This is the sales transitions of “Pokémon X” and “Pokémon Y,” including their package versions, download versions and versions bundled with hardware, released in October last year. As you can see, the titles continue to sell for a long time in the U.S. and Canada in contrast with the sudden spurt in the Japanese market. Although the total sales figure of Nintendo 3DS is approximately 15 percent less in the U.S. and Canada than that in Japan, the combined sales of the “Pokémon” franchise there surpassed the number in Japan this June and have kept enlarging the gap.

In other words, once a key title becomes popular, the selling power is sustained for a long time. In overseas markets, the key titles for the year-end sales season are “Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS” and “Pokémon Omega Ruby” and “Pokémon Alpha Sapphire.” On top of that, it would be important for us to take advantage of sales potential of the big titles we have released so far.

We released “Tomodachi Life” in overseas markets this year, which is the title released as “Tomodachi Collection: Shin-seikatsu” (Japanese title) in Japan last year.
In Japan, the initial sales of this title were positive because it was the sequel to “Tomodachi Collection,” released for Nintendo DS only in Japan and was a big hit. It is, however, completely new for the overseas markets. We therefore have made efforts to sell it steadily for a long time there. Please let me show you an interesting sales transition of this title in the European market.

As you are aware, it has maintained stable sales for quite a long time. It has lost momentum lately, but we think it is because video games generally sell the least in September and October in Europe, and we anticipate that the sales will be boosted again toward the year-end sales season.

Let’s compare this with the sales transition of “Animal Crossing: New Leaf,” which was released almost one year ago. The initial sales of “Tomodachi Life” are lower than “Animal Crossing: New Leaf” due to the difference in brand awareness. However, the sales surpass “Animal Crossing: New Leaf” in summer, which indicates that “Tomodachi Life” has high sales potential.
Both “Animal Crossing: New Leaf” and “Tomodachi Life” have few competing titles in the video game industry. We think it very important to fulfill sales potential of these types of games in order to vitalize the Nintendo 3DS business.

Next, I would like to talk about Wii U.

This slide shows year-on-year comparisons for Wii U hardware and software sales figures in Japan, the U.S. and Europe. As you can easily see, the figures for this year are performing significantly better than those for last year.

This situation changed remarkably after

We released “Mario Kart 8” globally in May. Following the release of this title, we also announced the Wii U lineup at E3 in June and people started to re-evaluate the Wii U platform.

Following the release of the Nintendo 3DS version, the global release of “Super Smash Bros. for Wii U” is scheduled for the year-end sales season.

And this year-end sales season for Wii U is the first one where “Mario Kart 8” and “Super Smash Bros.,” two classic franchises for multiplayer experiences, are brought together.