Nintendo’s investor briefing took place earlier today, with several interesting tid-bits to be gleaned from the information Iwata shared with investors. Perhaps the most notable thing to come out of the meeting is the fact that amiibo seem to be performing extremely well despite the launch hiccups Nintendo and distributor partners have experienced heading into the new year.
While the amiibo side of things is interesting, what we really want to know is the direction Nintendo plans on taking in regards to the Wii U. According to Iwata, the Wii U saw a very high software attach rate compared to the number of Wii U consoles sold, especially with Mario Kart 8. The game has managed to sell 4.77 million units to date, which is considerably high as global Wii U sales sit around 10 million or so.
In regards to 2015, Iwata stated that Nintendo wanted to focus on games that enrich the experience through the unique use of the Wii U GamePad. To further elaborate, Iwata showcased titles that will be released in 2015 that include GamePad support in unique and interesting ways.
Iwata further elaborates that while these titles make up the bulk of what Nintendo has planned, there are even more titles that have not been announced yet and will fully utilize the GamePad. While Iwata seemed particularly pleased with Nintendo’s game performance on MetaCritic and the like, he mentions that there are still specific hurdles the company has yet to clear in regards to selling more Wii U hardware in Japan, and Nintendo 3DS hardware elsewhere.
As I have explained, there are hurdles we are yet to clear regarding the Wii U hardware sales expansion in Japan and Nintendo 3DS hardware sales in the U.S. and in Europe during the last year-end sales season.
No information was given as to how Nintendo plans on tackling these problems, but it seems like the focus on quality software is finally coming forward, as evidenced by Nintendo’s plans to introduce software that actually utilizes the Wii U GamePad in a unique way.
