Nintendo: We will maintain Wii U momentum

Nintendo has promised a steady flow of new titles and repromotions for Wii U throughout the early months of next year.

The platform holder told MCV during last week’s launch of its new console it is already hard at work on plans for Q1 2013.

The firm is no doubt eager to avoid a repeat of the 3DS launch, which had a strong first week followed by a steep sales drop off.

MCV understands Wii U sold around 40,000 units in its first 48 hours. The platform holder has already pledged to supply the High Street with regular shipments between now and the end of the year.

We’ve got a very strong line-up, lots of titles and activities aimed at Christmas, but we’ve already got plans for Q1,” said head of consumer marketing James Honeywell.

Lots of new titles like Monster Hunter, but also repromotions and things like that.

We definitely want to maintain momentum in Q1 – that’s our focus right now.”

Nintendo will kick off Q1 with two releases in January: Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge on January 11th and Sing Party on January 18th.

Additional releases planned for Wii U’s ‘launch window’, which runs up to March 31st, include Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate and LEGO City Undercover and reach out to as broad an audience as possible.

Honeywell says that the platform holder aims to maintain that balance [between core and casual] throughout the quarter and onwards, for the duration of Wii U”.

Nintendo always makes sure it launches games throughout the year,” he said. We don’t really focus particularly on Christmas. We’ve got a strong line-up all the way through the year. We always have the marketing to support that. We have plans to take sampling all the way through the year.

For us, it’s not just about launch, it’s about building momentum and maintaining that over a long period of time.”