganza” trailer, people had been skeptical of whether we could actually have 50 new facts about the Wii U version. But as the trailer showcased the differences between the two versions, which seemed to surpass expectations, pre-orders for the Wii U version rapidly started to increase.
“Super Smash Bros.” is the most appealing when played together with others, and as the two versions have noticeable differences, they will not cannibalize each other. Rather, as more copies of the Nintendo 3DS version are sold and more people enjoy it, the momentum for the Wii U version becomes stronger.
Check out some noteworthy comments from Nintendo president Satoru Iwata regarding overseas 3DS sales below:
When it comes to the overseas markets, we do not plan to launch New Nintendo 3DS/3DS XL for the U.S. or Europe this year. Additionally, there are only a couple of big titles, “Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS,” and “Pokémon Omega Ruby” and “Pokémon Alpha Sapphire,” overseas as no “YOKAI WATCH” franchises or “Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate” will be scheduled this year there. Based on these observations, some might wonder if, apart from the domestic market, the sales of Nintendo 3DS will really be able to gain momentum in the overseas markets.
The overseas markets are different from the Japanese market in both their stages of popularization of Nintendo 3DS and their market characteristics.
This information comes from Nintendo president Satoru Iwata…
Here I would like to tell you about the current situation of New Nintendo 3DS and New Nintendo 3DS XL (known as New Nintendo 3DS LL in Japan), launched on October 11 in Japan in advance of markets overseas.
The sell-through results of the two models combined was 234 thousand units, which is the largest first-week sales of remodeled devices we have ever released. New Nintendo 3DS XL has been more popular and was out of stock at many stores. We are sorry about the shortage of supply.
As you can see from the graph, the sales momentum was maintained in the second week
And third week. We feel that the new “super-stable 3D” function, new “C” stick, and accelerated CPU of the new models have been well-received by our consumers.
With the new models in addition to the consecutive release of games which could be double-million sellers, we are confident that Nintendo 3DS will establish a presence in the market in the year-end sales season in Japan.
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata discussed strong pre-orders sales for Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire during the company’s latest financial results briefing yesterday. Read on below for his comments.
In addition, we have had very strong pre-orders for “Pokémon Omega Ruby” and “Pokémon Alpha Sapphire” to be released around the world in November. As you can see from the slide comparing them with those for “Pokémon X” and “Pokémon Y” released last year, the momentum of pre-orders has been robust regardless of the region.
Many people in the industry would anticipate that however dramatically “Pokémon Omega Ruby” and “Pokémon Alpha Sapphire” have been remade, their sales would be lower than those of “Pokémon X” and “Pokémon Y,” which were completely new titles, but the trend of pre-orders has gone against their expectations so far. In particular, they have been surpassed by far in Europe.
Please let me show you an interesting hypothesis explaining the reason for such strong pre-orders: Those who have enjoyed the “Super Smash Bros.” series and those who were impressed with “Pokémon Ruby” and “Pokémon Sapphire” as the first “Pokémon” title are of the same generation and overlap substantially with each other. We call it the “Hypothesis of the same-generation of “Super Smash Bros.” and “Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire.”
Those who were elementary school students when “Super Smash Bros. Melee,” and “Pokémon Ruby” and “Pokémon Sapphire” were released have grown up and they are now 18 to 25 years old. Our research in each part of the world commonly indicates that consumers between the age of 18 and 25 represent a large percentage of those who purchased “Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS” in the release period. It is approximately 30 percent in Japan, which is twice the overall average of Nintendo 3DS software, and has even reached 50 percent in the U.S. and Europe. This great momentum for the game in the initial stage was supported by this generation.
Thanks to “Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS,” consumers of this generation pay more attention to Nintendo 3DS and are likely to remember enjoying “Pokémon Ruby” and “Pokémon Sapphire.” We think this is why the pre-orders for “Pokémon Omega Ruby” and “Pokémon Alpha Sapphire” have been strong. They are now old enough to pay for their own expenses. They can afford to buy Nintendo 3DS to enjoy both “Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS” and “Pokémon Omega Ruby” and “Pokémon Alpha Sapphire” if they choose, and they might encourage their friends to play it with them too. We therefore see it important to stimulate their latent demand in the year-end sales season.
Taking into account both the trend of pre-orders and the same-generation hypothesis, we anticipate that “Pokémon Omega Ruby” and “Pokémon Alpha Sapphire” to be released next month will have more sales potential than just another remade game in the industry.
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata commented on the sales of Super Smash Bros. for 3DS during the company’s latest investor briefing yesterday. You can find his full comments below.
I think the good global start for “Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS” has several implications.
First of all, it proved that the “Super Smash Bros.” series, which has been popular for home consoles, can have a strong presence for handheld devices. Before the release, some in the video game industry were skeptical of the sales potential of “Super Smash Bros.” for handheld devices, but now I can say that they were worrying about nothing.Secondly, the initial sales pace was faster than either Nintendo or anyone in the industry could expect and we are afraid that the lack of stock caused inconvenience for some consumers for some time after the release both in Japan and the U.S. After a vast number of consumers started this game at one time and it spread by word-of-mouth, Nintendo 3DS has been used more actively, and we have noticed increased attention and enthusiasm in the entire market for the device. Considering that the software was released just before the year-end sales season with many anticipated titles scheduled, we believe it has really contributed to improving the momentum of the Nintendo 3DS market.
Furthermore, since characters from various Nintendo games appear in “Super Smash Bros.,” consumers naturally get to know the entire lineup of Nintendo IP and this title could make them interested in other game franchises. In other words, the more this game is played, the higher the overall value of the Nintendo IP lineup becomes.
Not all that much to say about today’s screenshots, looks like Sakurai is just having a bit of fun!
He continues:
“It is bitter, yet tasty.”
