The folks at Game Informer recently had an opportunity to chat with Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé on a variety of topics, including Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu, Let’s Go Eevee, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Poké Ball Plus, Nintendo 3DS and more. You can read a few excerpts from the interview below:
Talk to me a little bit about your philosophy for the Nintendo Direct. Last year we saw some games that were kind of far out, holding the promise that a series was coming back. This year, it seems like, even with games in the hopper, you scaled back.
Broadly speaking, our focus at every E3 is driven by a handful of factors. One, we want to show games that are typically near in and our fans can look forward to purchasing relatively soon. Second, we always look at the total array of content, and decide what is the best thing to do – whether it’s a competition like we have this year, or some other key tactic. Every year is different, and every year is based on the content that is available.
Last year was important to us to message to the Metroid fan that there was a Metroid Prime experience in development, as we showed Metroid: Samus Returns for the 3DS. We didn’t want that fan to say “You just launched a new system, when are you going to bring me a Metroid on that platform?” We said it was coming. This year, with so many games launching effectively between [now] and the first half of next year, we wanted to focus on those games. Rest assured, Metroid Prime 4 is still in development and proceeding well. Yoshi is still in development. We said that is a 2019 title. So for us, it really is making sure we can highlight a new Super Mario Party game, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, give more hands-on opportunities for Pokémon: Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee, but also make sure that we spend more time on third-party content, and independent developer content to paint that total picture of what we have coming effectively in the here and now.
Switch continues to snowball and build on its base. I still see stores selling out of hardware. You have Smash Bros. coming out this holiday. You focused the messaging of the Direct to what is coming soon. Can we expect more announcements for this timeframe in the months ahead, or is what we saw at E3 the bulk of the lineup?
We’re going to continue to make announcements. E3 is not the only opportunity that we use to break news. We break news in Nintendo Directs when we want. Historically we’ve broken news at San Diego Comic Con, at PAX Prime, at Gamescom in Europe. We’re always looking for the right opportunity to share information about a particular game. Certainly for the holidays our lineup is set with Super Mario Party in October with Pokémon: Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee in November right before Black Friday, and with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on December 7. We believe that pacing is going to give us tremendous momentum during the holiday season.
In a previous interview we had in the magazine, you said the hope with Switch isn’t just one in a household, but one per person in that household. Are you seeing this come to fruition?
We have, and that’s why here in the Americas, we sell a second dock. The progression we see in the U.S., you have larger homes with multiple TVs. Step one is for the consumer to realize I want to set this up on this TV and this TV, so I’ll get a second dock. The next iteration is when the hardware is with a family member, and someone else wants to play the game, they’re going to say to themselves “It’s time for a second one.”
Personally, I think we’ve got two software titles that really have the potential to drive this during the upcoming holiday. First is Pokémon: Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee. That’s one where I do see family members wanting to take it out with them and play it all of the time. The other one is Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. People are going to want to set up their own multiplayer events at different places, and that on-the-go aspect will drive multiple devices.
With Super Smash Bros. Ultimate hitting this holiday, let’s talk about hardware. Switch is still selling like mad. Are you going to be sending out more during the holiday [to meet demand]?
Absolutely. Our goal as a business is to drive momentum and create excitement to get people who have heard about the hardware, but haven’t yet bought it, to jump in. Our biggest failure is when the consumer goes to the shelf and it isn’t there. We’re focused on making sure the supply chain is going to be robust. As we sit here today, we are highly confident that we are going to be able to meet the demand. Part of what we do is to try to drive demand as high as possible, and to therefore drive our business as strong as possible.
With Super Smash Bros. Ultimate hitting this holiday, let’s talk about hardware. Switch is still selling like mad. Are you going to be sending out more during the holiday [to meet demand]?
Absolutely. Our goal as a business is to drive momentum and create excitement to get people who have heard about the hardware, but haven’t yet bought it, to jump in. Our biggest failure is when the consumer goes to the shelf and it isn’t there. We’re focused on making sure the supply chain is going to be robust. As we sit here today, we are highly confident that we are going to be able to meet the demand. Part of what we do is to try to drive demand as high as possible, and to therefore drive our business as strong as possible.
Does that go for the GameCube controllers as well? I know people are thinking about getting eight of them.
GameCube controllers, the adaptor, and Pokéball Plus – we’re confident that we’re going to be well positioned on the supply side. The lifespan on 3DS has been impressive. More than eight years.
Is it still a big focus for Nintendo?
Absolutely. In the month of December, we had 27 percent growth versus last year in the U.S.
Here in the U.S., through May, it’s up 10 percent year on year. It continues to be a vibrant system. The reasons are, for the target audience we are going after – parents with kids – we see this as a great first device for that five, six, seven, and eight-year-old. The portability, the ability for the hardware to take damage and survive the drop test, over a thousand games available with new ones coming, that’s what’s driving the performance. It becomes a gateway for these kids that turn 10, 11, and 12 to then jump on to Nintendo Switch. It’s a strategy that’s working, and we’re going to continue to support that platform. We have more games coming, and certainly into 2019, we see it as a key part of our business.
Source: Game Informer
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