Nintendo’s latest fiscal year ended in March 2016, and president Tatsumi Kimishima held a press briefing wherein he answered questions regarding the company’s corporate direction and intentions moving forward. The full session can be read here, but the key details are summarized below.
The projected sales of Wii U units has been lowered to 800,000, partly in preparation for the arrival of the NX next year. However, the major reason has to do with a different piece of hardware. “The positive impact of lowering the projected sales… is that it allows us to focus on the Nintendo 3DS system,” says Kimishima. In short, the company is switching focus to the handheld prior to the NX’s release.
In regards to the mobile department and recent announcement of Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem ports, Kimishima points out that the two titles were selected due largely to audience reception – diversity in AC players, and the dedication of FE fans. The company would not release the DAU (daily active users) count for Miitomo, but it did show that several fans are using the app without a My Nintendo Account. Kimishima promises that Nintendo will think of new ways to introduce the account in future apps as well.
When asked about the effects of the NX launch on Nintendo’s finances, Kimishima cited, “One of the reasons for choosing the launch timing that we did is so that the software lineup will be ready in time for the hardware launch… we are not thinking of launching the hardware at a loss.” One major point of notice is that by releasing in 2017, the NX will not be out for the holiday rush. From Kimishima’s statement, it seems the company is more concerned about having a strong and varied selection of titles rather than cashing in on Christmas. This matches up with Zelda Wii U’s delay and NX port.
Many other questions centered around numbers for mobile games, sales numbers, and funds. To summarize these, Nintendo seems to plan on building its existing IPs over both console and mobile markets, and aims to have released five total mobile games by March 2017. Kimishima stated it was too early to tell how much of the company’s overall profit its mobile department would bring in, and that Nintendo hopes the NX will make up for poor Wii U sales. Given that, it seems the new console will remain a dedicated console entirely separate from mobile. Overall, it seems Nintendo is skipping 2016 as its big year of change in favor of even bigger changes next year.
