Wii U: Nintendo Plans 'Great Software Support'IndustryGamers sat down at CES with Nintendo of America's Executive Vice President of Sales & Marketing Scott Moffitt for some private game time with the Wii U, and a conversation about the 3DS and what will happen to the Wii after the Wii U comes out. Nintendo showed the Wii U at E3 last June, but very little additional information has come out since then. Other next-generation consoles are rumored for the future, but Nintendo's new console is slated to arrive this year. Would Nintendo finally begin to reveal more information at the start of the Wii U's launch year?
Scott Moffitt did his best to dash those hopes from the beginning with an opening statement. “A few caveats before we get going. We are not going to talk about exact price today, we are not going to talk about the specific games that are in development, we're not going to talk about tech specs, and we're not going to talk about launch dates.” That doesn't seem to leave much room for new information to come out, but IndustryGamers wasn't about to admit defeat. Maybe there was some wiggle room to get a little more information... what about the launch date? “What we have said about the date is that it will be available in the US market sometime after E3 and before the end of the year. You can expect more information coming out around the time of E3.” At least now we know the Wii U will be coming out in the second half of 2012.
Moffitt framed the Wii U's position relative to the Wii: “When we introduced the Wii about 5 years ago, we had some lofty goals. We wanted to change how games were played and also who played the games. With over 90 million Wiis sold since launch, over 40 million in the US, we've largely accomplished those goals. Motion-control is now the centerpiece of the gaming landscape. What really resonated about Wii is it brought an unexpected new type of gaming experience. With Wii U we think we've found a similar type of experience, with its innovative second-screen controller. We think we'll be able to have a large impact on the gaming experience for consumers as well as expanding the gaming audience beyond what it is today.”
Does the Wii U's design build in some way on the DS' two screens? Moffitt felt that was just one of the inspirations. “A lot of creativity came out of the DS. I think it's fair to say the inspiration came from a wide variety of sources. I think the DS is one. The original Wii also inspired us and inspired the developers. They always challenge themselves to come up with something that can make a game better.”
The game demos are impressive, showing the sort of variety that the tablet controller can add to gameplay. The gyroscope ads yet another level of control besides the usual buttons, triggers, dual analog joysticks, and the touchscreen, and the motion-sensing bar under the TV screen. The controller feels good in the hands, and the screen looks good, too. Moffitt admitted that “These are the same demos we were showing at E3.” Still, they effectively get across some of the capabilities of the Wii U, including showing Link in high resolution with many lighting effects.
Will third-party developers really put in the effort necessary to make some games that will change the face of the market yet again? Or will Nintendo be left to handle that challenge? The Wii did not get the level of third-party support that it could have, yet developers like Ubisoft have done very well with games that took advantage of the Wii's capabilities, like Just Dance. If developers see an opportunity like that for the Wii U, they are likely to take it. We'll have to wait and see what software is shown at E3 to know if the Wii U's new capabilities will really result in gameplay that will drive sales of this new hardware.
The Wii U's non-game uses were showcased in a video that showed some features that might be attractive to non-gamers: switching game play to the controller so Dad can watch the football game while the player can continue uninterrupted on the controller screen, browsing the web, making video calls using the controller's built-in camera, finding a YouTube video on the controller and with a flick putting it on the TV screen. Perhaps Nintendo has been looking at the statistics showing that at least a third of the time spent with consoles is spent on non-game uses, particularly streaming video. It certainly seems like more attention is being paid to creating a wide range of uses for the Wii U.
After the demos, there was time for IndustryGamers to ask a few questions.
IndustryGamers: Do you feel like you're going to put more effort into the online part of the Wii U? It seems like every console that comes out has more connectivity.
Scott Moffitt: Yes, I think we're showing today just some of the capabilities. While we're not announcing what all we're doing in the online space just yet, I think both you and I can imagine a lot of the possibilities, and if you can imagine it we're probably thinking about it. We're trying to find what's going to be great and meaningful for consumers.
IG: Has thought been given to keeping the Wii around after the Wii U comes it? It continues to sell and have an audience, and I imagine there will be a significant price difference between the Wii and the Wii U. You've kept the DS line going since the 3DS came out, and they continue to sell. Will you keep the Wii after the Wii U comes out?
SM: Yes. Most definitely. We sold 4 million new Wiis last year, and we think Wii still has a lot of life left in it. There's a lot of parts of the expanded audience that still haven't purchased one, and with the price becoming more and more accessible we think there's a lot of runway ahead for the Wii. You made the point yourself, at least in the Western markets, when a new piece of hardware becomes available the consumers don't all switch on day one to the new hardware. We're still selling DSIs and DSI XLs and 3DS has been out since March. Yes, absolutely the Wii and the Wii U will both be on the market for a period of time.
The important point is there's two different audiences. There's going to be an early adopter audience, there's going to be a lot of people that really want to get a Wii U when it comes out, but there are a lot of people who are late adopters that are still discovering the magic of the Wii. There's a reason for being for both.
IG: One thing that was clear with the 3DS was that the launch titles didn't have the impact of Super Mario 3D Land or Mario Kart 7, and that software was the biggest reason the 3DS did well over the holidays. It seems to me the Wii U really needs key pieces of software like that for a successful launch. Is that what you're planning for the Wii U?
SM: I think you're making the point better than I could make it. Software drives hardware; we found that out with 3DS. There was great anticipation of course for Zelda: Ocarina of Time, but a lot of consumers were waiting for two or three other Mario titles so that when they bought the hardware they had great high-quality games that they were dying to play right out of the gate. So for those consumers that really came to the 3DS family over the holidays, they were really waiting for some of those titles. Mario Kart 7 and Super Mario 3D Land both sold over a million copies in the holiday time frame. We picked up great momentum on 3DS; it was its first holiday and we were all hopeful but we wanted to see the actual results come in, and they've come in to our satisfaction.
We expect to have great first party titles but also great software support in general for Wii U when it comes out later this year. We appreciate the point you're making, that software drives hardware, and without great software there's not a great reason to buy immediately.
IG: The software this holiday even more than the price change seemed to be driving 3DS sales.
SM: The price change made it more accessible for a broader audience range. Certainly had the Mario titles had been available at launch some of those that waited until the end of the year would have bought it earlier.
IG: That's water under the bridge, but it looks like you have a strong lineup of 3DS titles going forward.
SM: We'll continue to support 3DS with great titles coming out. We've announced a lot of good titles, both first and third party, coming out in the first quarter so we'll continue to see a parade of great software coming out on the 3DS so we continue the momentum we have there. I think with Wii U we want to make sure we have great software right at launch.
IG: Since you've got a tablet controller, and tablets are making great inroads into the market, and they can have output going to a TV, do you think that has any impact on what you're doing? Or does it just validate it?
SM: I think it validates, but I'd say there's one critical difference between what we're doing and tablets. You can buy a portable tablet or some device and through having a game console or some other attachment devices you can connect it to your TV and try to simulate what the Wii U does. The difference is, these are made to work together. They come integrated right out of the box, you don't need to buy another integration device or appendage to make it all work. It works seamlessly right from day one. So if you open up the box and plug it in and turn it on, it's integrated. There's something to be said for designing it that way versus backward engineering it to work that way. This is designed from the ground up to work seamlessly. So that integration I think is the big difference. The power of integration will make the experiences more immediate, more fluid, more seamless.
IG: Thanks Scott.
