Nintendo President: Everything Is Just Peachy, Thanks

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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Nintendo President: Everything Is Just Peachy, Thanks


Nintendo of America [http://www.nintendo.com] President Reggie Fils-Aime says the company has no intention of bringing out a new console any time soon, because hey, things are going pretty darn well just the way they are.

In an interview with DS [http://blogs.reuters.com/mediafile/2008/11/14/nintendos-reggie-fils-aime-very-optimistic/] is experiencing nearly 20 percent growth even on a "record year" in 2007. "It very well may be that for the month of October, our sell through on Wii may have been the best ever holiday sell through for the month of October on any console in American history," he said. "That's what gives us the belief that if we simply execute we should have a strong holiday season."

On that topic, he expressed hope that this will be the year Nintendo can finally meet consumer demand for the chronically short console. "Our goal is to have every consumer who wants a Wii console or a DS to be able find it during the holiday. We have increased by 50 percent the amount of product that is coming into the U.S., Canada, Latin America. We hope that that is enough product," he said. "But even with the strong sales that we have seen in October and so far in November, we are still suffering out of stocks. My message to the consumer is, if you see a Wii and you are interested in a Wii this holiday, buy it as quickly as you can."

Regardless of how the inventory situation unfolds, one thing consumers shouldn't expect is a price cut. Fils-Aime said Nintendo's consistent domination of the sales charts are evidence that its "value equation is finely tuned" already, and that price cuts simply aren't necessary. And looking to the future, he claimed Nintendo had no intention of introducing new systems for a long time to come.

"We believe the role of a new console, a new system, is to bring great new entertainment ideas to life. We launched [the Wii and DS] when we had great ideas that would benefit either from a touch screen or from a Wii remote," he said. "We will consider the launch of new consoles when we have got great new entertaining ideas that can only be done with a new console. As we sit here today the Wii console has a long run ahead of it. At some point we will launch the DSi [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/86590] here in the Americas. So as we look at the near term for us its all about maximizing the opportunity with the [Wii and DS]."

No great surprises here, then: The Wii still prints money and Nintendo doesn't want to mess with it. Resting on your laurels is never a good long-term strategy, but when your biggest worry is whether or not you'll be able to crank your stuff out fast enough to keep people happy - for the third Christmas in a row, no less - then I think you're allowed to bask in the moment a bit.


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Alone Disciple

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Jun 10, 2008
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Now if they can only increase developer motivation by upwards of 50% and give us some AAA titles and not Shovelware...I'd be a much happier person.
 

Odjin

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Nov 14, 2007
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No need to bring out a new console indeed. What is required now is finally making games putting the wii-mote to some good use and not just "sports replacement arm swinging". The tech is there... just the ideas are lacking behind so far.
 

Cousin_IT

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Feb 6, 2008
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I like how he says "we will have enough consoles, but u better grab em while they're hot just incase we dont." Get buying lil sheep get buying
 

Amnestic

High Priest of Haruhi
Aug 22, 2008
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To echo the above posts. I'd agree that we don't need a new console, but some more games so I can actually get some bloody use out of my wii would be nice. I don't touch it unless I'm playing Smash Bros. with friends ;/

Oh, and a faster release date for Fire Emblem on the DS please. A month of waiting=not cool.
 

Avida

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Oct 17, 2008
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Yeah, Mr. Nintendo, the console's doing fine, shame the games suck and the public have lost faith...
 

GonzoGamer

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This is why I invest in Nintendo. They've gotten pretty savvy. They know where the money is and they know how to get it. Of course, I don't play their games as much any more.
But I don't really care because they make me a lot of money and I also have a ps3.
 

fnph

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Oct 13, 2007
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sv93 said:
Now all Nintendo needs is a console with better graphics, and games like fallout 3 and CoD 4 and maybe a DVD player too :p
I would buy a new Nintendo if it had all that stuff.
The Wii has a CoD now, keep up. Anyway, people should lay off Nintendo a bit. They've made plenty of, if not great, at least good games since the Wii was released. It's the lack of decent support from third parties that's the major problem for the Wii, if it indeed has one.
Afterthought: Also the online's not very good.
 

BleachedBlind

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May 19, 2008
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I'm going to try looking at things a different way: "Hey! Since nobody is making worthwhile games for the Wii, that's one console worth of games I don't have to pay for!"

Old view of Nintendo strategy: Greatly disappoint all core gamers.
Reassessed view of Nintendo strategy: Save me money.
 

Jumplion

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Mar 10, 2008
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Well no shit Mr. Fils-Amie, you just keep isolating your core fans.

But I'm being pretentious, can't blame Nintendo for going the route that's giving them their money, business is business after all.
 

AceDiamond

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Jul 7, 2008
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On the one hand, he's right

on the other hand, he's right.

I find it really hard to hate Nintendo because they're essentially getting rich despite not catering to the whiny "safe and familiar" "hardcore" crowd.

And I hate those kinds of gamers so...yeah.
 

irishdelinquent

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BleachedBlind said:
Old view of Nintendo strategy: Greatly disappoint all core gamers.
This thoughtline has always bothered me. Nintendo is playing the game on a whole new level. If they strived to match the 360 and/or the PS3 for 5-star titles, then people would complain about market saturation. Nintendo noticed this when they built their console, designing to be less of a technical multimedia powerhouse and more of an accessible gaming system. The casual games market earned more than 2.5 billion dollars, and the Wii console is hard to purchase these days; hardly sounds like a failure in my book. Nintendo hasn't abandoned the core gamer market, they've capitolized on another untouched market. And let's be honest, when the next Zelda or Mario title is anounced, everyone is going to forget the whole 'core gamers' debaucle.
 

Limos

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Jun 15, 2008
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Heh heh heh, I just love how the other console fanboys keep harping on how the Wii has no lating appeal, and how it'll fade away after just one year, or that sales will start dropping. (Any day now!)

I think they just hate that people are having fun. HOW DARE THEY ENJOY A VIDEOGAME!! Videogames are serious buisness!

EDIT: Unlike the naysayers out there I do in fact own a Wii, and play it. Let's take a look at my game collection shall we...

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Win)
Wii Sports (Fun, still Win for groups)
Okami (SUPER MEGA WIN!! Way more suited to the Wii than it was on the PS2.)
Super Smash Bros.: Brawl (Also Win)
Super Mario Galaxy (Awesomesauce)
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Very Awesome, the only shooter I have ever enjoyed)
Mario Party 8 (Good in groups, not amazing)
Super Paper Mario (LOVE IT! Quirky and fun)
Ultimate board Game Collection (This one was a gift, so it's shovelware. Competitive Sudoku is surprising fun though)

So let's see, out of 9 titles that I own, 1 of them is shovelware and the others are all varying degrees of Awesome and Win. Take that society.
 

L.B. Jeffries

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Nov 29, 2007
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Yeah, I don't get it. WiiWare is blowing up with cool art games like World of Goo or Orbient. Sam & Max is great and I'm pumped about Mushroom Men. Why does everyone keep telling me the Wii is having a crap year? It doesn't have the mainstream stuff but it's still keeping me busy.
 

Break

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Sep 10, 2007
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irishdelinquent said:
This thoughtline has always bothered me. Nintendo is playing the game on a whole new level. If they strived to match the 360 and/or the PS3 for 5-star titles, then people would complain about market saturation. Nintendo noticed this when they built their console, designing to be less of a technical multimedia powerhouse and more of an accessible gaming system. The casual games market earned more than 2.5 billion dollars, and the Wii console is hard to purchase these days; hardly sounds like a failure in my book. Nintendo hasn't abandoned the core gamer market, they've capitolized on another untouched market. And let's be honest, when the next Zelda or Mario title is anounced, everyone is going to forget the whole 'core gamers' debaucle.
This is it, exactly. Sure, Nintendo's looking at someone other than hardcore gamers for once. What does it matter? There are two other consoles with all the "real" games we need, while the Wii still has some really good games to offer. Saying they've "abandoned" their core demographic is like a doctor "abandoning" a patient in the middle of a hospital, with several other doctors nearby all eager to help.
 

JediMB

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Oct 25, 2008
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I want a Wii. I had to give up my preorder to my little brother when I temporarily moved abroad for a job, and since I returned I haven't had a very stable economy. =(

But after a long apprenticeship and nearly two months of actual employment, I'm finally getting my first payday at the new job on the 25th! I just don't know if I should save up to a new PC first, or go for a Wii. (My third platform will be an Xbox 360, though.)

But out of the Wii games released at the moment, I do want the following:

Boom Blox
de Blob
Mario Kart Wii
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
No More Heroes
Okami
Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition(*)
Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles(*)
Super Mario Galaxy
Super Paper Mario
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
World of Goo
Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure

...And possibly a Guitar Hero game, Wii Fit, Bully, Elebits, and countless Virtual Console and WiiWare games.


(* My brother and I share ownership of those two games already, so I'm not gonna buy new copies of them. of course.)