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This is a big year for Nintendo. The company, fresh off some severe financial losses over the past year, is trying to right its ship, securing the future of the Nintendo 3DS while launching Wii U, the successor to the phenomenon that was Wii. Yet more questions face the company than it can possibly answer in one week - even a week as big as E3.
For answers to those questions, we've turned to Reggie Fils-Aime, president and CEO of Nintendo of America, the largest division of the global entity that is Nintendo. On the agenda - third party support for the Nintendo 3DS, launch plans for Wii U, the status of Retro, competing with the next generation of Xbox and PlayStation, and much more.
Side Note: Reggie is rapidly approaching 1,000 unique Miis via StreetPass. And you thought you had done something special when you got all your puzzle pieces...
IGN: For the past year, we've heard some rough news about Nintendo. The financial reports. That major loss you guys took. I was wondering if you could put that loss into context, with the North American performance specifically. How is Nintendo doing with regards to North America? And going forward, reflecting back on this past year, what are you guys looking to do differently?
Reggie Fils-Aime: Well, Nintendo of America's performance really mirrors the total company performance, because we're such a large chunk of the overall company's financial results. Fundamentally, if you look at our last fiscal year, it was driven by two things. First, obviously, the yen to dollar... And also the yen to euro currency conversion, it's really tough right now. Because everything gets reported back into yen.
But then the other issue, as Mr. Iwata touched on in his financial briefing, was that with the price decline on 3DS, we were selling hardware at a loss. Which is something that we don't do. We never plan on doing it. So those two in combination really drove the negative financial performance. The reduction on 3DS was a lesson for us, right? It reinforced that we have to have great first-party titles at launch. It reinforced for us that we have to have a strong digital offering at launch. And it reinforced for us the importance of making sure that the other entertainment offerings for a device are there at launch.
So if you see how we've applied those learnings to Wii U... Great first-party titles that are going to be within the launch window. A robust online experience, highlighted by Miiverse. And then all of the great entertainment partners with, candidly, a lot more to share at a futture date, as to what we're doing there. So, tough results, certainly, our performance mirrored that. But a lot of key learning that we're approaching and applying to Wii U.
IGN: When you and I last spoke, I think it was late last summer, and we were just discussing the price reduction in the 3DS. What's the state of the 3DS currently?
Fils-Aime: The 3DS is rapidly approaching, in the US, five million units sold. Which is a great number. Faster sales pace than DS at the same point in time. We've got a number of strongly-selling titles. 3D Land, Kart 7, Ocarina of Time are all doing exceptionally well. But then the next tranche, with Kid Icarus and now Mario Tennis Open, also doing quite well. So our 3DS business is good. We're aggressive, we want it to be better.
So later on, while we're here at E3, we'll be talking in more depth about some of the key games, first- and third-party, coming for 3DS. But we've got a great lineup that's going to propel us through the holidays. So business is good, we want it to be better, our pace is above DS, which is not something that we would have expected given how strong DS sold. But we've got a lot more work to do.
IGN: One of the things we've spoken about in the past is just Nintendo's need to drive its hardware sales. The first-party pushes and then the third parties sort of come in. We've noticed a lot of third parties like Capcom, like Konami, coming in and supporting you in a major way. But at least from my perspective, I don't notice a lot of major games -- like the Resident Evils or the Castlevanias -- from western developers. I'm just curious about your thinking on that. Are western developers are taking a little bit longer to see the potential of 3DS?
Fils-Aime: First, it's a great question to ask any of the western publishers in terms of how they think about their support. My perspective is this: Certainly, western developers, historically, have been wanting to see that larger installed base before they jump in behind a platform. That's one general statement I would make.
The second general statement I would make is that for the most part, western third-party developers focus on home console. Versus in Japan, the lead SKU tends to be handheld. So that's another different dynamic that's going on. But candidly, I think with the progress we've made on 3DS, and certainly with the lineup that we have coming for this holiday, my expectation is that we'll certainly see a lot stronger western publisher support. They're going to see the size of that installed base to sell into.
IGN: Regarding Wii U. During the press conference, Nintendo Land was sort of referenced as the Wii Sports of Wii U. Can you go into that a little bit more, in terms of why you view it as maybe the Wii Sports of this platform?
Fils-Aime: I think that Nintendo Land, and the collection of 12 attractions that game will have, are a fantastic representation of asymmetric gameplay. I'm doing something with the GamePad that you're not doing when you have the Wii Remote Plus. I think it's going to be one of the best examples of Miiverse integration. And so from that standpoint, that's why we believe Nintendo Land really is our best foot forward in helping explain the Wii U concept.
And there's a lot to explain with that Nintendo Land game. What are the different attractions? How do they play? What's the role of that main street area? There's a lot of information that we'll be communicating, especially tonight at the round table. But that game is very important to us. And we're going to spend a lot of time helping players understand how great that game is. It gives me a lot of confidence, whenever I can I head off to our booth and the area for Nintendo Land is absolutely packed. That tells us that the game is as fun to play as we all hoped it would be, and now we've got to keep driving the communication.
GN: I think one of the interesting things about Wii Sports and how it sort of became such a moment in gaming history, was how you guys approached it. You bundled it in with Wii, and so my parents, when I got them a Wii, I knew they had what it would take to understand that system. What's your thinking in terms of Nintendo Land? Is that something you're considering as a bundle, some sort of bundle with the system, so that people fully appreciate the system's potential?
Fils-Aime: We're still working through all of the launch details. Launch price, launch date, the specifics of what we might offer from an overall value standpoint. I'm not going to comment on "will we bundle it in?" But what I would tell you is, our goal is to drive a very high attach between Nintendo Land and Wii U. And we're going to go after that goal really aggressively.
IGN: One of the things that you mentioned last year, and then has been a focus of this year's press conference as well, is getting the hardcore audience back. Wii was such a hit with casual players, but maybe not as much with the core gamer. Can you talk a little bit about how you're planning on doing that? Particularly, how you plan to balance the relationship between keeping those casual gamers and finding the core gamer.
Fils-Aime: The first thing I would tell you is that it's all about the game. Meaning, to excite the more active player, we need Assassin's Creed, we need Batman, we need Mass Effect. And so making sure that we have strong third-party support on those genres, it's critically important.
Beyond that, we also know that there needs to be all of that great online functionality, which we're going to have. And so... That's our thrust for the hardest of the core. For the more casual consumer, what we need to have are great pick-up-and-play experiences, experiences that could be in a party-type atmosphere, all of the things that we've learned, candidly, with the launch of Wii. And so we'll also have all of those great games. Everything from Sing to Just Dance 4 to Wii Fit U, to also games like Lego City. And that's why we're publishing that game, even though it's being developed by TT.
For us, we need to have that broad spectrum of gaming experiences, and if we do that, we'll attract everybody. They won't label themselves core versus casual. What they'll say is, boy, I want to play that game. We need to make sure we have that game for them to play.
IGN: I was curious about your perspective on Pikmin specifically, that's a franchise that we haven't actually seen a new installment of in...
Fils-Aime: Eight years.
IGN: About eight years, yeah. Do you view that as something a little more for my parents? Or is that something... Is it a little more for me? And in terms of marketing, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't remember the Pikmin franchise ever being the biggest Nintendo franchise, and it's also been off the radar. So can you talk a little bit about the challenges of bringing Pikmin to market?
Fils-Aime: Sure. Well, a couple things... You touch on it, there hasn't been a new installment in the Pikmin franchise in eight years. You didn't say it, but I will - Pikmin was launched on the GameCube, which was not our most successful home console. And so we have a challenge.
Part of the way we're beginning to overcome that challenge is by launching Pikmin 2 as a Nintendo Select. Against that installed base of, you know, approaching 40 million Wiis here in the US, we're going to look to get those consumers having a great experience with a Pikmin game. And then step two is really helping the player understand what this game is all about. You asked, is it for you or is it for your mom? Candidly, it's probably more for you. And I say that because there's strategy involved, there is a lot to be keeping track of as you're playing the game. So it is a bit more of a complicated experience. We need to make sure we appropriately go after that audience who's going to appreciate it.
IGN: Actually, regarding Pikmin, is that launch, launch window, is that some time off in the future...?
Fils-Aime: So we've said that that's launch window. Everything that we've shown from a first-party perspective is definitely launch window.
IGN: And launch window is the first couple months? Something like that?
Fils-Aime: Eh... More than that. It's launch plus the following three to four months.
IGN: Reflecting the 3DS launch upon Wii U - with 3DS you guys had a few titles at launch, first-party titles at launch, but then we just didn't see a lot of support from Nintendo. We had Zelda eventually, and then it was quite a while until we heard from Star Fox. And I'm looking at some of the offerings you guys have now, I'm looking at basically three major titles around launch window. And then...that's going to be a long time between the system launch and the next E3. Are you going to be communicating more first-party efforts about Wii U between now and, say, next E3?
Fils-Aime: A couple of small corrections. First, in terms of Wii U, as I said, Lego City Undercover, published by Nintendo. Sing, published by Nintendo. There's a game that you may not have seen called Project P-100. Developed by Platinum Games, has that same kind of funky vibe as Viewtiful Joe. Lot of fun. That's going to be a launch window title, published by Nintendo. So more than three is what I would tell you.
The second thing I would say is... You know, it is critical for us to pace our games in a way that's going to drive that momentum. Interestingly, again, if you go back to the launch of Wii, we had some games at launch, and then there was a bit of a lull. Then we came back with some more. There's not an exact science to this, but clearly, if you look back at 3DS, what we didn't have with 3DS was, at launch, the the first-party killer app. It was not Steel Diver, it was not Pilotwings Resort. And certainly we will not be having that same challenge with the launch of Wii U.
IGN: I keep referring to my parents, but that's because they play video games... So, you know, I think the more casual gamers don't necessarily think about, do I have a game every month? They don't even notice... My mom is still working on Mario Galaxy, it's no problem. But core gamers are looking for that... Where's my four, five, six games? Any concerns about keeping that pipeline going? It's a little different strategy than you had, maybe, with Wii, where you could afford a bit of that gap because casual gamers aren't looking for that aggressive schedule.
Fils-Aime: You know, I don't have that concern. And again... I think it's illustrative to go back and look at the Wii launch. At launch, there weren't a ton of titles. What we did have was Wii Sports packed in, which gave a lot of enjoyment. But if you truly look at the launch window group of games, it was actually a bit sparse. You look at where we are right now, we showed 23 games during the press conference. There's a lot more here on the show floor. So we're pretty confident that there will be a great pacing of content during those first number of months.
And certainly Nintendo is actively working on what's going to be that next grouping of titles to propel us all the way through our second holiday. So we're giving it a lot of thought, and for that active gamer who's looking to buy something brand new on a regular basis, there's going to be a lot there.
IGN: One of the things that is on the minds of active core gamers is 'console parity'. If I'm going to get a Wii U, it's going to need to have what's on PS3 or Xbox 360, minus first party. But when I look at what you guys have announced currently, I'm not seeing Resident Evil 6, GTA V is a big one, Tomb Raider, some of these major, major third-party offerings. Are you at all concerned that Wii U doesn't necessarily have those games? Is it just a matter of maybe that third parties - we were talking about western developers maybe waiting for that installed base - is that something you're noticing, that western developers are pulling back a little bit?
Fils-Aime: Well, certainly the typical western developer does wait for the installed base. Unless they are so passionate that they make a big bet, like Ubisoft has made a big bet. Obviously Warner Bros. has made a bet.
Beyond that, I wouldn't take the fact that things haven't been announced yet as a signal that it's not happening. But, you know... My job is to launch the system and to drive its installed base, and we're going to do that very effectively. And then hopefully that will create the opportunity for third parties to jump on board.
IGN: I know you aren't ready to announce it quite yet, but on the launch price... looking at your competitors, they're late in the lifecycle, they're able to drop price if they want to. They're making profit on their consoles. And like you said, you guys don't like to sell a console at a loss. So... What are the options you're weighing in terms of pricing? What are the considerations you're making as you work towards that announcement?
Fils-Aime: The first thing I would say is we focus on value. So it's what you get for what you pay, in terms of that overall proposition. Second thing I would tell you is that Nintendo believes in being a mass-market product. Unlike our competitors, when they've launched historical systems, to maybe start at a really high price and work their way down, we don't believe in that. We want to launch at a price that is going to represent an ongoing great value.
You look at the Wii, we stayed at 250 dollars for a really long time. And so we're going to give that same level of thought to the Wii U. How do we launch at a value that we're going to be able to sustain for a long time? I think people are going to be pleasantly surprised, if you will, about the way we're managing the value equation.
IGN: You were talking about value. One of the things that I found really interesting is the way you guys are demonstrating Wii U, which is... You're emphasizing the experiences with the Pad. But then a lot of these games, and Nintendo Land too, require you to have several Wii Remotes. And even a game like Pikmin, primarily the control is with the Wii Remote and the Nunchuk. Are you looking at bundling multiple controllers with the system at launch? Because it seems like a lot of these games, to be fully understood, need several controllers.
Fils-Aime: So, again, we're not going to talk about our configuration. But what I would tell you is, we're cognizant... US 40 million units, globally 100 million units. Against all those units there's a lot of Remotes and Nunchuks, a few Balance Boards. And so we want to leverage that installed base and not have the consumer to pay for another accessory when they already may be fully satiated with what they have in the household. We're going to be very thoughtful. That's the beauty of what we have, all of that is backward compatible. The consumer is going to feel great about that aspect of our value.
IGN: Miiverse was announced at the show, and... Can you talk a little bit about Nintendo's strategy when it comes to social integration? And also, secondary to that, are you planning on supporting some of the mass-market, very popular social programs like Twitter and Facebook, those sorts of things?
Fils-Aime: Maybe I should deal with that last one first. So... We, today, have an active presence on Facebook and Twitter, so if your point is, hey, can my activity on Miiverse show up on Facebook or Twitter... Right now, the way we're thinking about it is that Miiverse is gaming-focused. It's your gaming friends. And so right now we're thinking about that as, if you will, an established community. Lot of potential options for what we do in the future, but right now it's gaming first.
In terms of how we're thinking about integrating it into the games, candidly, we're going to go into this in a lot of detail in the developer roundtable [Editor's Note - You can actually get some good detail on this in my interview with legendary producer, director Takashi Tezuka - Rich], because both New Super Mario Bros. U as well as Nintendo Land are great representations of what we're doing with Miiverse, and we'll have the game producers talking about both of those later today. What I would tell you is that... The ability to have the community reinforcing what's hot, what's exciting... The ability for the community to share information... We think that's powerful. We think that there isn't anyone doing that today in the gaming space. Not the way that we're thinking about it.
IGN: I think we heard about Miiverse and I think a lot of gamers are wondering about the larger idea of the online service, the larger impact of Nintendo Network, and they're sitting there going... Is this going to compete with XBL? Is this going to compete with the PSN? Can you talk a little bit about Nintendo's ambitions and ideas regarding the larger online game experience?
Fils-Aime: Again, what I would tell you is... We don't look at what other people are doing. We step back and say, what would be fun, what would be unique, what would be different? And that's what's driving us. But having said that, is our vision that consumers are going to be super excited about Miiverse and super excited about what it represents? Absolutely.
The way that we're going to integrate it into the games, the way that you'll be able to pop in, pop out, do your messaging, get information, we think it's hugely powerful. It is somethinig that not only from a first-party standpoint, but from a third-party games, additional applications standpoint, there's a lot of excitement about how we're approaching Miiverse.
IGN: Switching gears, because I'm getting bombarded on Twitter to ask this... Everyone wants to know what Retro is up to. It's been a couple of years since we really heard from them. When will we hear from them?
Fils-Aime: Rich, if I disclosed what Retro is doing, I would have the president of Retro literally calling me right now saying, "Reggie, what are you doing?" We love that people are interested. We love surprising people. I remember getting the questions before we announced Donkey Kong Country Returns. And I loved unveiling that. So... Rest assured, the team is hard at work. But I'm not gonna tell you what they're working on.
IGN: Probably not something we'll hear about any time soon? Or...
Fils-Aime: Um... Likely not.
IGN: Okay, cool. I think, looking back at the core gamers once again, they have an Xbox 360 or a PS3. And then all indications are that Microsoft and Sony are about to bring their next consoles in within the next year or two. What are your thoughts about how Wii U will compete? Not only with the existing platforms, but the ones that are just around the corner?
Fils-Aime: We're about to launch a tremendously powerful system. A system that pushes out great graphics, a system that has an opportunity to do a lot of things. What I've heard the fan community say is, I want my Mario, I want my Zelda, and I want the best of third-party. And that's what we're looking to bring to consumers.
I think in the end, the consumer choice is going to be... Once I buy my Wii U, that satisfies my Nintendo cravings and my cravings for all of these other great multi-platform franchises, then what is the role of a competitive platform? It's going to have to live on the backs of some sort of unique proposition, or unique content. And to me that's the million-dollar question. Of our potential competitors down the road, who's going to have that compelling content that's going to say, hey, now I need to branch out and pick up this additional system? I think it's for them to answer
For answers to those questions, we've turned to Reggie Fils-Aime, president and CEO of Nintendo of America, the largest division of the global entity that is Nintendo. On the agenda - third party support for the Nintendo 3DS, launch plans for Wii U, the status of Retro, competing with the next generation of Xbox and PlayStation, and much more.
Side Note: Reggie is rapidly approaching 1,000 unique Miis via StreetPass. And you thought you had done something special when you got all your puzzle pieces...
IGN: For the past year, we've heard some rough news about Nintendo. The financial reports. That major loss you guys took. I was wondering if you could put that loss into context, with the North American performance specifically. How is Nintendo doing with regards to North America? And going forward, reflecting back on this past year, what are you guys looking to do differently?
Reggie Fils-Aime: Well, Nintendo of America's performance really mirrors the total company performance, because we're such a large chunk of the overall company's financial results. Fundamentally, if you look at our last fiscal year, it was driven by two things. First, obviously, the yen to dollar... And also the yen to euro currency conversion, it's really tough right now. Because everything gets reported back into yen.
But then the other issue, as Mr. Iwata touched on in his financial briefing, was that with the price decline on 3DS, we were selling hardware at a loss. Which is something that we don't do. We never plan on doing it. So those two in combination really drove the negative financial performance. The reduction on 3DS was a lesson for us, right? It reinforced that we have to have great first-party titles at launch. It reinforced for us that we have to have a strong digital offering at launch. And it reinforced for us the importance of making sure that the other entertainment offerings for a device are there at launch.
So if you see how we've applied those learnings to Wii U... Great first-party titles that are going to be within the launch window. A robust online experience, highlighted by Miiverse. And then all of the great entertainment partners with, candidly, a lot more to share at a futture date, as to what we're doing there. So, tough results, certainly, our performance mirrored that. But a lot of key learning that we're approaching and applying to Wii U.
IGN: When you and I last spoke, I think it was late last summer, and we were just discussing the price reduction in the 3DS. What's the state of the 3DS currently?
Fils-Aime: The 3DS is rapidly approaching, in the US, five million units sold. Which is a great number. Faster sales pace than DS at the same point in time. We've got a number of strongly-selling titles. 3D Land, Kart 7, Ocarina of Time are all doing exceptionally well. But then the next tranche, with Kid Icarus and now Mario Tennis Open, also doing quite well. So our 3DS business is good. We're aggressive, we want it to be better.
So later on, while we're here at E3, we'll be talking in more depth about some of the key games, first- and third-party, coming for 3DS. But we've got a great lineup that's going to propel us through the holidays. So business is good, we want it to be better, our pace is above DS, which is not something that we would have expected given how strong DS sold. But we've got a lot more work to do.
IGN: One of the things we've spoken about in the past is just Nintendo's need to drive its hardware sales. The first-party pushes and then the third parties sort of come in. We've noticed a lot of third parties like Capcom, like Konami, coming in and supporting you in a major way. But at least from my perspective, I don't notice a lot of major games -- like the Resident Evils or the Castlevanias -- from western developers. I'm just curious about your thinking on that. Are western developers are taking a little bit longer to see the potential of 3DS?
Fils-Aime: First, it's a great question to ask any of the western publishers in terms of how they think about their support. My perspective is this: Certainly, western developers, historically, have been wanting to see that larger installed base before they jump in behind a platform. That's one general statement I would make.
The second general statement I would make is that for the most part, western third-party developers focus on home console. Versus in Japan, the lead SKU tends to be handheld. So that's another different dynamic that's going on. But candidly, I think with the progress we've made on 3DS, and certainly with the lineup that we have coming for this holiday, my expectation is that we'll certainly see a lot stronger western publisher support. They're going to see the size of that installed base to sell into.
IGN: Regarding Wii U. During the press conference, Nintendo Land was sort of referenced as the Wii Sports of Wii U. Can you go into that a little bit more, in terms of why you view it as maybe the Wii Sports of this platform?
Fils-Aime: I think that Nintendo Land, and the collection of 12 attractions that game will have, are a fantastic representation of asymmetric gameplay. I'm doing something with the GamePad that you're not doing when you have the Wii Remote Plus. I think it's going to be one of the best examples of Miiverse integration. And so from that standpoint, that's why we believe Nintendo Land really is our best foot forward in helping explain the Wii U concept.
And there's a lot to explain with that Nintendo Land game. What are the different attractions? How do they play? What's the role of that main street area? There's a lot of information that we'll be communicating, especially tonight at the round table. But that game is very important to us. And we're going to spend a lot of time helping players understand how great that game is. It gives me a lot of confidence, whenever I can I head off to our booth and the area for Nintendo Land is absolutely packed. That tells us that the game is as fun to play as we all hoped it would be, and now we've got to keep driving the communication.
GN: I think one of the interesting things about Wii Sports and how it sort of became such a moment in gaming history, was how you guys approached it. You bundled it in with Wii, and so my parents, when I got them a Wii, I knew they had what it would take to understand that system. What's your thinking in terms of Nintendo Land? Is that something you're considering as a bundle, some sort of bundle with the system, so that people fully appreciate the system's potential?
Fils-Aime: We're still working through all of the launch details. Launch price, launch date, the specifics of what we might offer from an overall value standpoint. I'm not going to comment on "will we bundle it in?" But what I would tell you is, our goal is to drive a very high attach between Nintendo Land and Wii U. And we're going to go after that goal really aggressively.
IGN: One of the things that you mentioned last year, and then has been a focus of this year's press conference as well, is getting the hardcore audience back. Wii was such a hit with casual players, but maybe not as much with the core gamer. Can you talk a little bit about how you're planning on doing that? Particularly, how you plan to balance the relationship between keeping those casual gamers and finding the core gamer.
Fils-Aime: The first thing I would tell you is that it's all about the game. Meaning, to excite the more active player, we need Assassin's Creed, we need Batman, we need Mass Effect. And so making sure that we have strong third-party support on those genres, it's critically important.
Beyond that, we also know that there needs to be all of that great online functionality, which we're going to have. And so... That's our thrust for the hardest of the core. For the more casual consumer, what we need to have are great pick-up-and-play experiences, experiences that could be in a party-type atmosphere, all of the things that we've learned, candidly, with the launch of Wii. And so we'll also have all of those great games. Everything from Sing to Just Dance 4 to Wii Fit U, to also games like Lego City. And that's why we're publishing that game, even though it's being developed by TT.
For us, we need to have that broad spectrum of gaming experiences, and if we do that, we'll attract everybody. They won't label themselves core versus casual. What they'll say is, boy, I want to play that game. We need to make sure we have that game for them to play.
IGN: I was curious about your perspective on Pikmin specifically, that's a franchise that we haven't actually seen a new installment of in...
Fils-Aime: Eight years.
IGN: About eight years, yeah. Do you view that as something a little more for my parents? Or is that something... Is it a little more for me? And in terms of marketing, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't remember the Pikmin franchise ever being the biggest Nintendo franchise, and it's also been off the radar. So can you talk a little bit about the challenges of bringing Pikmin to market?
Fils-Aime: Sure. Well, a couple things... You touch on it, there hasn't been a new installment in the Pikmin franchise in eight years. You didn't say it, but I will - Pikmin was launched on the GameCube, which was not our most successful home console. And so we have a challenge.
Part of the way we're beginning to overcome that challenge is by launching Pikmin 2 as a Nintendo Select. Against that installed base of, you know, approaching 40 million Wiis here in the US, we're going to look to get those consumers having a great experience with a Pikmin game. And then step two is really helping the player understand what this game is all about. You asked, is it for you or is it for your mom? Candidly, it's probably more for you. And I say that because there's strategy involved, there is a lot to be keeping track of as you're playing the game. So it is a bit more of a complicated experience. We need to make sure we appropriately go after that audience who's going to appreciate it.
IGN: Actually, regarding Pikmin, is that launch, launch window, is that some time off in the future...?
Fils-Aime: So we've said that that's launch window. Everything that we've shown from a first-party perspective is definitely launch window.
IGN: And launch window is the first couple months? Something like that?
Fils-Aime: Eh... More than that. It's launch plus the following three to four months.
IGN: Reflecting the 3DS launch upon Wii U - with 3DS you guys had a few titles at launch, first-party titles at launch, but then we just didn't see a lot of support from Nintendo. We had Zelda eventually, and then it was quite a while until we heard from Star Fox. And I'm looking at some of the offerings you guys have now, I'm looking at basically three major titles around launch window. And then...that's going to be a long time between the system launch and the next E3. Are you going to be communicating more first-party efforts about Wii U between now and, say, next E3?
Fils-Aime: A couple of small corrections. First, in terms of Wii U, as I said, Lego City Undercover, published by Nintendo. Sing, published by Nintendo. There's a game that you may not have seen called Project P-100. Developed by Platinum Games, has that same kind of funky vibe as Viewtiful Joe. Lot of fun. That's going to be a launch window title, published by Nintendo. So more than three is what I would tell you.
The second thing I would say is... You know, it is critical for us to pace our games in a way that's going to drive that momentum. Interestingly, again, if you go back to the launch of Wii, we had some games at launch, and then there was a bit of a lull. Then we came back with some more. There's not an exact science to this, but clearly, if you look back at 3DS, what we didn't have with 3DS was, at launch, the the first-party killer app. It was not Steel Diver, it was not Pilotwings Resort. And certainly we will not be having that same challenge with the launch of Wii U.
IGN: I keep referring to my parents, but that's because they play video games... So, you know, I think the more casual gamers don't necessarily think about, do I have a game every month? They don't even notice... My mom is still working on Mario Galaxy, it's no problem. But core gamers are looking for that... Where's my four, five, six games? Any concerns about keeping that pipeline going? It's a little different strategy than you had, maybe, with Wii, where you could afford a bit of that gap because casual gamers aren't looking for that aggressive schedule.
Fils-Aime: You know, I don't have that concern. And again... I think it's illustrative to go back and look at the Wii launch. At launch, there weren't a ton of titles. What we did have was Wii Sports packed in, which gave a lot of enjoyment. But if you truly look at the launch window group of games, it was actually a bit sparse. You look at where we are right now, we showed 23 games during the press conference. There's a lot more here on the show floor. So we're pretty confident that there will be a great pacing of content during those first number of months.
And certainly Nintendo is actively working on what's going to be that next grouping of titles to propel us all the way through our second holiday. So we're giving it a lot of thought, and for that active gamer who's looking to buy something brand new on a regular basis, there's going to be a lot there.
IGN: One of the things that is on the minds of active core gamers is 'console parity'. If I'm going to get a Wii U, it's going to need to have what's on PS3 or Xbox 360, minus first party. But when I look at what you guys have announced currently, I'm not seeing Resident Evil 6, GTA V is a big one, Tomb Raider, some of these major, major third-party offerings. Are you at all concerned that Wii U doesn't necessarily have those games? Is it just a matter of maybe that third parties - we were talking about western developers maybe waiting for that installed base - is that something you're noticing, that western developers are pulling back a little bit?
Fils-Aime: Well, certainly the typical western developer does wait for the installed base. Unless they are so passionate that they make a big bet, like Ubisoft has made a big bet. Obviously Warner Bros. has made a bet.
Beyond that, I wouldn't take the fact that things haven't been announced yet as a signal that it's not happening. But, you know... My job is to launch the system and to drive its installed base, and we're going to do that very effectively. And then hopefully that will create the opportunity for third parties to jump on board.
IGN: I know you aren't ready to announce it quite yet, but on the launch price... looking at your competitors, they're late in the lifecycle, they're able to drop price if they want to. They're making profit on their consoles. And like you said, you guys don't like to sell a console at a loss. So... What are the options you're weighing in terms of pricing? What are the considerations you're making as you work towards that announcement?
Fils-Aime: The first thing I would say is we focus on value. So it's what you get for what you pay, in terms of that overall proposition. Second thing I would tell you is that Nintendo believes in being a mass-market product. Unlike our competitors, when they've launched historical systems, to maybe start at a really high price and work their way down, we don't believe in that. We want to launch at a price that is going to represent an ongoing great value.
You look at the Wii, we stayed at 250 dollars for a really long time. And so we're going to give that same level of thought to the Wii U. How do we launch at a value that we're going to be able to sustain for a long time? I think people are going to be pleasantly surprised, if you will, about the way we're managing the value equation.
IGN: You were talking about value. One of the things that I found really interesting is the way you guys are demonstrating Wii U, which is... You're emphasizing the experiences with the Pad. But then a lot of these games, and Nintendo Land too, require you to have several Wii Remotes. And even a game like Pikmin, primarily the control is with the Wii Remote and the Nunchuk. Are you looking at bundling multiple controllers with the system at launch? Because it seems like a lot of these games, to be fully understood, need several controllers.
Fils-Aime: So, again, we're not going to talk about our configuration. But what I would tell you is, we're cognizant... US 40 million units, globally 100 million units. Against all those units there's a lot of Remotes and Nunchuks, a few Balance Boards. And so we want to leverage that installed base and not have the consumer to pay for another accessory when they already may be fully satiated with what they have in the household. We're going to be very thoughtful. That's the beauty of what we have, all of that is backward compatible. The consumer is going to feel great about that aspect of our value.
IGN: Miiverse was announced at the show, and... Can you talk a little bit about Nintendo's strategy when it comes to social integration? And also, secondary to that, are you planning on supporting some of the mass-market, very popular social programs like Twitter and Facebook, those sorts of things?
Fils-Aime: Maybe I should deal with that last one first. So... We, today, have an active presence on Facebook and Twitter, so if your point is, hey, can my activity on Miiverse show up on Facebook or Twitter... Right now, the way we're thinking about it is that Miiverse is gaming-focused. It's your gaming friends. And so right now we're thinking about that as, if you will, an established community. Lot of potential options for what we do in the future, but right now it's gaming first.
In terms of how we're thinking about integrating it into the games, candidly, we're going to go into this in a lot of detail in the developer roundtable [Editor's Note - You can actually get some good detail on this in my interview with legendary producer, director Takashi Tezuka - Rich], because both New Super Mario Bros. U as well as Nintendo Land are great representations of what we're doing with Miiverse, and we'll have the game producers talking about both of those later today. What I would tell you is that... The ability to have the community reinforcing what's hot, what's exciting... The ability for the community to share information... We think that's powerful. We think that there isn't anyone doing that today in the gaming space. Not the way that we're thinking about it.
IGN: I think we heard about Miiverse and I think a lot of gamers are wondering about the larger idea of the online service, the larger impact of Nintendo Network, and they're sitting there going... Is this going to compete with XBL? Is this going to compete with the PSN? Can you talk a little bit about Nintendo's ambitions and ideas regarding the larger online game experience?
Fils-Aime: Again, what I would tell you is... We don't look at what other people are doing. We step back and say, what would be fun, what would be unique, what would be different? And that's what's driving us. But having said that, is our vision that consumers are going to be super excited about Miiverse and super excited about what it represents? Absolutely.
The way that we're going to integrate it into the games, the way that you'll be able to pop in, pop out, do your messaging, get information, we think it's hugely powerful. It is somethinig that not only from a first-party standpoint, but from a third-party games, additional applications standpoint, there's a lot of excitement about how we're approaching Miiverse.
IGN: Switching gears, because I'm getting bombarded on Twitter to ask this... Everyone wants to know what Retro is up to. It's been a couple of years since we really heard from them. When will we hear from them?
Fils-Aime: Rich, if I disclosed what Retro is doing, I would have the president of Retro literally calling me right now saying, "Reggie, what are you doing?" We love that people are interested. We love surprising people. I remember getting the questions before we announced Donkey Kong Country Returns. And I loved unveiling that. So... Rest assured, the team is hard at work. But I'm not gonna tell you what they're working on.
IGN: Probably not something we'll hear about any time soon? Or...
Fils-Aime: Um... Likely not.
IGN: Okay, cool. I think, looking back at the core gamers once again, they have an Xbox 360 or a PS3. And then all indications are that Microsoft and Sony are about to bring their next consoles in within the next year or two. What are your thoughts about how Wii U will compete? Not only with the existing platforms, but the ones that are just around the corner?
Fils-Aime: We're about to launch a tremendously powerful system. A system that pushes out great graphics, a system that has an opportunity to do a lot of things. What I've heard the fan community say is, I want my Mario, I want my Zelda, and I want the best of third-party. And that's what we're looking to bring to consumers.
I think in the end, the consumer choice is going to be... Once I buy my Wii U, that satisfies my Nintendo cravings and my cravings for all of these other great multi-platform franchises, then what is the role of a competitive platform? It's going to have to live on the backs of some sort of unique proposition, or unique content. And to me that's the million-dollar question. Of our potential competitors down the road, who's going to have that compelling content that's going to say, hey, now I need to branch out and pick up this additional system? I think it's for them to answer