During Nintendo’s 78th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, it was mentioned that the company’s management has a favorable view of E3, yet its share price fell around that time. With key titles for the fiscal year releasing through the holidays, this person asked if more “attractive software” can be released continuously.
Kimishima’s full comments are as follows:
"We have been putting forth our best effort to be ready to release information to consumers at the appropriate time. We are not yet at the point where we can announce our entire product lineup, including the products that will be released during the holiday season. We are aiming to sell 20 million units during this fiscal year, the second year since the launch of Nintendo Switch, and have released first-party titles like Nintendo Labo in April, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze in May and Mario Tennis Aces on June 22. And then for the holiday season, we are planning to release Super Mario Party on October 5, Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu!/Let’s Go, Eevee! on November 16, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on December 7. We plan to use this robust lineup, including popular titles that were already released prior to the last fiscal year, to maintain and increase the momentum we have with Nintendo Switch for the holiday season, which is the most significant period for sales. We will communicate more detailed information to consumers at a later date".
Nintendo spoke about indie games
Kimishima
"Offering enjoyable first-party games throughout the world will continue to be one of our strengths, but increasing the number of people who make games to be played on Nintendo platforms is also very important for growing our business. That is why we are working to create an environment that makes development easier, and simplifying the process of publishing games on Nintendo Switch. This has resulted in a large number of people playing an array of indie games on Nintendo Switch".
Takahashi
"During development on Nintendo Switch, creating a development environment where it would be easy to create games was one of our top priorities. One of the good things to come from this is the large number of indie games, especially in Europe and North America. We do not think of indie games as competition for the large-scale games we develop ourselves. Rather, I think these indie games are what really invigorate Nintendo Switch overall".
Tanaka
"We started working with indie developers during the Wii U generation. For Nintendo Switch, we set up a development environment that supports Unity middleware, which is used on smartphones and other platforms. We are also actively engaging with indie developers at video game-focused shows and other events in different regions. We also had a Nintendo booth at the BitSummit indie game event held in Kyoto, where we showcased some games. Some of the indie games already released have gone on to become million sellers worldwide. In the future, we are looking to release
around 20 to 30 indie games on Nintendo Switch per week, and we definitely expect to see some great games among them".Kimishima
"We are currently working towards reaching 1,500 software titles developed for Nintendo platforms using Unity. I think that will give you an idea of how much it has grown".
When asked how Nintendo plans to spread awareness about Nintendo Switch Online becoming a paid service during the 78th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, Kimishima said:
"We should be able to give you a little more information as we get closer to the official launch in September. Our aim is to provide consumers with variety of ways to play and the ability to use the system in a more convenient way. I will have to ask for your patience until we are ready to discuss any further details".
Big N was asked how the current situation compares to its estimates. Former president Tatsumi Kimishima spoke about this as well as the performance of Nintendo Labo.
Kimishima shared the following:
"Our sales targets for Nintendo Switch hardware and software during this fiscal year will not be an easy challenge to meet, but we are putting all of our efforts into doing just that. If you look at our software lineup for the fiscal year that we showed at E3, you can see a relative trend that the titles that resonate most with consumers are concentrated toward the latter half. That is why I think the way Nintendo Switch hardware sells during this fiscal year will be slightly different from in the last. A simple comparison of hardware units sold during the first quarter of this fiscal year might not look as good as the units sold during this period in the prior fiscal year. However, this is something we expected, so this shift is well within expectations when looking at our software lineup for the entire fiscal year.
And on the topic of Nintendo Labo, we are grateful for the tremendous response we have received from all kinds of places even prior to its launch. On the other hand, I see it as characteristically different from the titles we have released up until now and, therefore, the sales route and the flow until it reaches consumers also differs from other games. We anticipate that parents will purchase it for their children, for example, which potentially requires an opportunity to make a purchase like a birthday, Christmas or summer break. That is why we are currently focused on making sure that consumers fully understand the appeal of the product. What that means is the way we are selling Nintendo Labo is not like traditional games, where they sell well upon initial release and then sales numbers gradually decrease. Instead, we hope Nintendo Labo becomes a topic of interest for all kinds of people, and when an increased number of people want it and a certain time comes to make purchases, they will all buy it. Furthermore, regarding sales channels, we do not necessarily think that the types of retailers who generally sell a lot of games are always the most well-suited for selling Nintendo Labo, which is something we are keenly aware of when working to promote the product".
More at link
https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2018/qa1806e.pdf
Some quite intresting things.
