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Forums - Sales - Interview with Martin Schneider, Konami Germany

I only will translate the keyparts:

Headline: Nintendo did a disservice to the Industry

 

Wir kommen traditionell von den Nintendo-Marken her. Konami hat sein European Headquarter in Frankfurt, weil Nintendo seines in Großostheim hat. Gerade beim DS ist ja das Spannende: Man muss nicht in den Top 10 sein, und kann immer noch sehr gut verkaufen. Bei der Wii bin ich nicht so sicher, was da passiert. Durch deren Zugänglichkeit haben wir plötzlich Kunden, die wir vorher nicht erreicht haben. Aber diese Zielgruppe lässt es kalt, wenn ich ein Contra ins Regal stelle und die Special-Interest-Presse einige Tests darüber bringt. In der Wii-Hitliste befinden sich Produkte, hinter denen entweder ein starker Brand oder millionenschwere TV-Werbung steht. Der Rest verkauft sich praktisch nicht. Insoweit hat uns Nintendo durchaus auch einen Bärendienst erwiesen.

 

The exiting about the DS: You don't have to be in the Top 10 to have good sales. I am not so sure what happens on the Wii right now. Through its accessibility we have now customers we didn't have before. But they ignore if we put contra on the shelve and the Special Intrest Press prints some test about it. In the Wii Charts are only products with a strong brand name or a with a million TV ad campain. Everything else does sell virtually nothing.


.... Nicht umsonst ist WiiPlay das meistverkaufte Wii-Spiel. Das versteht die Casual-Zielgruppe: ein zweiter Controller und mehrere Minispiele dabei. Und das reicht dann zusammen mit Wii Sports für lange Zeit. Insoweit wünsche ich der Branche viel Spaß dabei, wenn jetzt alle stark in die Casual-Ecke wollen. Denn die neue Zielgruppe wird diese Casual-Spiele gar nicht wahrnehmen, solange dafür keine TV-Werbung geschaltet wird. Was ich Nintendo hoch anrechne, ist nicht die Erweiterung der Zielgruppe, sondern die Erweiterung der Wahrnehmung in der Öffentlichkeit: Plötzlich redet jeder über Videospiele, die Berührungsängste schwinden. Rein politisch ist das toll für die Branche, und das bringt mir viel mehr als eine Käuferschicht, die für mich kaum erreichbar ist.

 

 

..There is a reason why WiiPlay is the most sold Wii Game. Thats something the casual audience understands: A second Controler and some minigames packed in. And thats something that is enough for a long time. I wish the industry a lot of fun going after the casual crowed.

 

...

What I give Nintendo credit for is not the expanding of the audience. It is the expanding of the perception in the public. Now everybody is talking about video games, the reservations are shrinking. From a political point of view thats great for the industry and thats way more worth than a new group of buyers that is unreachable for me...

 

Fragen Sie mich das nach dem 12. Juni noch mal, dann bringen wir New International Track & Field für DS raus, das ganz gezielt bei der Onlinefunktionalität einhakt. Es werden ständig Turniere veranstaltet, sobald ich online bin, bekomme ich die neuesten Weltrekorde als Ticker gezeigt. Doch wie hoch ist eigentlich die Wahrscheinlichkeit, dass ich mit einem Handheld unterwegs Zugang zum Internet habe? Im Auto? Eher nicht. Im Zug? Da muss die Bahn noch dran arbeiten. Im Flugzeug? Da ist es wieder abgeschaltet worden. Das Absurde an der Situation: Heutzutage ist praktisch jedes Feature, das theoretisch möglich ist, ein Hygienefaktor. Man muss es haben, sonst wird das negativ beurteilt - auch wenn die Kunden das Feature dann gar nicht nutzen.

 

How high is the probability that I am online with my hand held if I am away? In the car? Most likely not. In the train? Thats something the DB (German Railway) has to work on. In the plane? It is disestablished. The crazy thing about the Situation: Today practically every feature, that is theoretically possible is a "fake" factor. You have to have it. If not you going to get negative reviews - even if the customers can't use that feature anyway.

 

Nein. Ich hätte gerne eine Lieferzeit von zwei bis drei Wochen, statt von vier bis fünf. Das Thema Nachlieferung ist im Moment schlimmer denn je. Einmal hat Nintendo selbst Riesenmengen an eigenen Spielen zu produzieren. Und natürlich hat es auch einen gewissen Reiz, ausverkauft zu sein. Das heißt ja auch, erfolgreich zu sein. Ich glaube nicht, dass Nintendo das in den Griff bekommt. Damit zwingt Nintendo die Publisher natürlich ein wenig, weiter vorauszuplanen und im Zweifel ein etwas größeres Risiko zu fahren.

 

I would like to have delivery times of two or three weeks, instead of four to five. The matter delivery is right now worse than ever. First Nintendo has to produce a big quantity just for their own game and it has charm to be sold out.

 


The entire interview can be found here.

 

Maybe a other person is kind enough to translate something about MSG 4. I don't have time right know.

I only find it funny that it seems that even executives marketing managers talk that bullshit, with unsuccessfully wii games, and yet it is hard to get more CD from nintendo.

Oh and something intresting for the numbers guys: 6.000 units where enough to be on place 10/11 in the german charts (don't know if only wii or all formats). First question on the last site.

 

 



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well it is surely a mix of factors, nowadays if you do not have some features the game will get turned down on it. Even when it can hardly be used everywhere. Delivery takes long, guess that is because everyone wants one. If you could just produce more games/consoles it wouldn't be a problem (or if people stop buying them every second they see one :P) Nintendo gets the mind of the current day customer. they want fun and if you get something extra for the price its even better. The bad selling games are mainly the games which are the casual junkbag titles which some porducers like to make.



Does Konami have the right to bitch if they didn't even try making a good Wii game, except for PES 2008? They launched PES 2008 on the Wii much later than the PS2/PS3/360/DS versions, but even then it's still selling fine.

Note to Konami: Make more good Wii games, market them properly and then you'll have the right to bitch about the Wii and Nintendo.

 



My Mario Kart Wii friend code: 2707-1866-0957

Oh and something intresting for the numbers guys: 6.000 units where enough to be on place 10/11 in the german charts (don't know if only wii or all formats). First question on the last site.


That would be all formats, which is usually dominated by DS titles.



This raised one question to my mind what games that doesn't have huge marketing budget and/or established franchise sell on PS360?



Ei Kiinasti.

Eikä Japanisti.

Vaan pannaan jalalla koreasti.

 

Nintendo games sell only on Nintendo system.

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bdbdbd said:
This raised one question to my mind what games that doesn't have huge marketing budget and/or established franchise sell on PS360?

 Exactly.

 

Publihser Strategy Meeting:  Hey, let's request the 3rd string developer not put much effort into the tiny budget we gave them for their no name new IP, not advertise the damn thing and then complain like whiney babies when it doesn't sell.



The rEVOLution is not being televised

Konami will learn it's way right out of the market...



Prepare for termination! It is the only logical thing to do, for I am only loyal to Megatron.

Haha, what a fool. Konami did a disservice to themselves by ignoring the wind of change that started after the first 1-2 DS years and became a storm by now. Putting so much resources behind MGS4 and keeping it an exclusive for PS3 shows exactly their ignorance and incompetence.



Here are the games Konami published for the Wii, sorted by sales (although some of the data is probably incomplete):

http://vgchartz.com/games/index.php?name=&console=Wii&developer=&publisher=190&genre=&keyword=&order=Sales

Which of these titles are they unhappy about in terms of sales?

 



My Mario Kart Wii friend code: 2707-1866-0957

NJ5 said:

Here are the games Konami published for the Wii, sorted by sales (although some of the data is probably incomplete):

http://vgchartz.com/games/index.php?name=&console=Wii&developer=&publisher=190&genre=&keyword=&order=Sales

Which of these titles are they unhappy about in terms of sales?

 


 Target Terror obviously.  Don't you see how much they spent on production and advertising?



The rEVOLution is not being televised