Investor meeting: Kimishima on prospects for current FY (3DS, NX, E3, Wii U) (Apr. 2016)
During the usual meeting with investors, which always follows the presentation of the latest financial results, Nintendo talked about its prospects for the current Fiscal Year: Nintendo 3DS, NX platform, E3 2016, and Wii U production.
For the Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo’s strategy will be to revitalise the platform thanks to major titles, and reach a wider audience (female, kids). In Japan, the install base is already quite saturated, and there isn’t that many opportunities to increase Nintendo 3DS sales. Therefore, for that country, Nintendo’s focus will be to “spark discussions” and “maintain momentum” among current 3DS owners.
One of the major titles Nintendo plans to launch is obviously Pokémon Sun and Moon, releasing this Fall worldwide (just in time for the holidays). Right now, excitation for the Pokémon series is pretty high, due to the Pokémon 20th Anniversary celebrations (the good sales of Pokémon on Virtual Console is proof of that). This is especially true in the Americas (Nintendo’s largest market).
Nintendo is planning to use that momentum to drive sales of Pokémon Sun and Moon, which will be one of the top priorities for the current Fiscal Year.
Due to the large installed base, there are many games coming soon to Nintendo 3DS in Japan. That includes first and third party titles, along with major titles. Of course, there are also “many” unannounced games in the works, from Nintendo themselves or third-party publishers.
There are also quite a lot of games coming soon to Europe and North America, though obviously, there are also many (late) localisations. As in Japan, there are also “many” unannounced games in the works, from Nintendo themselves or third-party publishers.
Head after the break for the rest of this post!
Tatsumi Kimishima briefly mentioned the NX platform, and reiterated that more details (including features, price, launch line-up) would be revealed at a later date. It will not be shown at E3 2016, where Nintendo will instead focus on the latest entry in the Legend of Zelda series (now also coming to NX). It looks like Nintendo will also details plans for the Zelda 30th Anniversary, too.
Finally, Tatsumi Kimishima discussed the strategy for production and shipping of Wii U. Basically, Nintendo plans to greatly reduce the amount of Wii U systems produced and shipped, compared to the past Fiscal Year. Based on overall demand forecasts for the Wii U, and anticipation for the NX platform, Nintendo plans to ship only 800 000 units before March 31st, 2017 (which is a very low amount).
It’s no wonder that Nintendo wants to avoid getting stuck with too many unsold Wii U units once the NX platform is launched. After all, there’s no doubt the vast majority of retailers will want to drop it as soon as possible, and as the NX platform is getting closer, less and less players will want to buy a Wii U (there isn’t that many of them to begin with…). Not to mention the barren line-up for the upcoming months, especially in Japan!
Source: Nintendo
