“Aiming for the next fiscal year, we are also working on new genres of software that may attract people who are not particularly interested in video games”. These are the words of Nintendo President Satoru Iwata, and yes, while they have been taken slightly out of context, one has to wonder what Nintendo have up their sleeve this time.
After posting less than impressive half year financial reports, the Nintendo President spoke, comparing the new range of products to Wii fit and Brain Training, not in the tangible sense, but rather aspiring towards products that perform over a long life cycle and act as catalyst for hardware sales.
In direct relation to the 3DS, Iwata had this to say, “As for our Nintendo 3DS, the hardware markdown has resulted in a huge loss in this fiscal year. However, as we are going ahead with gradual cost-cutting efforts, from a profit standpoint, improvements are expected to be made in the next fiscal year.”
“The present result of the markdown is just an improvement of sales pace of the hardware. After the upcoming November, however, anticipated titles for Nintendo 3DS will be continually released, which we hope will bring a big boost in the year-end sales season.”
From many of his comments, it seems Nintendo are heading in a new direction, or at the least, trying to expand their exposure beyond the traditional gaming market. Talking about the 3DS, Iwata believes the power of word of mouth communications are in their favour. He goes on to say “We can expect the Nintendo 3DS to enter into the phase where relevant information shall be communicated even to people who usually do not proactively seek video game information.”
There are also some exciting new features described for the next 3DS firmware update, specifically relevant to Nintendo’s eShop. All developers can now add DLC after launch as well as the addition of game demos and downloading whilst in sleep mode.
What would you like to see from Nintendo in terms of product development? Are they relying too much on their core franchises which don’t seem to have the influence they once exhibited? Let us know what you think?
