Slashdot Mirror
Nintendo's Iwata On GameCube Sales, Future Plans
Thanks to 1UP for its article covering a recent interview with Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, in which he discusses "Nintendo's current state and its plans for the future in what will be a critical year for the company." Iwata seems to be confident in Nintendo's "..current target of 6 million GameCube consoles sold worldwide in the current fiscal year, which will conclude in March", and also notes that he believes the China-launched iQue "will grow into a major business in three to five years." Finally, Iwata has comments about the mysterious new Nintendo device due to launch at E3 in May, suggesting he "doesn't necessarily expect this product to be an immediate hit upon its announcement - he's prepared to see a lack of applause from some of the audience."
Any rumors out there on what the new device is?
My company recently blocked most gaming-related sites, so I can't check it out myself.
MEGATON
Subject line has a character limit...hmph. Add an E for me.
Ive heard that it could be some sort of interactive visualboy type remake. The only links I could provide to back that up are slashdot posts joking about a beowolf cluster of them. sorry.
Also, did anyone else find it interesting that the gentleman talks about the decline of the gaming industry? Seems as though sony is doing ok. kinda like an interal perspective published as a global fact.
The / in
Game development is deadlocked today. Games have grown in pursuit of more beautiful graphics and more complex systems for 20 years, but that growth is no longer translating into success, and games have stopped selling. The situation won't change if we keep expanding in a conventional way. Instead, we want to offer a gameplay experience which players haven't encountered until now.
This guy must have shot out of some sort of bizzare-o world. I mean, Nintendo may be having a rough generation, but the rest of the industry seems to be just fine, and the overall numbers are still always better than last year.
And it also feels just odd to hear the implication, that innovation in games can't continue without their new hardware, from a Nintendo guy.
It comes off like a suggestion that writers can't continue to churn out new and exciting books without adding whiz-bang 'pop-up' technology.
// "Can't clowns and pirates just -try- to get along?"
I thought he said they were doing great outside of Japan, but everything within Japan is experiencing a continuous slump.
I'm sure Sony America is doing great, but I haven't seen Sony Japan's numbers.
It's like sex, except I'm having it!
It's a little unfortunate that whoever conducted the interview didn't ask him what he was going for by saying that. The video game industry has expanded and expanded and expanded. I don't see a huge recession and I don't see people getting tired of video games and leaving the market entirely. In fact, more people are entering the market and getting into video games.
I hate liberals. If you are a liberal, do not reply.
I've heard rumours that it could be an new old-school deck that will play original NES and SNES games or something along those lines.
For $50 or less I'd buy. Personally, I'd prefer a GB Player style device that connects to the bottom of my GameCube so that I don't have yet another gaming system connected to my TV.
at least use proper syntax
cout "first p0st!\n";
If Nintendo did have something that wouldn't smack an audience in the mouth, it would be 50/50 between something Completely Different (abstract hard/software) or Me-Too ("It's a game system, a home media hub, a fondue, AND MORE!"). Personally, the latter would be like Dylan going Electric. Dogs and cats living together, etc.
The N has had a focus exclusively on making Games, not trying to jam as many tech.swiss army gear into their hardware. Not that there is anything wrong with gadget laden stuff, but hopefully that keen focus on Just Games will keep Nintendo in motion. All they really need is just a game that can capture the hearts and minds of a generation, like another Mario. My guess?
Donkey Konga.
ROB The Robot - A robot you can control with your NES? Spiffy! Unfortunately, there was almost no support (two games, IIRC) and he died a quick death
Game Boy - A portable game console? GASP! Since the Game Boy is still around (now as the GBA), it's fair to say that this one succeeded
Virtual Boy - Ooh...pretty 3D graphics. It's too bad that they were just red and black, and that the VB caused massive headaches. Still, the idea was nice.
Kirby's Tilt 'n Tumble - Control Kirby by tilting your Game Boy. Definitely a unique idea, but the game wasn't exactly a hit.
e-Reader - The ability to add things to GBA games cheaply (buy a $3 pack of cards) is nice, but there hasn't been very much support. Thankfully, that appears to be changing.
That's just what came to mind at the moment. We've got to remember that most of Nintendo's biggest successes - Mario, Zelda, Pokemon - were completely unlike anything else out there at the time of their release.
I've got a feeling that this will be another one of Nintendo's gambles...a completely wild idea that might or might not succeed. We'll see in a few months...
Come to think of it, this situation reminds me of another famous company...
Nintendo: the Apple of gaming.
Goo goo g'joob.
What he said reminded me of the attitude they had about the Virtual Boy, and while I love playing that occassionally my self, thats only because I got it and most the games for a tiny pittance in a bargain bin.
I'm pretty sure that he was referring to the Japanese game industry when talking about a decline. Since this is actually just 2 interviews translated and chopped up, it's hard to say whether or not that was clarified, but at the same time since the interviews were conducted in Japanese mags, it's more likely that the context of the interview would be enough to justify the lack of clarification.
;)
Anyway, the article does state:
Elsewhere in that same interview, Iwata reiterated his confidence in meeting sales targets for GameCube hardware, but was more pessimistic about the general fortunes of the Japanese games business. In the Japanese market, he said, sales of hardware have been declining over the last three years, and though software sales have been able to cover up that decline in the past, that's no longer possible now. While the overseas market still has a passion for playing games, Iwata explained, that's not the case in Japan, although Nintendo plans to play an important role in revitalizing the market in the coming year.
If you look at earlier portions of the article, he states that Cube sales doubled in Japan, but more than doubled in the rest of the world, showing that there's still a market in Japan that will respond to price drops, but unless the price drops were not as significant as elsewhere, it also shows that the market isn't as interested in the industry (of course, other economic factors are at work, as well).
Looking at Japanese sales figures for 2001, 2002, and 2003, you can see some trends such as more games selling over a million units in 2003, but the top-selling game for 2003 sold fewer units than the top-selling game for 2002, and the top-selling game for 2002 was the #2-selling game for 2003.
Overall, games seem to stay in the weekly top-selling lists for either a fairly long period of time or a very short period of time, with little falling in between. In other words, they sell extremely quickly to their core audience and probably receive mild reviews or little attention from those outside that core audience and disappear after the first week or two on the charts. Games with broader appeal and a more well-known name seem to stay in the charts indefinitely, even on fairly moderate weekly sales, as only new highly-awaited titles will shoot up the charts.
To put it another way, how good is the market when Pokemon Ruby & Sapphire was #1 in 2002, beaten out of #1 by FFX-2 in 2003 (by a small margin), and is still in the top 15 on the weekly charts a little over a week ago? Good for Nintendo to be able to maintain a title to almost 5 million sales in the Japanese market and hold the charts for 2 years, but everyone's released plenty of titles since then, and the North American charts reflect a much more friendly environment for new games, and a more moderate timeframe for successful games to stay on the charts through continued sales.
All of that being said, there could be some other more blatantly obvious explanation
-PainKilleR-[CE]
Finally, Iwata has comments about the mysterious new Nintendo device due to launch at E3 in May, suggesting he "doesn't necessarily expect this product to be an immediate hit upon its announcement - he's prepared to see a lack of applause from some of the audience."
It's the Virtual Boy 2!
Rob (Now with green LEDs)
"Neither a console nor a hand-held?" "Not expected to see rounds of applause?"
Must be the next Virtual Boy!
"To pass through the jungle; silence, courtesy, ferocity, as the occasion demands." -- Kamau, "Proper Passage"
-it has a price range that can come close to the SP (sub-$150),
-it has battery life more than 4 hours (which goes contrary to the specs that were released last October? November), and
-it has tons of games from day one *or* it's backwards compatible with PS1 games (not going to happen).
The Gameboy has a gaming library that's some 15 years old, not to mention perfectly good GBA games for the past 3 years. PSP might last because it's made by Sony, but I hardly think it'll debut at #1 and stay there.
Condemnant quod non intellegunt.
Wow. I wasn't aware that having $6+ billion in the bank was classified as "standing on your last leg". I must have lost my legs long ago..
It's like sex, except I'm having it!
One of the things Nintendo is best at is coming up with extremely bizarre products...and then making them work.
At first, I had to check your list there to see if it was a list of things that didn't work. They all are, save the GB. More importantly, many of those things are items from the golden age of Nintendo. The e-reader is more recent, but compared to what they were churning out prior (add the powerglove to your list, the Mario mouse, the exercise pad) most of these are from years ago. Nintendo introduced them and then they quickly faded into the background of popular culture. Really, the only innovation that is still being used is the Gameboy. Even Mario and Zelda are from their glory days (Pokemon was an idea from a company that Nintendo bought).
That's not to say that I didn't love Windwaker, or the GBA SP. But these are evolutions of concepts formed years ago, not fresh innovations. This makes them completely unlike Apple, who is still actively a market leader in design (from the iMacs to the iPods to, well, putting a small letter in front of words to make them sound cool). Nintendo, on the other hands, is doing its best to catch up. Even the Wavebird, a fantastic wireless device, is an evolution and not an innovation. Meanwhile, and in the same industry, Sony is releasing Nintendo-esque products like the Eyetoy - and, at the same time, getting a good deal of success while doing it, which is more than we can say for Nintendo's efforts.
I like Nintendo's apathetic "investor-may-care" attitude; this idea that they'll cater to 10% of the market for the duration of their corporate lifespan (which is, admitedly, very Apple-Like). Unfortunately, (and unlike Apple) I just don't know if there's room enough in the console market to support that kind of niche company. I hope so.
A trolling you did go, eh? Just because Sony is putting out a god-awful expensive portable gaming device does not mean Nintendo, et. al. is dead. Take your doom and gloom elsewhere.
Wait, are you the same troll who claims on a montly basis that Apple is going down the toilet.
Fatbabies speculative post here. Company press release here.
He doesn't necessarily expect this product to be an immediate hit upon its announcement - he's prepared to see a lack of applause from some of the audience
Not even him thinks the product will be impressive! considering other "novelties" nintendo has delivered before (e-card reader, virtual boy, 4 player pacman ) I dont think thats a good sign come on! even Nokia thought the N-gage would be really cool (yeah right). If thats what they think maybe they should just do themselves and us a favor and cancel it all together. The last thing Nintendo needs is another lackluster product with their tag on it.
Bring the next console with free online support, wireless controllers, a hdd, a superior graphics card and a DVD player/reader/writer tivo combo and then we will talk.
oh yea, and make it portable
Go ahead MOD my day!
More opinions here
While I dont think Nintendo is going down anytime of this decade. your assumption about the PSP doesnt seem fair either.
The reason why you get the gba sp at $100 is because you are getting a portable SNES, the N-Gage (besides a Joke) is a portable PS1, the PSP is a portable PS2 all the games you can play at a PS2 will be possible in the PSP. Think about it for a while (drool as needed) then comprehend the fact the PSP is a portable PS2 Now, pop quiz: what is more expensive a desktop or a laptop? (with the same components) that's right! a laptop! the PSP is going to be more expensive (or as expensive) as a PS2. Just like a portable gamecube would be as expensive as a gamecube. Read it, think on it, then stop trying to compare the PSP price with the gameboy. The PSP is going to cost $200-$300 and you are going to be able to play Silent Hill 3, Gran Turismo 3, FFX and GTA3 anywhere. Questions? no? great! move on and start saving.
Go ahead MOD my day!
More opinions here