Nintendo to prioritise digital for new IP

Nintendo says it will focus on digital releases for its new IP given the platform’s flexibility.

The firm’s president Satoru Iwata suggested during Nintendo’s Q2 earnings Q&A that customers were hesitant to buy boxed releases of new IP.

Instead, Nintendo will focus on digital launches and its wide flexibility in terms of their prices and ways to market them” with titles such as Wii Sports Club.

When we launch a brand-new IP or when we release a game with well-known characters but with brand-new gameplay that our consumers are not familiar with, it is hard for them to anticipate and appreciate the value of the content before actually purchasing and playing with it,” said Iwata.

For these titles, if we take the ordinary approach of selling the packaged software, the software might not reach its full sales potential. When we offer our consumers such new play experiences exclusively in a digital format, we intend to have wide flexibility in terms of their prices and ways to market them.”

Iwata emphasised that the digital route would result in more consumers purchasing the title.

We have already found that once consumers have made a digital download purchase, many of them tend to make another one.”

But despite these advantages, Iwata reaffirmed that retail launches for these games have not been ruled out.

"I do not deny the possibility that Wii Sports Club may become packaged software in the future. However, for the future of Wii U, we have prioritised releasing tennis and bowling by the end of this year," said Iwata.