Nintendo Sales Chief Talks About the NX and Other Things

Sorry for the mumbled title, there's a lot Scott Moffitt said, some of which is interesting, some you could take as deflection, and some you could possibly take as concerning.

Here are some of the questions Financial Post asked him:

"Looking back at the lifetime sales of Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, both of which have ebbed and flowed over the years, what are some of the lessons Nintendo has learned in this generation that it will apply to its strategy with future products?"

"First, it’s really important to have the right content. Software drives hardware. We’ve proven that multiple times. The right game can really lift a system. With The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild being among the titles we’re working on for NX, we’re very excited it will be an immediate reason game fans will want to buy the hardware.

Second, it’s important to have clear positioning for your proposition and be able to explain it to consumers in a simple and easy way. Those are among the things that we are working on for NX.

Third, we need to showcase all the things that make Nintendo great. When we bring out a title it has to be of exceptional quality, it has to be fun, it has to be an immersive experience, and put a smile on families’ faces. As long as we stay true to those things, we’ll deliver what we want.

And certainly there are other factors, like third-party content. Our mission is to create the largest install base possible so that third-party developers will want to bring their content to our systems."

"When families ask me for a console recommendation I often endorse Wii U, explaining that Nintendo has more exclusives and more family friendly content than pretty much any other platform. But it’s harder for me to make the case for older players looking to pick up a new console who want to play more than just the games Nintendo makes. What’s happening with Nintendo’s major third-party partners, both right now and in the future with NX?"

"That’s a great question, and one that we give a lot of thought to. There’s a tendency for people to focus on certain publishers or certain titles. But when you step back and take a look at it, we have great publisher relationships with companies like Ubisoft – which had some exciting announcements this week – Capcom, and Warner Bros. They have been strong and will continue to be strong partners in the future.

Having said that, what will attract even more partners to our platform — which, of course, is something we’d like to do — is having a piece of hardware that provides interesting ways for these companies to bring their game creations to life, one that’s easy to program and work on, and that has a large enough install base of game fans that are looking for a variety of content.

So, for an avid gamer a game like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is one of those that you can’t not play. It’s a new high point for the franchise that offers gamers incredible freedom. Your gaming arsenal will not be complete without a Nintendo system and this game in your house."

"Nintendo is transitioning from being a purely games company to one with a more diverse portfolio of products and services. As sales chief, where do you see the company’s primary revenue streams originating in the coming years?"

"The backbone of our company is our dedicated games and systems. That includes the hardware, which means 3DS, NX, and Wii U for the time being, and all of our IP. What you’re seeing happen with various announcements we’ve made is a slightly different stance on what we’ve always tried to do, which is expand the gaming population.

We’re trying to take advantage of other means for consumers to engage with our IP more broadly and more frequently. For example, the launch of Miitomo on mobile along with the upcoming mobile apps for Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing will allow gamers who haven’t had a dedicated Nintendo gaming device in the past to experience these franchises, see their charm and the quality, and then hopefully migrate down the road to play the immersive full-game experience on our dedicated game systems.

The expansion of our licensed goods business is a way for our existing fans to engage with our IP in a different way, in a more frequent way. And it’s the same with our entertainment pillar, the third direction we’ve been pushing, which is expanding into other forms of entertainment.

All three areas of expansion are intended to allow consumers to engage with our IP more broadly, more deeply, and more frequently, all with the intent of bringing them back to the business that matters most to us, which is our core games business."

"I suspect I know the answer to this last question already, but I have to ask: When can we expect to learn more about the NX?"

"There will be more information coming out later this year. We certainly understand everyone’s desire and interest to learn more. We can’t wait to tell you all about it. But E3 was not the time. We wanted to focus our efforts on The Legend of Zelda: Breath of Fire, and also on Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon, a fantastic new experience in that franchise. But later this year you can expect to get more information on NX."

There were some other questions that are rather interesting as well that talked about the future of amiibo in regards of the recent demise of Disney Infinity, why they showed few games this year at E3, and one that focuses on how much support the Wii U will get now that the NX is looming around.

What do you guys think of his comments? Do they sound like they are on a positive path for the NX or just deflecting?

I refuse to give them the benefit of the doubt on the NX until they prove they can make a competent console, sorry.

I'll get one because I have to, but I have no hopes of it actually being anything other than shit.

@charizard1605: wow. Weren't you ultra hype about NX few months ago?

I'm keeping my expectations low. I'll buy it regardless, because I know the amazing exclusives will come, but I don't really know if they're going to make it far with the NX. I want to believe, but hardware has to be a huge part of it for third party developers and Nintendo has to deliver regardless of my feelings on the importance of top-of-the-line hardware. I think they can create a huge install base for the system though, depending on the other exclusives lined up for the launch. Hopefully there's a plethora.

All you have to do Nintendo is make a console as strong as Neo, or close to it. And no gimmicks. I don't think either of those will happen.

@primorandomguy: This line of thinking makes no sense at all. All developers will have to also make games compatible for ps4 and Xbox 1, Nintendo doesn't have to be anywhere near NEO or Scorpio when those won't even be the majority of PS/MS consoles on the market years down the road..

@WreckEm711: So you don't want a strong console? Ok. If they want 3rd party games, and their first party games too perform well they better. And like I said no gimmicks.

@primorandomguy: I'd like it to be as powerful as possible, but the idea that Nintendo somehow has to make their baseline console as powerful as the other two niche premium consoles is silly.

I agree on the gimmicks part unless it's something that pushes the industry forward, otherwise just give me an upgraded pro controller with a long battery life.

Just give me that Zelda game Nintendo. Hook it up.

@WreckEm711: But why wouldn't they make it powerful? They can't afford to miss on 3rd party again. And yeah just give us a traditional controller with a long battery life. I just wouldn't give my hopes up on NX is all.

@primorandomguy: The problem is if they make it too powerful they can't sell it at a "me too" companion console price, it would have to be more in line with what Sony and MS charge. Until they build up good faith with consumers that there will consistently be 3rd party games on a system no one will buy an expensive Nintendo only box, which then 3rd parties would avoid it because of low install base.

It's a really weird position they're in with third party support, too weak they don't get it, too expensive they probably won't get the install base to get it.

@WreckEm711: I guess that's a good point. I think if they announced a hell of a launch lineup it would help with the install base. Nintendo just needs to show they're back and ready to be competitive again. They've shown over and over again they are incompetent anymore though.

No? I'm interested to see what it is and hopeful that it may be good, but not really hyped, no

Yeah, I'll end up buying it, cause Nintendo. I just don't expect it to be anything worth home writing about.

@primorandomguy: agreed :(

TL;DR

The Nintendo Sales Chief said that people should grab a Wii U while they last. It is really sad that people had Gamepad phobia. The financial chief also said that Amiibo were the top-selling toys to life this year, and Nintendo is committed to growing the Amiibo business.

Nintendo Sales Chief: "Second, it’s important to have clear positioning for your proposition and be able to explain it to consumers in a simple and easy way. Those are among the things that we are working on for NX."

Yeah, I agree with him here. I just don't know how Nintendo is going to do it or word it for the advertisement. Nintendo has very distinctive arcade, action platform games and their famous cast of game characters. Their strength is that they prioritize making a FUN and challenging gaming experience that makes people smile. The competition prioritizes POWER and third party support. The 3rd party games tend to get deep price cuts after 6 months to a year, while the pricing for Nintendo games tends to stay fixed.

This is a good point by WreckEm711.

I feel that Nintendo's strategy is :

1) consolidate their handheld and home console game development into one department so that the games can be used on either device

2) which will lead to the Wii U and 3DS fans buying the same games when they migrate over to the NX

3) make it easy for 3rd party game developers to make games for the NX (but not necessarily due to power of hardware)

4) 3rd party game developers will want to make games for the NX because of the large install base Nintendo has in place all Wii U + 3DS fans in one pool, and the NX is easy to make games for

5) which will mean that it is a 50/50 chance as to weather 3rd party developers will make or port M rated games to the NX (one reason being that fans of those games would rather play them on the more powerful hardware of the competition)

As long as gamers lack imagination and require M rated games to have the highest resolution (even at the expense of frame rate) then they will probably not want to play the M rated games on weaker hardware even though higher fps is better gameplay and thus more fun.

I was thinking for their launch, they should have nothing but big budget AAA 1st party games. Then, let 3rd parties trickle in their games coming out in 2017, until the next big 1st party game.

Like a drum beat.

Booms are 1st party games, and taps are 3rd party games.

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, BOOM, BOOM, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, BOOM, BOOM.

You get what I'm saying?

Sounds like a PR answer to me. There are some potential insights to take, but it's still largely speculative and I think it's a futile exercise trying to read something into his statements.

Based on the rumor mill and Nintendo's general predicament, NX - if it turns out to be a device - is going to be wholly dependent on 1st party support. Given that reality, Nintendo has to position the system as a secondary device and price it accordingly.

Software drives hardware if the hardware is up to snuff to get said games on the system.

These guys really think Nintendo games alone will be enough and that just goes to show how ignorant and egotistic they are.

Price drives hardware just as much as hardware power does. I'm sure I'm sounding like a broken record but I'm thinking that Nintendo went with Polaris 11 and went with a low wattage but respectable hardware solution. I'm expecting 2.5 TFs of power and 12 GB of GDDR5 ram. Add in a respectable cpu and NX becomes a console that can survive the next 5 years without issue.

It should be enough to handle almost all 3rd party ports in most aspects, and it will be above the ps4/X1 when it comes to raw power. It should be more than enough. Then all they gotta do is make a respectable controller like the Wii U Pro controller but tweak it with gyroscopic controls and a NFC reader and you got a next gen console that is not just potent but easily accessible for everyone.

I think that they can pull this off at $199. It should be the value companion for nearly all gamers and it pretty much guarantees their success.

As far as home consoles are considered, NX is the last chance for Nintendo to prove to me that they aren't a bunch of idiots in suits. No priority gimmicks this time Ninty.

It needs to be more NES/Snes and less Wii. No Amiibos, no gimmicky controller and at least comparable power-wise to the competition. The Nintendo I once knew is long dead I think. Zelda alone is nowhere near enough to get me to buy it. Metroid could be however.

Those third parties he listed hahaha!

Ubisoft = Just Dance

Warner Bros. = LEGO

Capcom = Monster Hunter

That's basically it, one IP from those three listed.

"And certainly there are other factors, like third-party content. Our mission is to create the largest install base possible so that third-party developers will want to bring their content to our systems."

Just demonstrative of how backwards Nintendo is in their thinking. How the hell do you build your install base to the point where third parties are going to bother when you only make Nintendo games that appeal to the niche?

Keep it up, Nintendo.

@MirkoS77: Mario Kart 8 Wii U 7.5 million out of 12 million consoles is how.

@iandizion713 said:

@MirkoS77: Mario Kart 8 Wii U 7.5 million out of 12 million consoles is how.

You do understand the difference between hardware user-base and software attach rate, right?

Monster Hunter NOT even on console...freaking Handheld :(

@MirkoS77: You do understand the definition of niche dont you?

@MirkoS77: haha.. I think they are hoping Zelda BotW will do it for them...sounds like they are still following Iwata's playbook "1 game will make all the difference" ...sigh.. :P

@superbuuman: Only took 1 game to win e3. Nintendo sales up since e3. Zelda Twilight Princess Bundle is selling out at Bestbuy. Its sold out online right now.

@bunchanumbers: yeah I saw you say that in the other thread but I think you're getting your hopes up way too high man lol. That's the best possible scenario on all fronts.

Thing is I think a console like that would be about 70 watts, double that of Wii u. Which I'm not sure is low watt enough for Nintendo even though it's perfectly reasonable power usage. Then there's the price, don't forget the ps3 and 360 with a hard drive still cost $200. If they didn't ship with a hard drive or Blu ray, maybe it could be $200. Think ps1 vs n64.

But no matter what I think they want to price this thing at $250, even $300 is a stretch since Nintendo thinks the Wii u was too expensive.

@iandizion713: you are not using logic mate, or if you are, explain your thinking.

Mine (actually Nintendo's) is that third parties will flock to them once they sell tons of hardware. How can Nintendo accomplish that when they only put out Nintendo games that appeal to the niche (yes, I know what it means), so consequently their hardware remains niche?

What does software attach rate have to do with growing a hardware userbase?

@superbuuman: seems like it, sadly. I wonder if this company is incapable of learning.

Well there are rumors that Nintendo is going with cartridges with NX. Plus in other parts of this interview, he said to buy Wii U before its gone. This tells me that not only will there be cartridges, but NX is also abandoning discs altogether. It might mean no BC too. They could add a 500 GB hard drive for a pittance and just like that they got a value console that can last for years.

Plus there were other 'leaks' from developers that said that NX is the biggest footprint Nintendo ever had when it comes to power usage. Double that of Wii U would fit the description.

You're right though I am probably getting my hopes up. Its just too practical and makes too much sense. Nintendo might end up duct taping 4 Wii Us together and tell us to eat it for all I know.

@bunchanumbers: yeah definitely, a powerful discless console like that would be a brilliant move which is why we shouldn't expect it from Nintendo :p