Can Mario Kart or Super Smash Bros save the Wii U? Iwata likes to think so.
If you ever talk to a Nintendo fan chances are you’ve heard them say “*insert game here* will save the Wii U and change everything.” Oddly enough, Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata believes the very same thing. The company’s president addressed investors concerns after the investor briefing last week in a Q & A session. A translation that was uploaded today revealed Iwata confirming that Nintendo will strive to deliver consumer satisfaction before announcing new hardware, and that Nintendo will continue to focus on achieving its goals with the Wii U and 3DS.
Modest goals were put in place for the financial goals for the year, however it was not due to poor sales figures. In actuality, these conservative numbers come from what the company feels they can confidently reach for the next fiscal year. Even though Mario Kart 8 is due later this month, and the newest Super Smash Bros installment is coming this winter, Iwata says Nintendo would prefer to keep their conservative figures rather than optimistic ones. Iwata also assured investors that 3.6 million Wii U consoles being sold is not the peak of its life cycle.
Iwata stated:
“In order to recreate momentum and sell 5.00 million or 10.00 million units of hardware annually, there are indeed challenges that we must overcome. And in the face of these challenges, announcing more optimistic figures before we actually release the Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. titles to consumers, would not be compatible with our original stance to provide rather conservative figures, so once again we set our estimates by considering how much we could realistically hope to achieve with our software lineup.
“The fate of a video game system is often influenced greatly by the introduction of a single title. As many of you probably remember, before the release of the Pokémon game, Game Boy had been showing slow growth, and many people wondered whether it was the end of Game Boy. But the Pokémon game single-handedly changed the landscape of the system, which then started to show the strongest sales in the lifecycle of the system.
“On the other hand, we do not believe that this year’s estimate of 3.60 million units of Wii U hardware will be the peak of its lifecycle, and we would like to work hard to make sure that we give sufficient momentum to the system so that we can expect good results in and after the next fiscal year, too. However, as for this fiscal year, as I explained before, the figures you see have been determined by rather conservative estimates.”
Things certainly aren’t looking up for Nintendo, although Satoru Iwata seems confident that Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros alone will allow them to reach their financial goal for the year. Do you agree with Iwata’s statement? Or is it time for Nintendo to stop relying on a few major hits, and churn out multiple titles a year? Tell us your thoughts in the comments.