Satoru Iwata braved a press conference in Osaka, Japan yesterday, in order to explain what the most recent financial results out of Nintendo actually mean. The Nintendo President spoke about the ongoing issues that the company is having with the Wii U, and it was suggested by Iwata that the console’s future success—and Nintendo’s present direction—are highly dependent on the game releases for the 2013 holiday season.
Company executives will be reviewing the performance of the new titles and then decide “what the company needs to do, over the long haul, about its platform.” He didn’t outright say that Nintendo needs a strategic overhaul, but it appears the winds are finally shifting in the top offices of Nintendo’s executives.
The Wii U’s sales have continued to be rather dismal since its release last year, with just 3.91 million units moved worldwide to date. And amount to just five percent of Nintendo’s target for the entire year are the mere 460,000 Wii U consoles sold in the past six months. Ouch.
To compare with the 3DS, however, 3.89 million 3DS systems have been sold during this same six month period—and if we cut that timeframe down to the last three months? 2.49 million of the previous number slots in there nicely.
Iwata continued to stress the Nintendo mantra that releasing its games on other platforms could bring the end of the company, which is why they’re ignoring the cries of investors to abandon hardware production and focus on software for mobile and other devices.
Iwata, in a burst of optimism, said that “one game has the power to change everything… are we satisfied with these sales results? No. Is it impossible to recover from this? No.”
As of today, Nintendo has not altered its holiday sales target of 9 million Wii U consoles sold by the end of the year. It’s not impossible, no, but it will need some kind of miracle game to make that number… if previous sales are anything to go by.
That said, the holiday season does appear to be packed with hotly anticipated game releases, so perhaps there’s some logic behind Iwata’s optimism. We’re certainly hoping so.
