Iwata:

First, as you’ve kindly pointed out, the generation that has paid more attention to Nintendo 3DS because of “Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS” is also the generation that makes the most use of social media, and thanks to them sharing the game’s appeal with others, we have gotten off to a good start with “Super Smash Bros.,” which has shown how hot it is by surpassing industry sales expectations for a Nintendo 3DS “Super Smash Bros.” title. This is also connected to pre-orders for “Pokémon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire,” and there is a similar trend overseas. Additionally, “Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire” for the Game Boy Advance was a “Pokémon” game that created very deep, emotional memories for those who played it, and it is the reason that people have thought to themselves, “I’m not familiar with the recent “Pokémon” titles, but I’d definitely like to try this.” This high level of active use has occurred at a time when there are so many other interesting titles for Nintendo 3DS, so we must consider what titles to offer next to those who’ve played and enjoyed “Pokémon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire” or “Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.” Thanks to information from sources like Club Nintendo, we have some idea of the answers to questions like “What games are correlated with other games?” and “What aspects appeal to certain consumer age groups?” Among these consumers, there are some who had not played with dedicated video game systems for some time, so when we offer them the next game after “Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS” and “Pokémon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire,” I think whether these new games will be able to keep them using their Nintendo 3DS or not will be really critical. However, with regard to these concerns, our systems, be it Nintendo 3DS or Wii U, have become quite effective at interacting digitally and sharing new information with consumers. We would like to use those systems to rapidly offer options like, “How about playing this game next?” to people of that generation where we have seen usage increase. In January, I said that for the next platform, we would like to skillfully combine dedicated video game systems and smart devices, and unify them all under the Nintendo Network ID system. So for example, one of the targets we’re aiming to achieve next year is, through the Nintendo Network ID, being able to offer options tailored to individual consumers based on the fact that they’ve played game A and game B, and so the probability they’ll enjoy game C is very high. We would like very much to work towards that.

Iwata:

Basically, Nintendo’s utilization of smart devices means to “make a stronger bond with our consumers through the use of smart devices,” instead of to “do business directly on smart devices.” We are continuously considering what we should do and what we can do to achieve that goal. Although this is not directly related to the application (for smart devices) you are referring to, even now if you access Nintendo’s Japanese website from a smart device, it is not in a layout for smart devices. It is rather embarrassing that we are so behind on this compatibility, but we plan to optimize our Japanese website for smart devices within 2014. In addition, we opened a website called “Play Nintendo” in the U.S. this month that introduces Nintendo characters to children and their parents, assuming that many of them will access it from their smart devices. This website is available at play.nintendo.com (please use the newest browser), so please take a look if you are interested. This service is currently only available in the U.S., but Mr. Miyamoto and I would like to make this kind of service available on a global scale.

The application under development that I said we would like to release within this year at the Corporate Management Policy Briefing in January is one that utilizes Mii on smart devices. I think many people know what a Mii is, but they are virtual characters users can create on Nintendo video game systems that appear in games and resemble the user, or their family or friends. We introduced Mii with the release of Wii, and now you can use them on Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. Using Mii becomes more interesting as the Mii population expands and as more interesting look-alike Mii are made. They appear in “Super Smash Bros. for Wii U” and “Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.” Many consumers have enjoyed playing “StreetPass Mii Plaza,” and “Tomodachi Life” is a game that would not have been developed if Mii did not exist. It can be said that Mii was originally born in the development process of “Tomodachi Collection” (Japanese title) for Nintendo DS. I showed it to Mr. Miyamoto and asked him, “Isn’t this what you wanted to create?” since I had heard that he wanted to do something similar to this. If we were able to expand the Mii population and Mii were usable on consumers’ smart devices, for example, if consumers were able to create their profile icons on social media using Mii, we believe consumers would be happy, and we are developing something like it now. However, it is clear that the main pillars of this year-end sales season for us will be the “Super Smash Bros.” and “Pokémon” games, and when we started designing the Mii application, we realized that by refining various elements, we could end up with a better final product, so we decided that we should release it when we are confident it is capable of making a solid bond with our consumers. When Nintendo first releases its application for smart devices, I believe that many people will be interested in it enough to try it. In order to make the most of this opportunity, instead of releasing it within this year when we feel there is still room for improvement, we would like to release a more polished version. We are positive that we can make a stronger bond with our consumers using Mii, and that our consumers will enjoy and activate the application from time to time if such an application is created, but we would like to release it next year, instead of this year.

Iwata:

By using the term “platform” for our QOL business, we expressed, to some extent, that our QOL business will not be only between us and our consumers. Instead, we would like various partners to join us if they have some ideas to propose to our consumers. For those who have been watching Nintendo for a long time, it would appear quite unusual to clarify the core elements of our new business ideas at such an early stage as this, way before the actual service begins to operate and the actual products are shown. This time we dare to clarify that Nintendo is working on a new platform with “sleep” and “fatigue” as the themes, because it would be very beneficial to openly start talks with potential partners. There might be cases in which we approach other companies. Conversely, there might also be cases where, following our announcement, companies come to us and propose something using their techniques or something that they would be able to achieve. Nintendo will not implement this business alone. Today, I explained future services and the development of the business by referring to our way of thinking. We did so specifically this time because, considering future business development, it‘s advantageous for us to talk about it at this early stage.