Iwata: 3DS is Nintendo 'priority,' even at the sake of short-term profitability [Joys

[DP ServBot]

In a recent Q&A following a semi-annual investor's meeting, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata laid out the company's plans for its slow-starting handheld, the 3DS. "We came to the conclusion that we needed to make that bold investment," Iwata explained, "instead of focusing just on this term's profitability, so that we would be able to make the Nintendo 3DS an important foundation for Nintendo for years to come." He added that the company expects the system's profitability to improve dramatically during the fiscal year ending March 2013.

Iwata mentioned that, falling in line with this strategy, unspecified 3DS games were delayed from the holiday release window to prevent being overlooked due to overcrowding. The only major first-party 3DS titles scheduled for the rest of the year are Super Mario 3D Land (November 13) and Mario Kart 7 (December 4).

He also discussed the company's plans to expand the eShop with an "add-on" marketplace for individual games, and the ability to access the store using PCs and Smartphones. You can read more about this initiative in our post from last week, though it lacks Iwata's almost comically tardy discovery of social networking platforms. He's kind of like your grandpa who just discovered Facebook, likes everything you post, and leaves embarrassing comments on all your pictures in all-caps.Iwata: 3DS is Nintendo 'priority,' even at the sake of short-term profitability originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 01 Nov 2011 13:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.




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[Graham Mitchell]

While I'm glad that Nintendo is putting some effort into the 3DS (it really is a cool system. Sure, they made some missteps, but that doesn't mean it isn't a good platform), I'm worried about where their efforts are going.

I watched an address from Reggie on Nintendo's website:
http://www.nintendo.com/nintendo_direct

He goes on and on about all the new features for the 3DS. Basically, they're fixating on having Hulu on the thing (which is kind of dumb because you have to have a wifi connection to use it) and being able to take 3D video with the next system update, and downloading the Shrek Halloween video (which they're charging for, btw). There was very little mention about games.

It's a game machine. Please release some games.

[killersquirel]

The drought of games is soon coming to an end. If you haven't picked it up yet, go grab yourself bit trip saga. That game is amazing!

-mike

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

A little stumbling here and there with Nintendo and the 3DS, but DP members shouldn't be any strangers to supporting struggling product, even if it is odd to see that kind of thing from Nintendo after their string of run-away successes.

I still think it's a great system and I look forward to them getting it out of its rut.

[Icarus Moonsight]

Refreshing to see an executive think long rather than short. Investors are shorties by and large... It's a tough sell.

[kupomogli]

What Nintendo needs to do is pay some third party developers to get some games on the console. I'm sure that's why the next main entry to Monster Hunter has made the jump from PSP to 3DS, but for waiting all year, 3DS owners still have very little to show in terms of good or even decent games. While the DS and PSP didn't have amazing launch line ups, they were certainly better than what we've seen with the 3DS line up and what we'll receive up to a year of each systems release.

[RCM]

The biggest challenge traditional handhelds must try and overcome is the general direction publishers (big and small) are going. The future for most of them isn't on 3DS and PSV, and that's a big issue for Sony and Nintendo.

[j_factor]

Iwata mentioned that, falling in line with this strategy, unspecified 3DS games were delayed from the holiday release window to prevent being overlooked due to overcrowding. The only major first-party 3DS titles scheduled for the rest of the year are Super Mario 3D Land (November 13) and Mario Kart 7 (December 4).

WTF?! When the #1 complaint is "where are the games?", the answer is to make sure you don't release too many games? If they're not investing in making more games, what exactly is their "bold investment"? More marketing?

[jb143]

Rather than having a ton of games available, I'd image that all the 3DS really needs to succeed is to have a killer app. A game that gets everyone talking. I know a lot of people who bought a Game Boy back in the day just to play Tetris. Easier said than done, I know.

[j_factor]

I don't think killer apps are that important anymore. I don't think the DS had a killer app, really. They tried to make Super Mario 64 DS one, but it didn't pan out. And when the DS did pick up, it didn't seem to be any particular game.

[Drixxel]

WTF?! When the #1 complaint is "where are the games?", the answer is to make sure you don't release too many games? If they're not investing in making more games, what exactly is their "bold investment"? More marketing?

Sounds like Nintendo's still holding out hope of selling the 3DS first and foremost on the novelty of the hardware and its non-gaming functionality as opposed to a strong library of games. If so, yeah, newfangled marketing focusing on 3D video recording and such. These are sensible enough features to try and sell in the absence of there being software to promote but it's weird when there are first party games on the horizon which surely have greater potential to stir up interest. Maybe there's genuine concern over the number of games in the pipeline and delaying choice releases is the only way to ensure a trickle of quality software post-Christmas.

[joshnickerson]

WTF?! When the #1 complaint is "where are the games?", the answer is to make sure you don't release too many games? If they're not investing in making more games, what exactly is their "bold investment"? More marketing?

Or perhaps they just don't want to blow their entire wad all at once. Probably best to serve it all one course at a time rather than throw it all out there.

And yeah, duh, I'm aware of the software drought that plagued the DS for the first six months of its life, but that could be what they're trying to avoid in the future. Would you rather have twelve big titles all at once, or have all twelve spread out throughout the year?

And now, for no reason... bees.

[substantial_snake]

Good.

One of the major causes to the PSP initially starting off strong then gradually fading away here was the general lack of support from Sony for huge stretches of time. I'm glad Nintnedo is avoiding this mistep with the 3DS and now that its finally getting some games I see a bright future for the handheld.

[kupomogli]

Would you rather have twelve big titles all at once, or have all twelve spread out throughout the year?

And now, for no reason... bees.

The 3DS doesn't even have a combined amount of 12 good games released and/or announced.

I left the bees gif there because it's awesome.

[j_factor]

Or perhaps they just don't want to blow their entire wad all at once. Probably best to serve it all one course at a time rather than throw it all out there.

And yeah, duh, I'm aware of the software drought that plagued the DS for the first six months of its life, but that could be what they're trying to avoid in the future. Would you rather have twelve big titles all at once, or have all twelve spread out throughout the year?

What is this, the N64? "Let's carefully ration and space out our few good titles, because we sure as shit ain't getting more."

[dairugger]

I don't think killer apps are that important anymore. I don't think the DS had a killer app, really. They tried to make Super Mario 64 DS one, but it didn't pan out. And when the DS did pick up, it didn't seem to be any particular game.

if i remember right, the ds started to sell better when nintendogs and the brain training games came out, i remember those games being highlighted in the non gaming media and older people/non gamers/ and soccer moms taking notice.

[Blanka789]

Slow and steady wins the race.

The 3DS has started off a little slower than I would have predicted, but I do like Nintendo's plans for the future. They recognize that there needs to be a balance of game and non-game related features in order to compete with devices like the iPhone and iPad.

Releasing Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 before Christmas will probably boost sales, and the additional features can't hurt.

Things might have started slowly, but I wouldn't count Nintendo out by any means.

[kupomogli]

I think the 3DS is selling really well for being a system that at this time has no good games to choose from that you can't play on any other system. So why is Nintendo acting like 100,000-150,000 isn't a lot. Obviously they want more money, otherwise they wouldn't have overpriced the thing in the first place, but they're insinuating all on their own that the system is a failure for now. That's not something I'd be pushing in my press releases.

Slow and steady wins the race.

Then why didn't the PSP win. Pretty much no shovelware and only a trickle of great games. Technically the PSP did win as it has a better library of games, but when it comes to sales it's not even close.

[jonebone]

They recognize that there needs to be a balance of game and non-game related features in order to compete with devices like the iPhone and iPad.

Ding! The days of consoles / handhelds being gaming devices only are long since behind us. Even the PS3 was heavily marketed as a blu-ray player instead of a video game console at it's initial release when sales were quite sluggish. The more people you can appeal to, the more sales you will create. Gamers are only one portion of the technologically advanced crowd.

Also, smartphones are much more accepted now than 5-6 years ago or whenever the DS came out. Personally, I got my first smartphone this February (2011). I know Angry Birds is a love / hate relationship, but I probably got a solid 8-10 hours out of it before I was bored. And that's a 100% free game.

Handheld consoles need to be more than just gaming platforms to stand a chance in today's market. At least Nintendo realizes this, and I'm sure they'll keep a fine balance of games / technology to make the 3DS profitable at some point.

[Graham Mitchell]

Ding! The days of consoles / handhelds being gaming devices only are long since behind us. Even the PS3 was heavily marketed as a blu-ray player instead of a video game console at it's initial release when sales were quite sluggish. The more people you can appeal to, the more sales you will create. Gamers are only one portion of the technologically advanced crowd.

Also, smartphones are much more accepted now than 5-6 years ago or whenever the DS came out. Personally, I got my first smartphone this February (2011). I know Angry Birds is a love / hate relationship, but I probably got a solid 8-10 hours out of it before I was bored. And that's a 100% free game.

Handheld consoles need to be more than just gaming platforms to stand a chance in today's market. At least Nintendo realizes this, and I'm sure they'll keep a fine balance of games / technology to make the 3DS profitable at some point.

Or...and this is just my opinion...they can do away with all the extra crap and just have the machine play quality, high-end performance games and cut the costs significantly for the consumer. I know there's a perceived competition with smartphones, but a) no portable gaming device is gonna really be able to compete with the iphone without driving the cost up to over $500, and b) as I've said many times before, the smartphones are not optimized for gaming.

I know Nintendo and Sony want to sell gaming devices to people who don't play games. I guess I'm just bitter because the people who buy the machines for their intended purpose get burned when all the development efforts go towards extraneous crap that I'll never use. I have an Android phone, I don't need a PSP that has all the same features and, most importantly, I don't want to pay an extra $200 for features I don't need.

End rant.