Nintendo Investor Briefing: Wii U, maintaining performance and momentum

During the Financial Results Briefing with investors, this morning, Satoru Iwata talked about the Wii U and its sales. He explained that even during the first months of 2015, after the holidays period, the Wii U kept its momentum. He then showed two graphs, with the sell-through ratio for Hardware / Software in Q3 and Q4 2014-15:

For Nintendo, the momentum in early 2015 is mainly due to the two (popular) classic multiplayer titles released last year: Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, which ended up selling 5.11 million units and 3.65 million units respectively.

Right now, Nintendo’s focus is on making sure players keep on playing the games they’ve bought, by increasing the replay value. Obviously, this is done via Software updates and DLC (like the Animal Crossing DLC pack for Mario Kart 8, or the new fighters for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U), which add new functionalities, courses, etc..

This contributes to maintaining the performance and momentum of the so-called “evergreen titles”, so they can enjoy a longer lifespan.

Satoru Iwata also showed a list of already announced titles, coming out before the end of the current fiscal year (ending March 31st, 2016). Of course, the list isn’t 100% complete: there’s also various unannounced titles that will be released in the upcoming months (they will most likely be announced at E3). It also includes Japan-only titles, such as Dragon Quest X Ver. 3.0.

Among those titles, several use the GamePad (a project lead by Shigeru Miyamoto himself) and were actually announced at E3 last year. One of them is Mario Maker, which has great potential for Satoru Iwata: after all, it allows players to use the GamePad and get creative. What’s more, the type of gameplay offered by Mario Maker encourages parents and children to play together, which is something Nintendo has been actively seeking in the past few years.

Source: Nintendo