Reggie: Nintendo will be in a good position with Wii U by the end of the holiday, Wii comparisons, price, more
It’s no secret that Nintendo and the Wii U will have a ton of competition this holiday. Two new consoles will be making their debuts: the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Yet, despite this, Nintendo of America Reggie Fils-Aime believes that the narrative of Microsoft vs. Sony with Nintendo being left out on the side is “inaccurate”.
“It’s a very inaccurate narrative. In fact, that was the narrative in 2006. That was exactly the narrative. I think by the end of this holiday… we’re going to be in a very good position.”
Reggie next tackled the topic of Wii U’s success compared to Wii. At this point, Nintendo’s older console seemed to be much far along and had Wii Sports.
“I think it’s inaccurate to use the word ‘far’. If you look at it from a U.S. perspective, this point in time vs. where we were with the Wii life stage, there’s a difference of about 1 to 1.5 million units. Over a potential lifespan over 40 million-plus units, that’s not a lot.” Based on Nintendo’s public sales stats, the gap is even tighter than that, with 2.37 million Wiis sold by the end of March 31, 2007 in the Americas and 1.52 million Wii Us sold by March 31 of this year, both consoles having launched in the prior November. The Wii, of course, was out of stock everywhere. The Wii U has been struggling through a soon-to-be-ending software drought.
“I would say the big difference in the Wii launch vs. the Wii U launch is that, at the [Wii] launch we had a fantastic game in Wii Sports that really helped people understand the magic of the Wii Remote, and we had Zelda. We had Zelda there at the launch to satisfy the more active [read: more hardcore; not more physically-active] player and when you look at what we had at the launch for Wii U, yes we had a Mario game—a fantastic Mario game that has a very strong attach rate to the hardware [meaning: people who bought the system bought the game]—but there wasn’t as many opportunities for the more active player to really get behind the system.”
When will the Wii U be in a better spot? The holiday season may begin to bring about better Wii U sales for Nintendo.
“You know, I think by the end of this holiday, after we’ve launched Wind Waker, after we’ve launched Donkey Kong Country, after we’ve launched Mario 3D World, I think we’re going to be in a very good position.”
Nintendo has another platform to worry about with the 3DS. Managing the 3DS as well as the Wii U at the same time is doable, according to Reggie.
“Is it possible to do it for 3DS and Wii U at the same time? Absolutely. And that’s what we’re focused on. The pace of significant launches behind a platform is absolutely what we need and what we’re focused on getting to. My bet is that there are going to be more announcements the closer we get to whatever their launch date is.”
Finally, Reggie discussed the Wii U’s price. Even with the arrival of new next-gen consoles – one of which is only priced $50 higher if you consider the Wii U Deluxe Set – Nintendo doesn’t feel the pressure.
“It puts no pressure on us at all. Sony and Microsoft are going to do what they’re going to do. My bet is that there are going to be more announcements the closer we get to whatever their launch date is. From my perspective, I can’t focus on that. I have to focus on: How do we satisfy the needs of all of the consumers out there with Nintendo products? How do we make sure they understand our proposition? How do we make sure they’re excited about the software that we offer? And from that standpoint we’re going to let our competition do what they’re going to do.”
