Nintendo held an investor and analyst presentation in Tokyo last month, where the company discussed the changes that need to be made, as well as the issues that needed to be addressed over the last year with Wii U and 3DS.
It is interesting to me that there are people out there who call themselves journalists, with headlines to articles like “Why the Wii U failed” and “Nintendo seems determined to fail” etc. Little do they reference, however, that 3DS was the only console to see year-over-year growth in the market for a while, and even when Nintendo missed their sales target for the handheld in 2013, it still sold over 11.5 million units to date with a 45% increase in game sales from 2012 to 2013.
In my opinion, the company is certainly far from being “dooooomed” and in the paraphrased words of The Big N themselves, they are sitting on cash reserves from saving and investing intelligently on the long-term gain, rather than the short-term… but hey, I’ve digressed from my main point in writing this news opinion piece; here are the talking points of the investor presentation from January-
*Nintendo will make Use of/Highlight GamePad (also, use NFC feature)
The GamePad is honestly pretty amazing; get it in your hands and see what it can do, if you’ve never used it. The controller has so many different functions and buttons all easily laid out, but one function Nintendo regrets they haven’t used much yet is the NFC reader (Near Field Communication = NFC). They said the only game that makes use of this feature on Wii U is Pokemon Rumble U, but doesn’t Disney Infinity and Skylanders also use NFC for their toy figures? Anyway, the only example Nintendo gave in the presentation for expanding on the NFC function was using it to make quick and easy payments. Obviously they could use it in other ways too, of course, and more-so related to gaming.
*Move to mobile apps, but NOT games on mobile, rather, experiences to drive install-base on consoles
I find it hilarious that people have ever thought strongly about Nintendo moving Mario and their other franchises to mobile devices would be a good idea… games like Mario and Zelda should definitely be played on a device meant for gaming, but hey, that’s just my opinion.
In the investor presentation, Nintendo did mention that they plan on bringing “experiences” to mobile platforms, but in a way that drives users to the home consoles… they denied any questions about bringing actual games to mobile devices. The Big N mentioned possibly licensing their characters’ images out in various ways, but still not in a capacity where Mario, for example, would be on a different gaming console or device.
Little detail was given about Nintendo on the mobile front.
*Bring DS library into Wii U’s virtual console
The “virtual console” is an idea Nintendo cooked up with the Wii; it is a method in which you can pay to download old-school classics that appeared on early consoles. It is mostly exclusive to Nintendo, but Sonic the Hedgehog’s early games, for instance, have even appeared on the Wii’s virtual console. The Wii U has not yet expanded its virtual console library much, but it is in the process of growing, and Nintendo plans to bring the Nintendo DS’ catalog of games over to the Wii U. It makes sense, given that the GamePad controller has a touch-screen, so the double-screen gaming experience that we were all familiar with on DS could translate over pretty seamlessly to Wii U.
*Mario Kart 8 coming out in May
This is probably the announcement I am most excited for, at least in the shorter term… Mario Kart is one of my favorite franchises, and they only way to play an official Mario Kart game is on Nintendo platforms. Of course I hope MK8 will sell the console a bit more for those who don’t own a Wii U yet, but all in all, I know it will be an exciting game that really shows off the graphical prowess of the system, as well as contain an immersive and great online experience. Last year Nintendo mentioned that Mario Kart 8 would have the best online experience for the franchise to date… and honestly, I thought Mario Kart Wii did just fine in its online multiplayer experience, so any improvement on the already-awesome gameplay is welcome in my book 
*Non-wearable Health Peripherals
Perhaps the least gaming-related announcement in the investor presentation was the prospect of non-wearable health-monitoring devices. Very little detail was given about these peripherals, but Nintendo said it will all be a separate experience from their gaming platforms. The company loves the idea of entertainment and/or anything that will improve the “quality of life” for its users, and so their new foray into “quality of life” will be a focus on healthy living. I have no idea what this will all entail, but they emphasized that while most people think of Nintendo and health improvement as the Wii Fit franchise, they specified, again, that this will be separate from gaming. Nintendo has dabbled in many types of business experiences before the video game market, such as playing cards and “love hotels”… how’s that for improving “quality of life,” eh?
Some other topics that I won’t expand on are the 50% pay cut for Iwata, 20-30% cut for other execs, and a quick-open menu (can turn on and play games without any of the initial loading screens), because these talking points do not need much elaboration to understand.
Nintendo has often used some rather “strange” business methods before, and they’ll likely continue, but it is my belief that they will not be doomed as a company for a long, long time.
(the full transcript of Nintnedo’s presentation can be read here – http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/library/events/140130/index.html)
