The following comments come from Satoru Iwata...
When we announced the Wii U, I felt that the reaction from the crowd was very good. It seems that the excitement in the venue did not fully transmit to people in Japan who saw the presentation via webcast, but I think our presentation was one of the best presentations we have ever done in terms of receiving a solid response from the audience. In addition, I was interviewed by many foreign media there and about half congratulated us at the beginning or the end of the interview. Every year, for 11 years, I have attended E3 but I class being congratulated by half of the reporters as an extremely good result. On the other hand, recently, many of the media outside of the U.S., do not send reporters to E3 as they had done before. For Europe, I felt the same tone from Japanese articles too, and there was a great difference (in tone) between articles written by media where a reporter had come to the show, and articles written by media where a reporter was not sent there, and the articles were written using other information such as from the Internet. There seems to be a great difference in understanding between a person who saw the product with their own eyes, experienced the excitement around, touched the product and thought "Wow," and a person who only saw the presentation on the Internet and thought "hmm." From this difference in understanding, people in the stock market responded with, "Wii U doesn't seem innovative" or "I don't think Wii U will sell as well as the Wii," and that caused the decline in the stock price.
Also, people at the event have commented very positively, and even many members from our industry commented, "We would like to develop games actively because this platform has great potential." So to speak, it was highly appreciated at the E3 show, but the value was not correctly transmitted to places far away. The fact that we were not able to fully transmit this positive appreciation is something we need to improve on. If there were no value (in the Wii U itself) we would need to re-develop it so that it had value, but people who actually saw it recognized the value and, therefore, I think "how to transmit the value" and "whether we can meet the expectations" are the real challenges we are facing.
Having said that, however, I would like everyone to recall the reactions right after we announced the Nintendo DS, or the reaction right after we announced the Wii. I do not think many people praised the Wii or the Nintendo DS right after their respective announcements. Especially with the Nintendo DS, I felt that the dominant reactions were just like, "It seems like Nintendo is saying they will have two screens on a handheld console! Are they all right?" and "What are they going to do with this way out stuff?" Even for the Wii, the responses were, "The remote can be used for new gameplay, but what else can you make with this?" or "Is this going to sell in the home console market at all?" This time, I heard a very interesting comment from a Japanese analyst. "Actually, it (the reaction to the Wii U) was mixed, but I don't think having pros and cons is a bad thing. When there is something new, the pros and cons are always debated." I understand from a stock price standpoint that the current situation is not satisfactory and I am also unhappy with the situation as a shareholder that has 5,100 stocks. I sincerely understand that many shareholders are attending this meeting today to express the feeling "Do something." On the other hand, what we should be doing, and my main responsibility is to complete the development of the good value of Wii U, which has been appreciated by those who have had hands-on experience, launch the product next year and make it a product that sells even better than the Wii."
I understand you are very much concerned about the situation, but I would like to ask for your understanding that, as for the Wii U, I am proceeding with confidence that we can shape it so that many people will enjoy the product.
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Also, people at the event have commented very positively, and even many members from our industry commented, "We would like to develop games actively because this platform has great potential." So to speak, it was highly appreciated at the E3 show, but the value was not correctly transmitted to places far away. The fact that we were not able to fully transmit this positive appreciation is something we need to improve on. If there were no value (in the Wii U itself) we would need to re-develop it so that it had value, but people who actually saw it recognized the value and, therefore, I think "how to transmit the value" and "whether we can meet the expectations" are the real challenges we are facing.
Having said that, however, I would like everyone to recall the reactions right after we announced the Nintendo DS, or the reaction right after we announced the Wii. I do not think many people praised the Wii or the Nintendo DS right after their respective announcements. Especially with the Nintendo DS, I felt that the dominant reactions were just like, "It seems like Nintendo is saying they will have two screens on a handheld console! Are they all right?" and "What are they going to do with this way out stuff?" Even for the Wii, the responses were, "The remote can be used for new gameplay, but what else can you make with this?" or "Is this going to sell in the home console market at all?" This time, I heard a very interesting comment from a Japanese analyst. "Actually, it (the reaction to the Wii U) was mixed, but I don't think having pros and cons is a bad thing. When there is something new, the pros and cons are always debated." I understand from a stock price standpoint that the current situation is not satisfactory and I am also unhappy with the situation as a shareholder that has 5,100 stocks. I sincerely understand that many shareholders are attending this meeting today to express the feeling "Do something." On the other hand, what we should be doing, and my main responsibility is to complete the development of the good value of Wii U, which has been appreciated by those who have had hands-on experience, launch the product next year and make it a product that sells even better than the Wii."
I understand you are very much concerned about the situation, but I would like to ask for your understanding that, as for the Wii U, I am proceeding with confidence that we can shape it so that many people will enjoy the product.
Link
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