In Nintendo's 72nd shareholder meeting, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata reminded attendeed about the initial reaction to the Wii.
"There are some media reports saying the Wii U may not be a revolutionary product like the Wii. When I was interviewed by media reporters overseas at E3 recently, their comment was, “The Wii appeared to be a promising product to succeed from the beginning; however, Wii U does not look that way.”
Without wasting a breath, Iwata is quit to lay the smack, and bring people back to how things actually were.
"People have forgotten what the real story was. For the Wii, before its launch and right after its announcement, the feedback was similar to that of the Wii U. In other words, when something unique comes up, it’s difficult for people to understand it at the beginning. A lot of misunderstandings and pessimistic observations, like, “Will a product like this really spread in the market?” prevail and then after some time, after being able to experience it, the atmosphere changes. In fact, when the Wii was showcased at E3 in 2006, there were a lot of news stories which reported the strong receptions of the Wii by the visitors to the show; however, the questions I was asked then and there were all tough questions. Almost every one of the reporters asked, “How in the world are you going to compete with SONY or Microsoft with a product like this?” Everyone has forgotten what the real situation was."
He then takes the chance to bring truth to those who pretend to have believed all along.
Then, in hindsight, I think some people say, “I was convinced about the success of the Wii from the beginning” only after looking at the results."
Knowing what lies ahead, and the challenges of media's resistance to Nintendo's innovations and business risks, Iwata reassures that Nintendo will fight the uphill battle and find their way to the other end of the mountain.
"Nintendo has to fight the lasting impression of the Wii business that once exploded. We know as our mission that we have to fight strongly before the launch time and overcome this situation. However, we ask you to understand the aspect I just described."
Source: The 72nd Annual General Meeting of Shareholders Q&A.
Happydolphin is a young boy who played video games his whole life, and enjoyed watching movies with his family like "A few good men" and other such classics. Growing up in the church community, he was raised to look through the bullshit other people spew in order to form his own opinion of what the bible teaches. Today, he is an avid noob on vgchartz and contributes articles for the good of the people.
