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[CubeRevolution]

Iwata: "We are preparing several titles to be launched toward the end of this year"

Q:
Tell me about your view on third party software in this fiscal year. Due to good sales last year, the U.S. and European sales during January-March of this year were little below that of last year. As to your software plan in the latter half of the year which can regain sales momentum, are you mainly considering first party software? Or, are you expecting major third party titles for the plan? Will there be other software unknown to us now?
Also, the shipment forecast for DS software is less than last year. In Japan, the sales of Nintendo DS in the 4th quarter of last fiscal year ended up being the same level shortly before the launch of Nintendo DSi. You showed today the European figures from the UK, Germany and France. Are the European Nintendo DSi sales in the next month coming down to the same level of last year's Nintendo DS Lite sales? Are you expecting to launch Nintendo DS software that can drive demands for hardware in the latter half of this fiscal year? At when is the company planning to launch software that drives the Nintendo DSi sales?

Iwata

A: First of all, please understand that I am not in a position to comment on third parties software, especially when the lineup has not been announced by them.
The reason why I said today that April, May and June sales of Wii will not reach last year's results but that the situation will change from summer this year was because the company has been preparing for several titles to be launched toward the end of this year that can drive the market.
Since the software publishers, especially Western ones, are telling us that they will focus on developing for Wii, we are of course hopeful that they will launch additional titles of which I am not aware today. On the other hand, we must disclose our financial forecast by publicly confirming the company's plans with people in the market. We cannot unreasonably increase the expected shipment numbers by relying on software which may or may not be a great hit in the end, so these unknown software have not been taken into my consideration. However, there are possibilities that such titles can emerge, so we are hopeful.
As for Nintendo DS, software in general had experienced an over-exuberant period when any software could sell well as long as they launched. Such an overheated period, of course, cannot last forever. As time goes by, the difference between software which sells and those that cannot becomes obvious. The software that could not sell can become redundant inventory at distributors and retailers.
While there may be a different scenario if a brand new proposal that I am unaware of now would be made by software publishers and become hits, we have prepared our financial forecast based upon figures we were more certain of today. Accordingly, as the market is always changing, the opinion that calls our forecast rather conservative may be right.
We still need some time before we can determine the sales ratio between Nintendo DSi and Nintendo DS Lite. In the U.S. and Europe, portable game machines can sell relatively well in June and first half of July. Sales last year during this period were high, and we expect the same level of sales this year.
Nintendo is of course planning on launching software, and we expect the software publishers to make a variety of proposals, some of which will be appealing enough to attract new customers.

Wii Music and Shigeru Miyamoto is not God!

Q: Last year at this stage, I said that I was faced with severe memory shortages due to the lack of Wii's internal memory because I had downloaded more than 40 applications onto my Wii hardware between Wii Channels and Virtual Console titles. I'd like to first thank you for solving it at last. With that, I have seen your "Wii-no-ma" announcement on Nintendo Channel and noticed that President Iwata sounded like repeatedly apologizing in the video for the delay in software launches for this spring. Also, last time when I asked a question, we discussed the issue that Wii Music was not selling very well. During January to March this year, Wii did not perform well in Japan. In addition, we are now seeing a delay in software launches. Before that, there were some software with bugs. While I highly appreciate your apologetic attitude in the Wii-no-ma video and I believe that Nintendo's strategy is not wrong per se, I feel small mistakes are surfacing.
What do you think are the reasons why such mistakes take place? Is it due to the lack of resources at the low-level of the organization? Please give me your analysis and the countermeasure.

Iwata:

A: (...) If you have included our inability to launch software in a timely fashion in the former half of this year as one of these mistakes, I have to express my disagreement to such a use of the term. Honestly speaking, whether entertainment software is good enough or not cannot be told until development nears completion. Even amongst the software created by Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo, some have turned out to be entertaining enough in line with the original development concept while some turned out to be lacking something in the end.

One of the reasons why Miyamoto is highly praised is because of his ability to stop, rethink about, and fix how he can convey the appeal of a software when he finds out during the latter phase of development that the software will not be good enough. This is why the games he has worked on have a high batting average to produce big hits. However, he is not God and even Miyamoto himself cannot hit the mark every time nor always predict how long it takes to complete development. I believe my management job is to set parameters of the development timeframe, and with this uncertainty in mind, to plan our product launch timings without too much time between each one, but it is not easy to get this down perfectly. (...)

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/library/events/090508qa/index.html

 

[Deleted member 30609]

NeoGAF: (laughs)

 

[VOOK]

*insert witty remark about how Japan will get the games, but other regions will get boned*

 

[RevenantKioku]

Excellent.
I enjoy Nintendo games.

 

[farnham]

i hate all the bashing around wii music ..

it is a very well executed concept and much better then most of the music games on the market

all it really lacks is a DLC concept and something like song sharing (which is already done in Daigasso DX)

 

[GCX]

Iwata's been saying this multiple times now so here's hoping they have some interesting stuff coming.

I mean, besides Wii Fit Plus.

 

[Visualante]

Wii gardening game I hope.

 

[VOOK]

Iwata's been saying this multiple times now so here's hoping they have some interesting stuff coming.

I mean, besides Wii Fit Plus.

Wii Music: Metallica?

 

[Count Dookkake]

While I am looking forward to new titles, can they work on the launch of ExciteBots, please?

i hate all the bashing around wii music ..

it is a very well executed concept and much better then most of the music games on the market

all it really lacks is a DLC concept and something like song sharing (which is already done in Daigasso DX)

This.

 

[Domino Theory]

Wii Music: Metallica?

Call of Wiity 7: World at DJ Resort plus?

 

[Philanthropist]

Iwata: "We are preparing several titles to be launched toward the end of this year"

Shocking revelation. They're probably the only ones who thought about that.

 

[cyclone87]

Nintendo makes games?

 

[Cheerilee]

If you have included our inability to launch software in a timely fashion in the former half of this year as one of these mistakes, I have to express my disagreement to such a use of the term. Honestly speaking, whether entertainment software is good enough or not cannot be told until development nears completion.

 

[Toy Soldier]

This.

This twice. Wii Music post-launch deserved to have its shitty E3 reputation reversed, but it never happened. It's a real shame.

 

[billy.sea]

Personal Trainer: Blinking
Personal Trainer: Sitting
Personal Trainer: Farting

 

[Nirolak]

I don't mean to be negative or anything here, but was anyone expecting Nintendo to *not* release several titles in the second half of this year?

I mean, have they ever not released several titles near the end of a year before?

 

[Deleted member 30609]

I don't mean to be negative or anything here, but was anyone expecting Nintendo to *not* release several titles in the second half of this year?

I mean, have they ever not released several titles near the end of a year before?

There was nothing worth while for the Wii from Nintendo during the holiday season of last year.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Sin and Punishment 2... 2009?

 

[Danthrax]

I don't mean to be negative or anything here, but was anyone expecting Nintendo to *not* release several titles in the second half of this year?

I mean, have they ever not released several titles near the end of a year before?

yeah, last year says hi. Wii Music and a port of a DS game that was a port of a GameCube game that was a port of an N64 game cannot be considered a strong holiday lineup.


Iwata's comments make me cautiously optimistic Nintendo won't pull a 2008 again.

 

[Cygnus X-1]

Q13

The company is in very healthy financial condition and you once again confirmed net cash in the range of 1 trillion yen. I know you have always been asked of the usage of the cash in the future, but as I notice the changes in the environment, hardware sales and competitions, I'd like to listen to your ideas on how you would want to spend your cash, including the possibility of stock buy backs and others, or if you intend to maintain the current cash level.

A13

Iwata:
As you know, video game business is a very high risk business. It takes only one product to change the landscape all at once. Today's video game market is advancing with a scenario which was unimaginable just a few years ago. Several years ago, some people in the stock market used to openly announce that there was no need for companies to keep cash deposits because you could borrow them whenever necessary. I think I can today say that the situation in the last 6 months has proved that they were wrong. As long as we are doing business where we have great risk at times, my belief is that we have to be cash-rich if we commit ourselves to continuing our business.
So, it is very hard for me to imagine that Nintendo will abandon its cash-rich position all together anytime soon because doing so will significantly narrow down the options we can choose from in the future, which will weaken the competitive edge of the company towards the future and, as a result, the company will have a harder time being appreciated by the shareholders. This is my basic stance.
Being able to hold sufficient cash means that the company has a number of different options. The possibility of stock buyback that you mentioned is one of them, and when we feel the need to do so, we will. Or, even though we do not have any such concrete plan today, if we encounter a great technology or patent that could give us a great edge for future challenges, Nintendo may be able to exercise the option of M&A even though we have hardly done so in the past. When that one technology or one patent is going to be the decisive factor for our future, we want to be able to exercise our option to take it. We hope that people invest in Nintendo by understanding that being able to have the freedom to choose our business structure and our operational structure is one of the most important factors and strengths that allows us to move towards our challenging goals.

1 trillion yen deposits. Holy...

 

[Nirolak]

There was nothing worth while for the Wii from Nintendo during the holiday season of last year.

yeah, last year says hi. Wii Music and a port of a DS game that was a port of a GameCube game that was a port of an N64 game cannot be considered a strong holiday lineup.


Iwata's comments make me cautiously optimistic Nintendo won't pull a 2008 again.

Well, I just mean, regardless of people's opinions of the titles, they still did release several games during that holiday season.

I guess the market driving part is the real meat of the quote, but they did admit it's hard to ever tell if something will really be marketing driving or not, so it just seems like kind of a... stating the obvious quote in a way.

 

[Vorador]

Even if NoJ delivers....NoA will not.

 

[Danthrax]

Well, I just mean, regardless of people's opinions of the titles, they still did release several games during that holiday season.

I guess the market driving part is the real meat of the quote, but they did admit it's hard to ever tell if something will really be marketing driving or not, so it just seems like kind of a... stating the obvious quote in a way.

yeah I know what you were trying to say. all the same, Nintendo only released two games from October through December 2008. I literally named their entire holiday lineup for you in my previous post. that's it. two games. ridiculous, especially compared to the same time period in 2007 (5 games, one of them Mario Galaxy!) and 2006 (3 games, one Zelda, the other Wii Sports).

2008 really was a big disappointment compared to previous holiday seasons and considering we'd heard nothing about the end of 2009, a number of people perhaps didn't think things were looking up.

 

[Neo C.]

The most interesting part is their success in South Korea. I knew it before, but Iwata gives some new numbers out.

 

[Hero]

There better be some amazing games unveiled at E3 that will be out by the end of 2009.

 

[NotWii]

I hope so Iwata

 

[Dizzan]

OMG Zelda WII!!!!!!!!

Spoiler

lol

 

[StuBurns]

Japan is a Godless country, Nintendo employees included.

 

[Mistouze]

One of these games better be Pikmin 3.

 

[OnPoint]

The "drive the market" line makes me nervous. That's something Wii Fit did (and is still doing), and while Wii Fit is fine and dandy, I'd like some more traditional games. Here's hoping...

 

[GCX]

The "drive the market" line makes me nervous. That's something Wii Fit did (and is still doing), and while Wii Fit is fine and dandy, I'd like some more traditional games. Here's hoping...

We already pretty much know one of their holiday games is going to be Wii Fit Plus. That and Wii Sports Resort are probably Nintendo's this year's big casual titles.

 

[Allan Holdsworth]

Also, the speed at which something new is regarded obsolete is becoming incredibly faster. Should we advertise and create a lot of buzz from many months before launch, the customers may feel as if they have gotten tired of the product even before the product launches. There is a risk today that they may feel that they have already experienced it enough and are done with it prior to launch.
In today's circumstance where we need to refrain from making a big announcement or sharing information much in advance of the actual launch in the marketplace, it may appear that Nintendo is not making as many new proposals as before and that the company might be running out of new ideas. Objectively, we do not believe that the pace at which the company has been making new proposals has greatly slowed down. Also, whether our new proposals become a great hit or not sometimes depends on luck. Furthermore, just as you pointed out, Nintendo software today has a higher unit sales criterion to be called a killer application, so it is becoming increasingly challenging to clear that bar.

Excitebots weeps...

 

[OnPoint]

We already pretty much know one of their holiday games is going to be Wii Fit Plus. That and Wii Sports Resort are probably Nintendo's this year's big casual titles.

Indeed. I'm just hoping there's more to what he's referencing than "casual" games.

 

[GCX]

Indeed. I'm just hoping there's more to what he's referencing than "casual" games.

Well, only a little over a week till we find out.

Btw, I like the 8-bit business Mario that's on Nintendo's investor relations page. :lol

 

[RichardAM]

One of these games better be Pikmin 3.

Hopefully, oh god yes.

 

[[Nintex]]

It all depends on how they spread their releases, if Nintendo only launches the software planned for early this year(the heavilly rumored Pikmin 3) than that's all we get, but if the other projects(Galaxy? Retro's new game?) aren't delayed they'll have alot of their slate. I think they're going to launch three or four first party games between Q4 2009 and Q1 2010, just like they did with Metroid Prime 3, Mario Galaxy and Smash Bros. . If anything Nintendo should finish developing those titles soon, otherwise they won't be able to start next-gen development on time and are empty handed at launch. I don't think they care much about what we think but it seems that their investors aren't pleased with Nintendo's current strategy and they really have to deliver this year.

If Q4 2009 is again a total bust then they're wasting development resources, they've got tons of studios working for them(EAD(at least 5 teams), NST, Retro etc) , internal and external. There's no way they could release Wii Fit Plus and call it day.

 

[Haunted]

Man, it's the same every fucking year: We get lots of info on Sony stuff (both intentional and leaked), MS is the king of leaks, leaking pretty much everything before E3 actually starts (again) and all we get from Nintendo are vague statements and no leaks at all.


Fucking secretive bastards.

I don't mean to be negative or anything here, but was anyone expecting Nintendo to *not* release several titles in the second half of this year?

I mean, have they ever not released several titles near the end of a year before?

You'd think so, given the comments in many Wii threads. :lol

There was nothing worth while for the Wii from Nintendo during the holiday season of last year.

1. Nintendo released Disaster, Animal Crossing and Wii Music. That's several titles released towards the end of the year. From my (PAL) perspective, they also released the three Art Style WiiWare games (Cubello, Orbient, Rotohex) October through December.

2. He doesn't say anything about this year's games being worthwhile either.

 

[Taker666]

Marionette? The puppeteering game Miyamoto was working on for the GC. He mentioned in an interview a couple years back that it had been moved to Wii and was still in development.


I'd imagine the MotionPlus could be very useful for that title in regards to simulating the puppet cross bar controls.

 

[Yagharek]

Man, it's the same every fucking year: We get lots of info on Sony stuff (both intentional and leaked), MS is the king of leaks, leaking pretty much everything before E3 actually starts (again) and all we get from Nintendo are vague statements and no leaks at all.

It's not quite an announcement of an announcement though.

 

[Deleted member 30609]

1. Nintendo released Disaster, Animal Crossing and Wii Music. That's several titles released towards the end of the year. From my (PAL) perspective, they also released the three Art Style WiiWare games (Cubello, Orbient, Rotohex) October through December.

2. He doesn't say anything about this year's games being worthwhile either.

ah, touche

 

[Amir0x]

Yeah Wii Music blew Iwata, I agree. Release Pikmin 3 at the end of the year to make it up to me, I know you waaanna.

(Note to spectators: This means they will cancel Pikmin 3)

 

[_Alkaline_]

The thing is, Nintendo's output recently has actually been pretty good.

Nintendo of America, on the other hand...

 

[m3k]

Yeah Wii Music blew Iwata, I agree. Release Pikmin 3 at the end of the year to make it up to me, I know you waaanna.

(Note to spectators: This means they will cancel Pikmin 3)

shhhhhHHHHHhhhhhh

 

[speedpop]

I'm personally hoping for Wii Fit 2 to be shown because I want to know that everytime I turn it on, I'll be able to hear at least one muffled GAF poster cry.

 

[Akai]

Yeah Wii Music blew Iwata, I agree. Release Pikmin 3 at the end of the year to make it up to me, I know you waaanna.

(Note to spectators: This means they will cancel Pikmin 3)

Only because you said Wii Music sucks, so it's ALL YOUR FAULT!

 

[DefectiveReject]

Wii music blew to some, but has still sold millions and therefore more than likely generated a lot of profit.
It becomes a point therein as what is determined to be a failure?
A game making £10's of millions in profit or a game selling sheer numbers.

I reckon the sales of Wii Music would keep most developers in business for a while!

I still think we'll get WiiFit2, and a hardcore game for holidays

 

[abstract alien]

Bring em, Ill buy em.

 

[Caesar III]

Marionette? The puppeteering game Miyamoto was working on for the GC. He mentioned in an interview a couple years back that it had been moved to Wii and was still in development.


I'd imagine the MotionPlus could be very useful for that title in regards to simulating the puppet cross bar controls.

I never heard of this one but this sounds awesome, especially the name :O


All I want is to not announce a new version of Wii because I don't want to buy it :lol
Give me some great games instead. WiiFit2 doesn't count

 

[Kenka]

That's boring. Plain boring. Say something worth our time Satoru.

 

[Chittagong]

Iwata: "We are preparing several titles to be launched toward the end of this year"

HOLY SHIT MEGATON

[/sarcasm]