In un articolo di alcune settimane fa vi avevamo parlato di Reggie e del suo pensiero riguardo a Wii U e all’arrivo di NX. Già allora il presidente di NoA spiegava come con Wii U avessero “perso l’opportunità di essere chiari riguardo al concept, di mostrare le sue funzionalità e che cosa gli utilizzatori avrebbero potuto fare”.
Una recente intervista da parte di [a]list (che vi presentiamo qui in parte) ci permette di approfondire ulteriormente il pensiero di fils-aime. Leggiamola insieme. La prima parte riguarda proprio Wii U e la prossima ammiraglia Nintendo.
Many thought Nintendo was in dire straits after GameCube failed to find an audience, and then Wii exploded. Are there lessons learned from Wii U that are being applied to NX?
Every time we launch a new platform, every time we launch a critical new game, we always learn. We always do our breakdown of what worked, what didn’t, and certainly we’ve done that with Wii U, and we continue to believe that the innovation of the second screen was a worthwhile concept. The games that we’ve launched on the Wii U are hugely compelling: Splatoon, Super Mario Maker, Smash Bros., Bayonetta 2, the Super Mario game, The Legend of Zelda. Arguably, if you line up all of the single platform games for Wii U and the other two platforms, we have by far the most unique games that are highly rated by consumers and highly rated by the media. So those things worked.
One of the things that we have to do better when we launch the NX—we have to do a better job communicating the positioning for the product. We have to do a better job helping people to understand its uniqueness and what that means for the game playing experience. And we have to do a better job from a software planning standpoint to have that continuous beat of great new games that are motivating more and more people to pick up the hardware and more and more people to pick up the software. Those are the critical lessons. And as I verbalize them, they’re really traditional lessons within the industry. You have to make sure people understand the concept, you have to make sure you’ve got a great library of games, and when you do that, you tend to do well.
Ancora non abbiamo un volto per la futura ammiraglia Nintendo. A sei mesi dalla release annunciata, quando sarà il momento giusto per parlarne?
Riguardo alle mobile app in arrivo nei prossimi mesi:
What are some of the lessons learned from launching mobile apps?
We’ve seen that we can capture people’s attention in the mobile space. Certainly, we’ve seen that we can create an application that’s fun, distinctive, and that has all of that Nintendo charm. And certainly, we’ve seen a huge amount of consumer participation with the app, especially the Wii Photo app. Wii photos are showing up all over the place. We’ll apply those lessons to the Fire Emblem game and the Animal Crossing games that are launching. In addition to those two, there are another two that will be launching between now and the end of our fiscal year. So we’ve got a strong pipeline of mobile activity that we’re going to continue to bring out into the marketplace.
What impact do you see smartphones playing as a feeder system into these franchises as you launch original mobile games?Our overall mission is to make consumers smile through our intellectual property. There are four key pillars underneath that mission. One is our dedicated video game business. The second is mobile. The third is licensed merchandise, and the fourth is other entertainment best shown today by our partnership with Universal Studios. All of those we’re going to leverage to drive appeal for the IP. And as we do that, we’re going to monetize those in a variety of different ways. We believe that as a wide swath of consumers have an experience with Fire Emblem on mobile for example, that it’s going to lead them to purchase the full Fire Emblem experience that today is on our handheld. That’s the proposition and we think it’s a very sound strategy.
Gli aggiornamenti di Miitomo dimostrano in effetti quanto Nintendo abbia adattato l’esperienza di gioco per renderla migliore.
Riguardo ai parchi a tema:
New theme parks are opening up all over the world. What opportunities create for Nintendo characters through Universal Studios?
It’s a huge opportunity. What has been really gratifying for me is that the teams between Universal and Nintendo are working tremendously well together. The Universal team not only has a wealth of experience in creating these immersive amusement interactive situations, but they also have a great affinity for our IP. What this promises for the guest at the Universal Studios theme parks is something that’s really magical.
We’re starting to see a difference in the way theme park people create attractions because they know now everyone comes in with smartphones. What does that open up for Nintendo, now that you have mobile games and apps?
You hit the nail on the head. These theme park designers are considering that so many of their patrons have a smart device. They’re thinking about what that means to the overall experience. I’m not going to share anything in this interview, but certainly the Universal team is aware of it. Certainly it is something that they are considering as they work with us to create this theme park experience.
Viene facile pensare a Nintendo Land quando si parla di parchi divertimento a tema Nintendo.
