Nintendo Annual General Meeting Q&A

[Hero-of-Time]

This official translation is now up.

HERE

Here are a few of the questions at interested me.

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You set a goal of selling 20 million hardware units and 100 million software units for Nintendo Switch for the fiscal year ending in March 2019. How does the current situation compare to your estimates? Additionally, one reason given for the recent drop in share price is the report that Nintendo Labo has been selling poorly. Could you share your thoughts on this?

A3 Kimishima: Our sales targets for Nintendo Switch hardware and software during this fiscal year will not be an easy challenge to meet, but we are putting all of our efforts into doing just that. If you look at our software lineup for the fiscal year that we showed at E3, you can see a relative trend that the titles that resonate most with consumers are concentrated toward the latter half. That is why I think the way Nintendo Switch hardware sells during this fiscal year will be slightly different from in the last. A simple comparison of hardware units sold during the first quarter of this fiscal year might not look as good as the units sold during this period in the prior fiscal year. However, this is something we expected, so this shift is well within expectations when looking at our software lineup for the entire fiscal year. And on the topic of Nintendo Labo, we are grateful for the tremendous response we have received from all kinds of places even prior to its launch. On the other hand, I see it as characteristically different from the titles we have released up until now and, therefore, the sales route and the flow until it reaches consumers also differs from other games. We anticipate that parents will purchase it for their children, for example, which potentially requires an opportunity to make a purchase like a birthday, Christmas or summer break. That is why we are currently focused on making sure that consumers fully understand the appeal of the product. What that means is the way we are selling Nintendo Labo is not like traditional games, where they sell well upon initial release and then sales numbers gradually decrease. Instead, we hope Nintendo Labo becomes a topic of interest for all kinds of people, and when an increased number of people want it and a certain time comes to make purchases, they will all buy it. Furthermore, regarding sales channels, we do not necessarily think that the types of retailers who generally sell a lot of games are always the most well-suited for selling Nintendo Labo, which is something we are keenly aware of when working to promote the product.

Interesting. Labo has hardly set the world on fire during its launch period and they know this. I wonder if we will see more Labo products in the run up to Christmas? Maybe something Christmas themed?

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Indie games have become a hot topic recently. As games made by small-scale developers around the world with relatively low development costs, how will Nintendo integrate these kinds of games into its future business strategy?

A7 Kimishima: Offering enjoyable first-party games throughout the world will continue to be one of our strengths, but increasing the number of people who make games to be played on Nintendo platforms is also very important for growing our business. That is why we are working to create an environment that makes development easier, and simplifying the process of publishing games on Nintendo Switch. This has resulted in a large number of people playing an array of indie games on Nintendo Switch. Takahashi: During development on Nintendo Switch, creating a development environment where it would be easy to create games was one of our top priorities. One of the good things to come from this is the The 78th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders Nintendo Co., Ltd. 5 large number of indie games, especially in Europe and North America. We do not think of indie games as competition for the large-scale games we develop ourselves. Rather, I think these indie games are what really invigorate Nintendo Switch overall.

Tanaka: We started working with indie developers during the Wii U generation. For Nintendo Switch, we set up a development environment that supports Unity middleware, which is used on smartphones and other platforms. We are also actively engaging with indie developers at video game-focused shows and other events in different regions. We also had a Nintendo booth at the BitSummit indie game event held in Kyoto, where we showcased some games. Some of the indie games already released have gone on to become million sellers worldwide. In the future, we are looking to release around 20 to 30 indie games on Nintendo Switch per week, and we definitely expect to see some great games among them.

Kimishima: We are currently working towards reaching 1,500 software titles developed for Nintendo platforms using Unity. I think that will give you an idea of how much it has grown.

This is one that I have mixed feelings about. It's great that the Switch is easy to develop for and that many indie developers are creating games for it but this comes at a cost. When the Switch first launched it had quality control in certain regions when it came to releasing indie games. When you looked at the eShop you knew that what you were looking at would reach a certain standard but now that seems to have gone out of the window and anymore and anything seems like it can be put on the shop. I'd much rather have a quality over quantity when it comes to this. 

Everyone's favourite puppet made a video about this kind of thing not too long ago.

Also, it gets a point where the amount of games that are on offer is simply too much choice and this can lead to many gamers not bothering at all. Analysis Paralysis is something that has become more and more common in everyday life due to how many options a person has put before them, whether it be music, movies, TV shows or even games. This means that a person will often not make a decision and just move on. When you are presented with so many games in such a short space of time then you can see why it may be difficult to actually make a decision on what to spend your money on.

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How are you planning to spread awareness about Nintendo Switch Online becoming a paid-service? Will you do something using existing titles? Or do you have something planned in Nintendo Switch Online itself? Please explain to whatever extent you are able to share.

A14 Takahashi: We should be able to give you a little more information as we get closer to the official launch in September. Our aim is to provide consumers with variety of ways to play and the ability to use the system in a more convenient way. I will have to ask for your patience until we are ready to discuss any further details.

Hmm. Sounds like we may see a Direct before the release of the online service to clear things up a little. Still, we are in July now and I honestly expected things to be discussed more and shown off in full during E3.

[Ronnie]

1 hour ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Hmm. Sounds like we may see a Direct before the release of the online service to clear things up a little. Still, we are in July now and I honestly expected things to be discussed more and shown off in full during E3.

I'm not really sure what needs clearing up to be honest. If it's to vocalise the fact that people need to start paying soon, then sure, but details wise, we know the price and what it offers. online play, cloud saves and legacy content. The only detail we're missing is the other 10 NES we're getting, in addition to the first 10 they announced.

[Hero-of-Time]

1 minute ago, Ronnie said:

I'm not really sure what needs clearing up to be honest. If it's to vocalise the fact that people need to start paying soon, then sure, but details wise, we know the price and what it offers. online play, cloud saves and legacy content. The only detail we're missing is the other 10 NES we're getting, in addition to the first 10 they announced.

The online app could do with being shown and explained how it works and which games will actually use it. Is it just Splatoon 2 or will Mario Kart and other online games be getting patched to support the use of it?