So many non-answers, I don't know where to start.
"Wii U sales have remained flat because the console has considerable room for growth."
What's the point of interviewing these people if they're not going to tell you anything meaningful? It's like talking to a brick wall, except the brick wall doesn't lie to your face.
Puzzle and Dragon Z did 1.5 million on the 3DS. The people who makes the only surviving and successful handheld at this moment, think it is a good idea.
The Puzzles & Dragon brand is huge in Japan, and so is the 3DS. It was an anomaly that was obviously going to be successful in that market. Their solution to combating mobile is, as expected, remarkably out of touch with reality. Yeah, I'm sure iPhone owners are going to migrate to the 3DS ecosystem so they can play a $39.99 version of Clash of Clans. What demographic is this strategy supposed to target? Existing 3DS owners who most likely have mobile phones already? There's mobile shovelware on the eShop
already, and it isn't helping one bit. People can already play these games on a device that offers better screens, faster processing power, a more stable account system, and greater multimedia functionality. Nintendo should be doubling down on what they do best: making quality games. Unfortunately, their output has been slower than ever, and major third parties have all but abandoned both platforms.
Yup, I don't think this is "the grand plan" but it's obviously a good way to get content and generate revenue and there are already results showing it's a good idea.
Then maybe that shouldn't have been his answer to "What are you doing to shore up your console business?" Because that sounds like his grand plan for the near future. Puzzles & Dragons Z does reasonably well in a market that favors handheld gaming devices and their extrapolation is to port mobile games to the 3DS. As if that's going to stop their rapidly declining market share. You may argue that it will help, but I fail to see how it will do anything but put money into the pockets of the companies who publish these games.
Its a thread full of people who either (a.) don't understand business speak, or (b.) think having a fatter library of popular IP is a bad thing.
Amazing.
The people who spend 200 dollars on handheld gaming devices are ambivalent towards brands like Angry Birds. Unless Nintendo plans on releasing a mobile phone next generation, this is a complete and utter waste of time.
Yep. Some people expect Iwata to run around, screaming "Oh noes, we are doomed".
Some accountability would be nice, yes. Nintendo isn't doomed, but the Wii U sure is. Instead of lying to his investors and saying that the Wii U has potential for growth, he should be trying to convince them that Nintendo has learned from its mistakes.
The sad part is, I don't think they have.