Satoru Iwata delivered some incredibly insightful comments as to what Nintendo has planned for its future hardware during an investor briefing Q&A last week.
As many of you know, Nintendo combined its console and handheld teams in 2013. Thanks to “vast technological advances, it became possible to achieve a fair degree of architectural integration.”
Iwata says that the integration of the two teams can help overcome some technical difficulties. He mentioned, as an example, that it currently takes “a huge amount of effort” to port Wii games to 3DS, and 3DS titles to Wii U. “If the transition of software from platform to platform can be made simpler, this will help solve the problem of game shortages in the launch periods of new platforms,” he said.
Integrating the console and handheld teams will also allow Nintendo to avoid situations in which it previously “ended up developing a system that was completely different from its predecessor.” Aside from the transition from GameCube to Wii, “all the other systems required ground-up effort.”
Iwata left a tease as for what’s to come, stating:
In this perspective, while we are only going to be able to start this with the next system, it will become important for us to accurately take advantage of what we have done with the Wii U architecture. It of course does not mean that we are going to use exactly the same architecture as Wii U, but we are going to create a system that can absorb the Wii U architecture adequately. When this happens, home consoles and handheld devices will no longer be completely different, and they will become like brothers in a family of systems.
Be sure to head past the break for Iwata’s comments in full, as there’s quite a bit more he shared that would be silly to summarize further.
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata addressed the topic of third-party support – for both 3DS and Wii U – during the company’s investor briefing last week.
Regarding 3DS, Iwata says the platform has become “the number one dedicated video game system that Japanese third-party publishers are focusing on” due to its “overwhelmingly strong presence in the hardware as well as software markets”. Nintendo will continue to distribute and publish some Japanese titles “this year and the next.”
The situation is different in the west, as publishers tend to focus more on consoles as opposed to handhelds. However, Iwata noted: “the fact that Nintendo 3DS has now sold over 10 million units in both the U.S. and Europe seems to be news for third-party publishers, and we have recently been receiving more proposals from third-party publishers.”
When it comes to Wii U, “opinions significantly differ among third-party publishers.” There are still some publishers – particular those “that has great affinity with audiences that Nintendo has historically been strong with” – who continue to support the console and even look to assist Nintendo in getting people to upgrade from Wii to Wii U. “On the other hand, software publishers are not necessarily keen on making games in genres that have weaker affinity with audiences that Nintendo has not been as strong with, where making a huge investment does not guarantee a sufficient return,” Iwata explained. Ultimately, Iwata believes Nintendo must “create a strong foundation in areas Nintendo excels at and achieve a sufficient sales volume,” which is the first step for the company.
Nintendo has always been coy when it comes to technical specs. We rarely see spec sheets from the company, and we often don’t see comments about what Nintendo’s systems can do from a technical perspective.
Last week, Nintendo senior managing director Genyo Takeda spoke with investors about how “Nintendo tries not to emphasize the raw technical specifications”, instead opting to place the focus “on how we can use technology to amplify the value of our entertainment offerings”.
Takeda said, “Whether a machine is powerful or not only has meaning in the context of whether that can express itself in terms of gameplay to consumers.”
One investor asked Nintendo how it will address the lack of software available for its systems at launch during the company’s investor briefing last week. Shigeru Miyamoto addressed the question, suggesting that the situation had been improved with Wii U. New Super Mario Bros. U and Nintendo Land were available at launch, followed by Pikmin 3 “after a long interval”, and Supre Mario 3D World at the end of last year. Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. are also on the way.
“Therefore, I feel that we have managed to overcome the challenge of releasing enough first-party franchises on Wii U,” he said.
Miyamoto later addressed what Nintendo believes was Nintendo’s biggest issues last year: “we failed to communicate the true value of Wii U, failed to make children persuade their parents to buy our products for them, and failed to offer products that parents could not resist.” He stated that, as a result, Nintendo “will need to put more focus on creating experiences that utilize the GamePad that can also be fully enjoyed when playing alone.”
Miyamoto’s final comments were about developing for Wii U. Due to the huge evolution in technology between Wii and Wii U, just using a technique such as shaders “has significantly changed our development environment as well as our developers themselves and the time to develop games, all of which are areas toward which we have been making significant reinforcements.” Miyamoto said Nintendo is now looking to work with “many outside developers” so that “past games” can be reborn on Wii U.
Momentum is something that we often hear Nintendo discussing. The 3DS, for example, saw a tough start, but Nintendo turned things around with a price drop and steady stream of software. This provided a momentum boost for the system.
Unfortunately, Wii U has yet to see any sort of momentum. This is something that Nintendo president Satoru Iwata reaffirmed to investors last week.
In spite of the Wii U’s struggles though, Iwata says he “never thought of resignation as an option, and I believe that my job is to do whatever I can do to deliver results, and I am as passionate about this responsibility as ever.”
Read Iwata’s full comments on momentum below.
Nintendo announced a new approach to character licensing at its financial briefing last week. Whereas the company previously guarded its characters closely, Satoru Iwata confirmed plans to make IP more widely available and “actively expand” its character licensing business.
Iwata later clarified to investors that Nintendo won’t likely approve each request. Rather, Nintendo “will judge, based on our own criteria, if that licensed product really leads to consumers’ smiles in the medium- to long-term, and if it is in direct competition with our core business.
Thanks to the 3DS’ install base, Nintendo now feels that it can turn a profit with the system’s software. President Satoru Iwata mentioned to investors last week that the company has “many key titles to be released in this calendar year and we will strive to drive profits from these titles.” 3DS overall is expected to be “the key profit-driver for the next fiscal year”.
With Wii U, on the other hand, Iwata admitted that “it is not easy to make a significant profit with the current units sold.” But with Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. acting “as our main drivers”, Nintendo “would like to make sure that the markets will thoroughly acknowledge the value of Wii U, including the titles that we have released to date.”
Last week, Nintendo confirmed plans to take advantage of smart devices in a number of ways. This will demonstrate “the value of our entertainment offerings, thus encouraging more people to participate in Nintendo platforms.”
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata elaborated on the company’s plans and goals for smart devices during the Q&A portion of its investor briefing. You can find his comments in full below.
The family of Hiroshi Yamauchi has a “desire to sell” its shares, Bloomberg reports. Yamauchi was president of Nintendo for over 50 years and passed away last September.
Yamauchi’s heirs currently maintain 10 percent of the total shares for Nintendo. Yet despite the family’s interest in selling its shares, it’s unclear just how much they intend to part with.
Meanwhile, Nintendo will initiate its buyback program worth totaling 114.2 billion-yen ($1.1 billion) tomorrow. The company could puchase as many as 9.5 million shares (7.4 percent) at 12,025 yen each.
