“A Pokémon game that created very deep, emotional memories for those who played it.”
☆ NintendObs Event – Nintendo Q2 FY3/2015 Q&A.
Question:
I find the “Super Smash Bros. and Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire Same-Generation Hypothesis” very interesting, and if it’s correct, it’s a major opportunity for Nintendo, especially in the Japanese market. The level of attention from the 18- and 25-year old demographic has gone up dramatically. At the same time, when we look at the games available on portable devices, while they are progressing in terms of quality, the market appears to be a bit saturated in terms of fresh experiences. Given this situation, I’d like you to tell us what sort of preparations are underway to apply that leverage, if any.
Answer:
Iwata:
First, as you’ve kindly pointed out, the generation that has paid more attention to Nintendo 3DS because of “Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS” is also the generation that makes the most use of social media, and thanks to them sharing the game’s appeal with others, we have gotten off to a good start with “Super Smash Bros.,” which has shown how hot it is by surpassing industry sales expectations for a Nintendo 3DS “Super Smash Bros.” title. This is also connected to pre-orders for “Pokémon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire,” and there is a similar trend overseas. Additionally, “Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire” for the Game Boy Advance was a “Pokémon” game that created very deep, emotional memories for those who played it, and it is the reason that people have thought to themselves, “I’m not familiar with the recent “Pokémon” titles, but I’d definitely like to try this.” This high level of active use has occurred at a time when there are so many other interesting titles for Nintendo 3DS, so we must consider what titles to offer next to those who’ve played and enjoyed “Pokémon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire” or “Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.” Thanks to information from sources like Club Nintendo, we have some idea of the answers to questions like “What games are correlated with other games?” and “What aspects appeal to certain consumer age groups?” Among these consumers, there are some who had not played with dedicated video game systems for some time, so when we offer them the next game after “Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS” and “Pokémon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire,” I think whether these new games will be able to keep them using their Nintendo 3DS or not will be really critical. However, with regard to these concerns, our systems, be it Nintendo 3DS or Wii U, have become quite effective at interacting digitally and sharing new information with consumers. We would like to use those systems to rapidly offer options like, “How about playing this game next?” to people of that generation where we have seen usage increase. In January, I said that for the next platform, we would like to skillfully combine dedicated video game systems and smart devices, and unify them all under the Nintendo Network ID system. So for example, one of the targets we’re aiming to achieve next year is, through the Nintendo Network ID, being able to offer options tailored to individual consumers based on the fact that they’ve played game A and game B, and so the probability they’ll enjoy game C is very high. We would like very much to work towards that.
— Semi-Annual Financial Results Briefing
Source: Nintendo JP.
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