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Nintendo president Satoru Iwata believes that the imminent launch of PlayStation 4 and Xbox One is good for Wii U “because they energize the video game industry as a whole”.
Speaking during the company’s Q2 financial briefing about the demographics targeted by Nintendo and the other platform holders this year, Iwata said:
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“Other companies will launch new consoles (in the overseas markets at the end of this year), but I think they focus on targeting highly skilled users. Therefore, in that sense, though the competition will heat up because new game consoles will come out and there will be a ‘war of the game consoles’ played out in media articles, we wonder if the target user will actually be the same.
“The games available at the end of this calendar year, ‘Super Mario 3D World,’ ‘Wii Party U,’ ‘Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games,’ ‘Wii Sports Club’ and ‘Wii Fit U,’ all lean more toward family use, and we are targeting those who bought Wii and would be interested in the Wii U offerings. That is slightly different than what other companies are aiming for.
“Thus, in the sense that we attract consumers interested in this category of video games, I think the launch of other video game systems is also good for us because they energize the video game industry as a whole.”
Despite lacking a core appeal this Christmas, though, Iwata claims that Nintendo has “a number of Wii U games for next year that greatly appeal to highly skilled users”.
The firm has already announced four major first-party Wii U games due for release in 2014, including Mario Kart 8, Super Smash Bros., Bayonetta 2 and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, and is expected to announce a new Zelda title at next year’s E3.
Wii U has failed to gain much of a momentum following its release last November, selling just 300,000 units worldwide between July and September. Only 3.91m units have been sold in total.
Xbox One and PlayStation 4 go on sale later this month.
Source: nintendo.co.jp
