9. Don't do the Easy

Itoi With Wii being such a big hit, I'm sure you've been asked many times what new sports will be included in the sequel of Wii Sports. 

Iwata Many times. (laugh) 

Itoi It's probably the traditional way to release a sequel, but I suppose Nintendo isn't planning to do that. Maybe a sequel may be released sometime in the future, but probably not soon, and probably not by simply adding a couple of new sports. 

Iwata We're not going to take such an easy way, not by including seven new sports in the game since Wii Sports has five. We're not closing our doors to the possibility of a sequel, but it's definitely not coming out soon. 

Itoi The contents will be so predictable if it came out soon.

Iwata Yes, like "let's improve the graphics a bit more". 

Itoi Or, "let's stick the controllers to our feet and play soccer". 

Iwata Or maybe sign contracts with professional athletes and create Mii that looks just like them. 

Itoi Why not? (laugh) 

Iwata If you start making such decisions without thinking, you start doing the easy stuff. You disengage yourself with the pursuit of true entertainment. 

Itoi Nintendo won't do the easy. 

Iwata No. 

Itoi Why is that? It's so common to do the easy. It's not totally incorrect to think of the extension of the product that sold well. Sorry to compare us with a huge company like Nintendo, but I feel the same when I look at my staff. If I tell them that what they started seems the same as something they did before, they agree. Instantly.

Iwata I can see that. 

Itoi What's the difference between those who can do this, and those who can't? 

Iwata You end up doing the easy if you compare one thing with another, and choose the one that seems to have more gain. That's sort of a short sighted cleverness. 

Itoi Uh-huh. 

Iwata The reason why Nintendo isn't doing the easy is because our goal is clear. Our mission is to surprise people in a good way, and this became very clear as we made Nintendo DS and Wii. You can't open up a new market of customers if you can't surprise them.

Itoi Expanding the game population was the initial target you set when you became president of Nintendo. 

Iwata Yes. Even if we make great products, if the number of new customers doesn't increase, it won't reach people. That was clear to us, so doing the easy was not an option. If we could do away with such goals, all we have to do is make new version of games that are already a hit. That's much easier than creating a new game.

Itoi I'm sure they will sell though. 

Iwata I'm not saying that we won't create sequels to our hit games forever. However, we want to pioneer more new customers by searching new themes that succeed genres such as "brain training", "English training", or "cooking navigator". 

Itoi Is that a goal that everyone at Nintendo shares, or does only the leaders of the company have this in mind? 

Iwata I believe everyone shares it now. But realistically, I think we can say "we won't do the easy" because we are currently making profit. 

Itoi Ah. 

Iwata If we were having a hard time, maybe we will chose the easy, so that we can make profit for certain. 

Itoi It's easy to say "not to do the easy", but to asses it realistically is a tough job. But on the other hand, the market won't expand by doing the easy. 

Iwata Here's what happened when creating Wii. The director of "Brain Age" and "Brain Age 2" didn't create another sequel but was assigned to the team that was developing built-in software of Wii console. What he did there was creating the Photo, Weather and News Channels of Wii.

Itoi Wow... If you had assigned him to make the next "Brain Age"... 

Iwata Wii wouldn't have been what it is now. 

Itoi Interesting. 

Thanks as always Rhonin, I don't want these to end :( .. although, i must say, it makes me feel like my dinner conversations are utterly pointless

10. Trying to Answer Questions

Itoi Your model of thinking was nurtured in a technical field, but it's versatile at the same time. It's a very practical model. 

Iwata I've never studied management or enterprise organizations through books, but I think my method can be applied generally. The specifics, though, such as finding which data to pay attention to is probably something only I understand. 

Itoi (to the staffs) It's not that he was lazy or anything, but...he never used to read books.

Iwata (laugh) 

Itoi I used to hand you my recommendations, but now you seem to recommend me a lot more than I do. (laugh) 

Iwata Now that I'm in my position, I can connect what's written in books and what happens around me. When I was specializing in programming, reading books on management or enterprise organization only helped me gain information. It was only information, so the knowledge didn't soak in. Gaining information doesn't give you a sense of accomplishment if it's not something you can try tomorrow. You don't feel the "reward". 

Itoi How about when you were a child? What books did you read, if any? 

Iwata I used to read the encyclopedia, from end to end. 

Itoi Did you memorize what you read? 

Iwata No, but finding the connection between things that I didn't understand until then was very interesting. That was my reward. 

Itoi Isn't that the same as you are now? 

Iwata Actually, yes. (laugh). It's interesting when things that I didn't understand connect, and I gain new knowledge.

Itoi What I find amazing is the effort you put in answering questions. I don't think there was a time when you didn't answer my question. Every time I ask one, you answer it. 

All (laugh) 

Itoi Remember when I asked why lags are caused in international phone calls? 

Iwata Yes. 

Itoi Electronic waves are transmitted instantly, but when you make international calls, there's a lag. I remember asking this question out of the blue, but you gave me an answer right away. 

Iwata Let's see... phone calls used to have more lags in the old days. Although underwater cables are frequently used for international calls now, satellites were used before. Stationary satellites are located about 36000km away from the surface of the earth. So the voice is transmitted to 36000km above, and then 36000km down, which is over 70000km in total. When someone says "Hello", and the other answers "Hello", the signal makes two round trips, which is a total of a little over 140000km. Light and electronic waves are transmitted about 300000km per second, so the signal takes about 0.4 seconds to be transmitted 140000km. So when you say "Hello" and the other answers "Hello" back, there is approximately a 0.4 second lag. 

Itoi And he answered this instantly. 

All Wow. (laugh) 

Itoi Isn't it amazing? What caught me was not only the numerical figures that he answered, but that he included the "Hello" back in his calculation. 

Iwata (laughing) Yes, "Hello" to and fro is a set.

Itoi "Hello" to and fro. That's good. I thought it was novel to think of communication as a round trip action. The reason why people are irritated is because of the lag that is caused in that round trip action. You include the response in your concept of communication. I find this very interesting. The numerical figures can probably be found on the Internet, but the fact that you gave me these facts immediately makes it amazing.

Iwata I was able to give you an immediate answer because it was a subject I've thought about. 

Itoi Really? 

Iwata Yes. I was wondering why it was uncomfortable when calling overseas. Sometimes the lag is not as bad as other times. When I draw a hypothesis, I test it against every possible pattern. When I find the hypothesis that can explain every pattern, that's when I can stop thinking, because that's the answer.

Itoi That's a program oriented thought too. 

Iwata Probably. When there's a question that I can't answer, I can't stop myself pursuing it. If a hypothesis doesn't work against a certain pattern, it means that it's not correct. That means that there should be another reason, so I need to draw another hypothesis, and I keep on thinking. 

Itoi That's why when I ask something that you haven't thoroughly thought, there's a pause before you answer. 

Iwata (laugh) 

Itoi You stop and think. 

Iwata If it's a question that I have already pursued, all I need to do is give you my answer. But when it's something that I haven't come up with an answer yet, I need to check my hypothesis before I open my mouth. I like consistent logic, I'm from the computer field. When someone asks me a question I don't have an answer to, I verify if my answer is consistent with everything that I've done and known. Even if I feel confident that an answer is correct, I still need to test it from every angle.

Itoi He's amazing, isn't he? 

All (laugh) 

Amazing? If someone could give me answers like that, I'd be downright flabbergasted. 0.o

It will be interesting in 10 years to see where Nintendo as a company is and how the Wii does. Reading these definitely gives me more respect for these guys.

Before I thought they viewed the Wii as a risk but now I think they saw it as necessary which in a lot of ways makes it even more impressive.

These are awesome to read, the only problem is I keep finding them when I need to be going to sleep >

Sorry I didn't post this already, but I went to visit an expo.

11. Reminiscence of the IT Manager

Itoi Some of our new staffs may not know, but Mr.Iwata was one of the start-up members of Hobonichi. 

Iwata I was the IT manager of Hobonichi. (laugh) Is it still valid?

Itoi Of course, yes. I don't remember firing you. (laugh) 

All (laugh) 

Iwata For those who don't know, Hobo Nikkan Itoi Shinbun started on June 6th, 1998. About one month before that, I met Mr.Itoi. He took me to Nezumiana (where the office of Tokyo Itoi Shigesato Office was located at the time), and he said "I want to start up a web site here". I was knocked off of my feet. This was only one month before the start up! 

All (laugh) 

Itoi I didn't know what I was saying. (laugh) I don't have much knowledge now, but at that time, I had close to zero.

Iwata I think it was because that you had such small knowledge that you were able to say you were going to start up a web site in a month. From then I arranged computers and Internet providers, put together a LAN, and said "I think you can start now."

Itoi Pretty bad, huh? (laugh) 

All (laugh) 

Iwata No, I had fun. I've been the IT manager of Hobobnichi ever since. 

Itoi If you ask Mogi sitting there, Mr.Iwata's still the "guy that knows about computers", rather than the top of Nintendo. 

Mogi Yes. 

All (laugh) 

Iwata If I heard that there's not enough memory on the computers, I would open up the machines adding more RAM. 

Itoi I was like "Are you supposed to pull that out like that?" and he was like "Yes... (bang!)" 

All (laugh) 

Iwata Mr.Itoi thought that it would work out somehow, although he sensed that it would be a tough job. A leader should be that way. People try to figure out a way, because the project lies on the premise that "it should work out somehow". I do this sometimes. When we were developing Wii, I told my staff that I want the body to be the size of 3 DVD cases stacked together. I knew it was an extremely difficult demand, but I said it like I didn't know that. 

Itoi I understand this very well. It's not that you aren't aware of the difficulties. 

Iwata Of course not. However, it's also very important to strike a proper balance. Organizations fall apart if the people in charge only demand the impossible. 

Itoi Sometimes, you've got to ask for the impossible though. 

Iwata Yes, and when I said it, it was that kind of situation. The fact that you chose June 6th 1998 to establish Hobonichi seems divine to me. Of course, it was synchronized with the opening date of the World Cup, but still, there's no other date than that day. I can swear that Hobonichi wouldn't have been what it is now if you have started half a year earlier, or half a year later. That timing was great, you started late enough where you were able to avoid the predecessors' mistakes, and it was early enough so that it could grow to a scale it is now. You were able to seize the moment. The timing you started up Hobonichi makes it what it is today. I was just amazed at your decision, and I wanted to make it happen, to make it work. That's why I devoted in being the IT manager.

Itoi I've heard him talk about this "timing" so many times, but I still don't understand the value of it. There are always people who say the opposite, that it's "too late" or "too early". You always have to listen to both. 

Iwata I know. 

Itoi I remember people saying "What, are you starting up now?" as if it was too late. I had lots of people telling me that they would help, but it was like out of pity. I talked with all of them, but gained nothing from them. I wonder what they are doing now. 

Iwata I'm sure tons of people said "You have such a career in the advertisement field. Why toss that and start something like this?" 

Itoi Tons.

Iwata I remember you saying that "Since 'It's Popular Now' has become the most effective advertisement phrase, I can find any meaning in advertisement anymore". I understood why you started up Hobonichi. People who didn't see what you were thinking must have thought "Why the Internet, Itoi? "
The same happened when Nintendo announced we're making a portable game machine with dual-screen and touch panel.

Itoi Interesting. 

Iwata A lot of people thought Nintendo had gone nuts when they heard this. For us, our future was not in a continuous line of what we were doing then. The decision came from that point of view, but to people out there, what we said seemed offbeat. 

Itoi I didn't see things as clearly as you did, but I sensed that the world of Internet would grow, not that it would be a risky field. Although people tried to teach me many things, what I felt was that one day, normal people would just come to "know" about the Internet. 

Iwata It came true. 

Itoi Maybe I was calm at that time, come to think of it. The history of the Internet virtually starts around 1995, right? When people who didn't know anything about communication came up to me and started preaching about the Internet, it didn't persuade me at all. After all, all they knew was only a couple of years more than what I knew. Plus, at that time, I thought you as someone who knew everything. I thought, "And we do have Mr.Iwata..." (laugh)

Iwata Ha ha ha. 

Itoi He can even add RAM to our computers! (laugh) 

All (laugh) 

Itoi Well, you don't have to check our computers anymore, but please drop by our office every now and then. You're still our IT manager. 

Iwata Sure. (laugh) 

That was the last part.