IG: I wanted to ask you about some comments from analyst Michael Pachter, who said recently that the Wii's year-over-year decline this past month is not simply a result of shortages and that products like Wii Fit had “historical lows.” He also said that for the rest of 2010, while Microsoft and Sony have catalysts in their upcoming motion controllers that Nintendo seems to “lack a big upcoming catalyst” to spark its business. What's your reaction?
Reggie: First off, I know exactly what's happened to our business in January and February. What's happened is that we had such a strong holiday period that it left us from an inventory situation in a position of having to play catch up. And that's true not just for hardware on Wii, but it's also true for Wii Fit Plus, and it's true for Wii Remotes (which are included in Wii Play). Just think about it – we sold 3.8 million pieces of Wii hardware and 25 million pieces of software from first and third party all in the month of December. Our warehouses were dry, retailer warehouses were dry, and so we're in the process of essentially replenishing to catch up. And so when you look at the month of February and see a fairly modest number for Wii Fit Plus, that's because of all the product that was sold in December and a fairly large amount of product that was sold in January. We simply have no inventory to put on the shelf. The same is true for White Remotes; you could go find a Blue Remote or a Pink Remote right now, but standalone White Remotes and Wii Play are short right now in the marketplace.
I have a lot of respect for Michael; we go back and forth a lot – but the fact of the matter is, as we sit here today, the Wii platform continues to have an exceptional level of demand. It's a level of demand right now that we can't meet. So our first catalyst is meeting that consumer demand. Our second catalyst is our very strong lineup of first and third-party titles that we've already announced now through the end of June. Think about it – Super Mario Galaxy 2, Metroid: Other M, Sin and Punishment. For some publishers that might be a good year, or maybe a good back-half calendar, but that's our first-half calendar. On top of that, there's Monster Hunter Tri and the partnership we're doing with them to bundle in the Classic Controller Pro, and for Red Steel 2 some will come packed in with Wii MotionPlus. So we've got a number of strong catalysts for the first half of the year, and certainly we'll share more about the back-half at this year's E3.
IG: I think what Pachter was hinting at is that although this is going to be a longer console cycle, and the motion controllers from Microsoft and Sony will help extend it, that Nintendo would need to be first to upgrade to HD or just come out with a more powerful system before the competition. And I know you said recently in another interview that you're not even thinking about the next console, but we all know that Nintendo is always thinking about what's next.
Reggie: The benefit that we have with hardware developers side-by-side to software developers is that for us, when Mr. Miyamoto and his team come up with an idea and they say, 'I can't do it on the current platform,' that's when for us hardware development kicks into high gear. And we're not at that point yet. We're nowhere that point. So for us, it's not a time-based decision; it's an innovation-based decision and a software-based decision. That's how we think of any system's lifecycle. And we believe that for the Wii, there are tremendous ideas that we'll be bringing to the marketplace to continue exciting the consumer. The other comment I'll give you to the question you pose is that I hope what people see with the Wii and the DS is that technology by itself is not what moves the consumer and it's not what moves this industry. If that were true, then DS would not be the leading handheld platform in this current generation. If that were true, the Wii would not be the leading platform in this home console generation. What motivates the consumer are great, innovative, entertaining experiences. So to me, I think what our competitors are doing is quite interesting but it's always going to come down to the software. And I've yet to see a piece of software [from the competition] that's an innovative experience for the consumer.
IG: Well, to tie that back into what we were discussing earlier, you're right it's about the software and if you're looking to get a BioShock or a Mass Effect or a GTA, I bet you that if you said to publishers, 'We have this more powerful system now with HD' it would be much easier for Nintendo to attract that sort of core third-party support.
Reggie: You may be right, but we would argue that simply doing a Wii in HD is not going to advance us vs. the current path that we're on from an installed base standpoint. In our view, HD by itself is not enough for the consumer to upgrade vs. what they have today in terms of the Wii.
41 Comments
March 17, 2010
Great questions.
March 17, 2010
Great interview James.
March 17, 2010
Thanks guys. I had to 'torture' Nintendo to get the interview, but it was well worth it. I walked out of the room really feeling like I'd had a great conversation.
March 17, 2010
AWESOME interview, James!!! I'm always bugging journalists to ask the tough questions and you finally did it. Way to go, bro....please keep it coming!!!
-Paul
March 17, 2010
Thank you Paul.
March 18, 2010
Too many mentions of Pachter. What are you his publicist?
March 18, 2010
Haha, believe me, Pachter doesn't even need a publicist. Pachter raised some points that I thought were interesting and I felt I should bring up with Reggie. It's as simple as that.
March 18, 2010
This interview was a long time coming, and James really knocked it out of the part. Reggie was very sharp on his responses too.
March 19, 2010
cool interview very thurough, and i loved that u just went for it with the questions we all wanted to know answers to :) thanx for the good read.
May 5, 2010
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May 25, 2010
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May 30, 2010
Paramus, New Jersey - IndustryGamers, the leading US games industry trade publication, today announced the launch of its video game industry job board.
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Paramus, New Jersey - IndustryGamers, the leading US games industry trade publication, today announced the launch of its video game industry job board.
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May 30, 2010
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Presentations given by Microsoft in 2008 focused on multi-touch support, a redesigned Windows Shell with a new taskbar, referred to as the Superbar, a home networking system called HomeGroup,and performance improvements. Some applications that have been included with prior releases of Microsoft Windows, including Windows Calendar, Windows Mail, Windows Movie Maker, and Windows Photo Gallery, are not included in Windows most are instead offered separately at no charge as part of the Windows Live Essentials suite. online fax
June 9, 2010
Retro-gamers are partly responsible for the popularity of console emulation.online fax
June 10, 2010
After Castle dies, Kable requests for Castle's technicians, who have been watching, to release him and his family from their control. They release them and depart, while walking uncaringly past Castle's dead body. Sometime later, Kable is driving with his daughter and wife down a scenic country road. identity theft guard
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I'll have a review up later today, however the performance of one of the other monologues he did but never committed to film.CSS3 Buttons
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June 28, 2010
While being questioned about why only a quarter of PS3 owners have actually downloaded Home, which seems low for a free service, Buser stated that most users never take their PS3 online and therefore never get the option. driver update
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It was clearly evident in talking to senior vice president of marketing and PlayStation Network Peter Dille that he is very confident in the upcoming God of War III.Motorbike gloves
June 30, 2010
It was clearly evident in talking to senior vice president of marketing and PlayStation Network Peter Dille that he is very confident in the upcoming God of War III. The executive is so upbeat in the product, he thinks it will continue Sony Worldwide Studios' recent tradition of huge acclaim and success.Quality Directory
July 2, 2010
"Everything about God of War, we run by the dev team and they had very specific feedback about how to market it; the game is a testament to their work. 17 inch laptop cases
July 2, 2010
One of the aspects about Jimmy Fallon's "Videogames Week" on his Late Night show that we've been curious about is who will be showing off each particular game. Kudo Tsunoda came out to show off Kinect for Microsoft, and one of the project leads from Treyarch showed off Black Ops.
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July 13, 2010
The share of play on Wii…is higher than its share of ownership. Not only is purchase intent effectively that of the PS3 and Xbox 360 combined, but this shows that as many people plan on buying a Wii…as the 360…iPhone…iPod and iPod touch put together.
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July 15, 2010
Though Lott's comments were made at a public event attended by the media, no major media organizations reported on his controversial comments until after blogs broke the story.Porsche Parts
July 19, 2010
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July 22, 2010
Kudo Tsunoda came out to show off Kinect for Microsoft, and one of the project leads from Treyarch showed off Black Ops.
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THANKS