Spanish website Vandal.net interviewed Nico Wegnez, Marketing Director in Nintendo Spain and one of the men behind the Stars Catalogue, among other things.
There is an article about their experiencies with Wii games in the spanish presentation (Wii Sports, Wario Ware, Duck Hunt demo...), and the interview. Everything is in Spanish, so I will make a very brief translation of the most important tips.
About Zelda Twilight Princess
They don't know if it will be in two SKU in Europe, or just one with both the GCN and the Wii versions. They're studying right now the cost for the final user and the viability of these options in our continent to make the right choice.
About Wii launch
Nothing really new, but says that it may be in the street just ten days after Japan (v.g., last week of October in Japan and first half of November in Europe), or more (two, three weeks, you know), but not months later. Anyway, it will be in the stores before the Christmas campaign (commonly, it starts the 15th November in Spain), and we will not suffer the same delay we had with N64 and GCN.
About Virtual Console and online pay
They don't really think europeans pay so easily online with their credit cards, so they will try to sell in stores pre-pay cards to make it easier for everyone as an alternative. Games in VC may be between 5-10 euros (just direct change from 5-10 US dollars).
Band Bros (Daigasoo! Band Brothers, Jam with the Band): an edition for every country
Nintendo Spain submitted to Japan this idea: Sell an special edition of Band Brothers in every european country. For example, in Spain there would be Estopa (popular music group) songs. They are really interested in that choice for the game because it can give them really high revenues, but they haven't had any response from NCL yet.
DS Cooking and English Training in Europe, maybe this year
DS Cooking (cook action/simulation game from Nintendo, similar to Cooking Mama) will be distributed in Europe. Also English Training (also in UK? Anyway, I will buy it to improve my English... I'm sorry for my mistakes!). Both can arrive to Europe this year.
Zelda Phantom Hourglass: Maybe this year too
They're not sure, but they would love to make a DS/Wii campaign with Zelda as main theme, but they're afraid the game will finally arrive to Europe in 2007.
NDS business in Spain
650.000 NDS since launch until 23rd June (Lite launch). 15.000 Lites in first 2 days. They think that those are really good number for Spanish market.
Bad GCN numbers
Less than 300.000 GCN units sold in Spain in all its lifespan (maybe 275k-280k, they don't have exact numbers). They think they failed with this console, and feel sad about it.
About Baten Kaitos 2
Nothing new yet, they're still thinking if they are going to sell it in Europe (I hope so!)
Do not expect nothing too big about Electroplankton
They don't think that this game (or no-game, whatever) can sell a lot, but they think that what is really important is that gamers can choose if they want it or not, and just go into a store and buy it. It's important for them to give the biggest catalogue possible.
I think that those are the most important tips in the interview. I hope this topic will be useful for someone, and, once again, I'm sorry for my broken English... I did my best.
There is an article about their experiencies with Wii games in the spanish presentation (Wii Sports, Wario Ware, Duck Hunt demo...), and the interview. Everything is in Spanish, so I will make a very brief translation of the most important tips.
About Zelda Twilight Princess
They don't know if it will be in two SKU in Europe, or just one with both the GCN and the Wii versions. They're studying right now the cost for the final user and the viability of these options in our continent to make the right choice.
About Wii launch
Nothing really new, but says that it may be in the street just ten days after Japan (v.g., last week of October in Japan and first half of November in Europe), or more (two, three weeks, you know), but not months later. Anyway, it will be in the stores before the Christmas campaign (commonly, it starts the 15th November in Spain), and we will not suffer the same delay we had with N64 and GCN.
About Virtual Console and online pay
They don't really think europeans pay so easily online with their credit cards, so they will try to sell in stores pre-pay cards to make it easier for everyone as an alternative. Games in VC may be between 5-10 euros (just direct change from 5-10 US dollars).
Band Bros (Daigasoo! Band Brothers, Jam with the Band): an edition for every country
Nintendo Spain submitted to Japan this idea: Sell an special edition of Band Brothers in every european country. For example, in Spain there would be Estopa (popular music group) songs. They are really interested in that choice for the game because it can give them really high revenues, but they haven't had any response from NCL yet.
DS Cooking and English Training in Europe, maybe this year
DS Cooking (cook action/simulation game from Nintendo, similar to Cooking Mama) will be distributed in Europe. Also English Training (also in UK? Anyway, I will buy it to improve my English... I'm sorry for my mistakes!). Both can arrive to Europe this year.
Zelda Phantom Hourglass: Maybe this year too
They're not sure, but they would love to make a DS/Wii campaign with Zelda as main theme, but they're afraid the game will finally arrive to Europe in 2007.
NDS business in Spain
650.000 NDS since launch until 23rd June (Lite launch). 15.000 Lites in first 2 days. They think that those are really good number for Spanish market.
Bad GCN numbers
Less than 300.000 GCN units sold in Spain in all its lifespan (maybe 275k-280k, they don't have exact numbers). They think they failed with this console, and feel sad about it.
About Baten Kaitos 2
Nothing new yet, they're still thinking if they are going to sell it in Europe (I hope so!)
Do not expect nothing too big about Electroplankton
They don't think that this game (or no-game, whatever) can sell a lot, but they think that what is really important is that gamers can choose if they want it or not, and just go into a store and buy it. It's important for them to give the biggest catalogue possible.
I think that those are the most important tips in the interview. I hope this topic will be useful for someone, and, once again, I'm sorry for my broken English... I did my best.
was interesting.
