Nintendo Investor Briefing (February 2019): Mario animated movie, Nintendo Tokyo Store, more
Today, the latest Nintendo Investor Briefing took place in Japan. It was the occasion for Shuntaro Furukawa, president of the company, to talk about the Switch business (holiday season, future outlook, etc.), but also what’s next for the company. You can read it in full thanks to the handy PDF available here!
Moving forward, no more separate posts for each topic discussed during the briefing, but instead one global post with all the various announcements made during the presentation.
First, Shuntaro Furukawa confirmed that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the fastest-selling Nintendo game at launch, on home consoles. Furukawa also clarified that’s it’s all Nintendo Labo kits together that sold over 1 million units, not just the Toy Con 01: Variety Kit.
As for sales of third-party games, they more than doubled from April to December 2018. In Asia, the sell-in for the Switch is already two times the cumulative sell-in for the 3DS: it’s already 7% (as opposed to +1% for the 3DS).
Furukawa also revealed that Nintendo Switch Online has reached 8 million subscribers worldwide (excluding free trials, but including accounts in family plans).
Next: mobile games. it was previously announced that Fire Emblem Heroes will be launched in more South America countries in February, and it turns out it’s because the game has been translated into Portuguese. As for Dragalia Lost, it’s coming soon to more English-speaking countries: United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. No word on other countries or languages yet.
The construction of the Super Nintendo World area at Universal Studios Japan is underway, and set to open in time for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. As for the animated Super Mario Bros. film by Illumination, it’s moving along for an anticipated theatrical release around 2022.
Finally, Furukawa announced that the first official (and permanent) shop will open this Fall in Japan. It’s called Nintendo Tokyo, similar to how the Nintendo World Store in New York was renamed to Nintendo NY a while ago. This implies more similiar stores may open in other countries in the world.
This new official store will sell games, consoles, and merchandise, but it will also host events, demo sessions for games, and more. It will open at Shibuya Parco (building name TBC). More details will be shared at a future date.
Source: Nintendo
