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Nintendo Recognizes they let down a Number of E3 Viewers this year, will Work to Improve Next Year’s E3

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Nintendo has discussed their E3 2015 showing, and acknowledged the disappointment from fans. In the latest meeting with shareholders, Satoru Iwata and Shigeru Miyamoto have elaborated on the topic.

Iwata:

E3 this year was held a week later than it has been held in the last few years, and it was held right before our general meeting of shareholders. Including the preparations for this meeting, I prioritized my works in Japan and did not travel to the U.S. to attend E3. As a representative of our board of directors who attended E3 this year, I would like to ask Mr. Miyamoto to talk about it. There will be a video that I would like to show afterward.

Shigeru Miyamoto (Senior Managing Director and General Manager of Entertainment Analysis & Development Division):

E3 is the annual industry trade show that is usually held around May or June in the U.S. It is true that E3 has the aspect that the shareholder just mentioned. It actually started as a trade show for the U.S. market, and due to the spread of the Internet, the information dispatched at E3 spread around the world. Nintendo views E3 as not only an industry trade show in the U.S. but also as an occasion with which the entire Nintendo group should be involved.

For this year’s E3 in particular, Nintendo focused on the products that are significant for our doing business in the U.S. this year. However, depending on the year, we focus on not only the software that will be released immediately after E3 or right after the turn of the year but also the products that will be released much later or experimental demos to showcase future possibilities. For example, during last year’s E3, we highlighted some of our experimental software to demonstrate the unique attractions of the Wii U hardware because its appeal had not yet been sufficiently conveyed. Because compared to last year, we now see people in the U.S. are gradually realizing the compelling nature of Wii U hardware, we decided to showcase a number of products scheduled to be released that will have a direct effect on our business in the near term.

On the first day of E3, Nintendo aired its online video presentation “Nintendo Digital Event” and introduced to the viewers software that the company would showcase at our E3 booth. Since we mainly included the software that would be released before the end of this year, the entire software lineup appeared to be small. And because we did not include a number of third-party titles, we must’ve ended up giving people the impression that not so many titles will be released on our platforms in future. As for future titles, since we only introduced the software to be sold early next year, we acknowledge the criticism from our fans that we failed to excite them with new proposals. On the other hand, when we looked at our booth at E3 this year, I had a solid feeling that our trade customers appreciated the very fact that they were able to play the software which soon would be released into the market and that many of them were Nintendo-like software titles.

Other than Nintendo, the major hardware manufacturers, Sony and Microsoft, also had booths, and I got the general impression that they were showcasing not only the products for this year but also many products for next year or the year after and, because of that, introductions for many of their software titles were done visually, not with playable demos. Also, many demonstrations for virtual reality devices have been conducted at recent trade shows, and at this year’s E3, I noticed a number of dream-like demonstrations for which the schedule and format for commercialization are unknown.

The current software for these virtual reality devices cannot be played simultaneously by a number of people, and since it is generally expected that the development for the applicable software for a high-performance device will take two to three years, there were a number of visual demonstrations for virtual reality devices. Amid this atmosphere, because the visitors to our booth were able to pick up the controllers and try out the playable software, I believe they were able to appreciate, among other things, our focus that Wii U is a home video game system that we would like people to enjoy in their living rooms. I have participated in a number of media interviews, and the comments from reporters also attest this impression.

Iwata:

We recognize that we have let down a number of the online viewers of this year’s E3, especially the avid Nintendo fans, because we did not show what they had expected. On the other hand, since E3 was originally a U.S. trade show, when we consider what kind of messages we should dispatch and in what fashion, while we have to take into consideration the impression that we may give to people outside the U.S., we have been very mindful about how we can maximize our immediate business in the U.S. this year. While it is not so often reported in Japan and may not be possible to correctly convey everything we did at E3 this year, here is a video that I would like you to watch.

(While showing the video) This is the footage from the E3 show floor. E3 takes place at a venue called the Los Angeles Convention Center, which you may want to compare with Makuhari Messe in Japan, and this is Nintendo’s booth. One thing I should say about Nintendo’s E3 booth is that, unlike the other booths in general, most of the visitors to our booth were smiling and actually picking up the controllers and playing with our games. So, this was one big difference because a number of the visitors to other booths appeared to have spent a lot of time just watching game videos. Other than these show floor activities, Nintendo did not hold a press conference this year, but we did air our “Nintendo Digital Event” Internet program, and even before the Digital Event, we aired another video presentation to announce the new content of “Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U.” We also broadcast our event titled “Nintendo World Championships 2015” live via the Internet. This event used several Nintendo game software titles to decide the world’s most skillful player. There was a lot of excitement from the visitors and the contenders. So, we listen sincerely to the voices of fans who were not happy about the announcements we made in the online Digital Event, and we will have to make further efforts to improve. But when it comes to the reactions to our E3 activities overall, the reactions from trade customers and the media were not that unfavorable. I hope you will understand it.

Once again, about the reason why at E3 this year we focused on the titles that will be released in the near future, as Mr. Miyamoto just said, which points we should focus on at E3 change every year depending on the development status of each product and future deployment schedule. When we think it necessary to discuss future products even if the release timing is yet to be determined, we may do so without being able to discuss the details, and when we have more concrete proposals on the products to be released in the near future, we will try to explain the appeal of that product as best as we can. Since we determine our E3 theme each year, you might have had quite a different impression this year in comparison to last year. We are listening to people’s opinions and we will try to improve next year and beyond.

Source

Author: Francis@PE (18904 Posts)


  • Jon Turner

    Hopefully they will, but I’m not too hopeful about that. But hey, if they prove me wrong, I’ll be more than happy about it.

  • Hardin Twentyfive

    It was Nintendo’s failure to provide an exciting E3, but the fans fault for getting too excited about it. It’s twofold.
    But we get Nintendo Directs, so it isn’t like we will be disappointed for an entire year.

    • Liquid-Sunrise

      True.

  • CapableTie

    Also they shouldn’t be saying shit about Sony and MS, unless it’s a compliment. I don’t see them throwing shade at Nintendo, which they clearly could very easily do.

    • NorthernLights07

      They didn’t “say shit” about them, they just said they used a lot of cg trailers to show games that they didn’t have gameplay of because those games are too early in development to show anything else. That’s an objective fact ,not an insult.

      • CapableTie

        I mean they shouldn’t be saying anything negative about them. It would have been more understandable if they had an incredible e3, or if Sony/MS insulted them, but as of now I don’t think they are in the position to be throwing any shade. Just my opinion.

  • Apocryphos

    Let me be frank here I watched E3 to see what games and surprises Nintendo had coming this year. I have long not cared for fluff games I won’t get to play in the next 6 months. While hype does get the fan base excited it doesn’t provide me with playable content to enjoy at my leisure. I really do not care either way what fans think of E3 from any of Big 3, so my overall concern with Nintendo admitting their failure to excite fan with the E3 presentation does not really effect what I buy or how I view the company as a whole. After all I just want games that I can play within the next 6 months. Also I will never buy another Nintendo console on hopes and dreams ever again. I think this years E3 was a good lesson for all gamers and the community.
    #DontBelieveTheHype

  • diendong .

    When it comes to third parties, you know those games that are represented in Project X Zone 1 & 2 that have never appeared on a Nintendo system? I want those games. Skylanders isn’t worthy of talking about when it comes to third party partnerships even with the exclusive figures.

  • Shion

    It’s not like they couldn’t, they clearly have plenty of games coming out, it’s just they overfocused on games that were already shown and not enough on lesser known games. Also, they handled Metroid’s spinoff poorly.

    Looking at it, there are 7 games coming out this year that I want, of a variety of genres, that’s not bad.

    • CapableTie

      Yeah they had the capability to have a great e3, that’s definitely a big part of why the reaction was so negative.

      • Shion

        They could’ve shown Devil’s Third like Bayonetta 2. Instead they didn’t. They could’ve made more demo samples at their booth. They had 2 hyrule warriors demos (Link and Zelda), yet no FF/PZ, even though FF/PZ is a chapter based game and could have easily gotten a demo.

  • CapableTie

    Good, I’m glad they agknowledged it.
    The thing they should learn from this is that the booth is for the people who get to go to e3, so they have good reason to focus on what they have closest in the pipeline there.
    But the digital event is for the people at home, like us, so that should not mirror what you have at your booth, it should bring as much excitement as possible, and they can do that better by focusing on the rest of the year and ALL of 2016, especially since 2016 they said they will be talking about the NX.