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We will embark on the new challenge of 3D footage distribution.
Nintendo will collaborate with Nippon Television Network Corporation and with Fuji Television Network, Inc. individually. Each TV station will produce their original 3D films and distribute them on an experimental basis free of charge to Nintendo 3DS devices every day through SpotPass. We are hoping that it will be one of the solutions to tackle the chicken and the egg problem and become the trigger for the 3D footage business to emerge on Nintendo 3DS.
And now, please take a look at some upcoming Nintendo 3DS titles.
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For the launch of Nintendo 3DS, we will prepare two colors: Aqua Blue and Cosmo Black (temp; direct translation from the Japanese).
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We will launch Nintendo 3DS on February 26, 2011 at 25,000 yen in Japan.
As for the U.S., Europe and Australia, the launch will be in March 2011, and our overseas subsidiaries will make their own announcements on such details as the price and the launch date later.
Before I finish, there is one more thing I would like to discuss.
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We believe that there is one more mission we have to tackle in order for Nintendo 3DS to spread.
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We need to decrease the concern that only software from Nintendo can sell well on Nintendo platforms and third parties’ software cannot sell in the same volume.
Nintendo is trying to expand the installed base of our hardware with our own software so that each platform can have a solid base for third-party software companies to make lucrative businesses. We were tackling this mission as our responsibility as the platform holder.
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As you can see, it is true that the third party software sales ratios on Nintendo platforms are comparatively smaller in Japan. Wii's third party software sales ratio is especially low.
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When we look at the number of the units sold, instead of the percentage, you can notice that Nintendo DS is the platform for which the largest amount of third party software is selling, although this is partially due to the significantly bigger hardware installed base. For about one year after the launch of Nintendo DS, there were still voices saying it was only Nintendo software which was selling for Nintendo DS, but the situation changed as the hardware increased its installed base, and today, it is rather rare to hear such an opinion. While we hoped the situation would change for Wii as well as it penetrated the market, we have not been able to resolve the issue with Wii. Because of this background, some must have been concerned that a similar thing as Wii could happen on Nintendo 3DS. For Nintendo 3DS, we need to tackle this issue.
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For your information, when we combine the corresponding data for the U.S, the situation is very different from when we focus on the Japanese market only. There is not so much of a difference between Wii and Nintendo DS that is found in Japan.
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You can also note the fact that significant unit sales have been realized both for Wii and Nintendo DS by the third parties. In terms of the fact that Xbox360 was launched one year earlier, the sales of third party Wii titles were not inferior to that of other platforms when we look at the global picture.
For the Japanese launch of Nintendo 3DS, so that we will not make a trend similar to the one found for Wii in Japan now, we feel a need to have closer ties with our third-party developers from the beginning.
As we have asked for the opinions from some Japanese developers, please take a moment to watch the videos.
