
Earlier this week, Nintendo of America CEO, Reggie Fils-Aime, appeared on Fox News’ Business programme and discussed amongst other things sales, consumers and gambling.
The interview, which features game footage and the presenter failing at Zelda, states that Nintendo will struggle to beat last years Wii sales:
The third year in a generation is typically the strongest year. We’re now in our fourth year, and last year was a record year for the Wii hardware business. So, it’s going to be really tough for us to lap those numbers, but we’re having a great holiday season so far.
Fils-Aime also talks candidly about expanding the core demographic and how Nintendo plan on attracting new audiences and keeping their games ‘fresh’ without alienating existing customers.
We’re fortunate, we’ve got software everywhere from twenty bucks to fifty bucks out there for all of our products. We’re really right in the sweet spot of where the consumer’s willing to spend. And we’re able to keep it there.
Watch the video below for the full interview:
Comments 46
As much as I love the wii, Call of Duty is not the same experience on wii as it is on other consoles. I know that the wii offers a broad range of games and I love it for that, but if I am looking for hardcore, shoot-em up, blast everything to smithereens type of gameplay- the wii just does not measure up. On the other hand if I want good fun that I typically dont have to think about, the 360 and PS3 don't come close. Reggie has some very good points though.
Even being the fourth year of the Wii, it certainly has the most jaw-dropping amount A-list titles coming out to date for the system; so unless gamers just don't have the money to grab them all, I can't see this being anything other than another stellar year for Nintendo. With titles like No More Heroes 2, Sin & Punishment 2, Fragile Dreams, Epic Mickey, Endless Ocean: Blue World, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Metroid: Other M, the new Zelda Wii title, Mega Man 10, Cave Story, La-Mulana, NightySky, Castlevania the Adventure Rebirth, Rage of the Gladiator, Super Meat Boy, the Phoenix Wright WiiWare redux series, and certainly another spread of as-yet unannounced titles, we certainly have a lot of gaming goodies to look forward to next year.
@2 - Aren't they moving Zelda Wii to 2011?
They should have told Reggie to improve the CRAPPY COMMERCIALS while they were interviewing him
Nintendos Satoru Iwata Recent Quote
"The Wii has Stalled. Games of High Demand could not be continuously released and the good mood has chilled"!
This was his reply when he was asked about the decline of sales in Japan where the price cut failed to move consoles like in other countries.
Its a very different story then what Reggie has to say and both are Nintendo spokespersons.
@Slapshot
The American market is doing much better than the Japanese one right now, which probably explains the difference.
Of course they're attracting new core demographics because they're pushing out the old.
Wow, is that woman egotistical. She kept cutting everyone off and bringing the focus back to her...
"Wow, is that woman egotistical. She kept cutting everyone off and bringing the focus back to her..."
It's FOX. If you want to see actual humans doing news you should watch the Daily Show or something.
Nicely done interview. I'd be interested in hearing Sony or Microsoft answer some of those same questions.
Side note: it always makes me wince when people bother to use violent and graphic to describe the same thing, especially games or movies. One is sufficient, yeah?
Blech. I just wasted 5 minutes of my life on a downright terrible interview. That's what I get for watching FOX.
Why couldn't he do the interview on CNBC?
That's FOX for ya... "We distort, you comply." No doubt when I go to the cafe in my school town now I'll hear old people ranting about communism AND viddy games. Just need to remember to start bringing my DS everywhere now XD
games from 20 to 50 dollars? in México they´re expensive, it cost aprox 70 or 80 dls even in markets.
Man, she is really getting into that game. That doesn't look scripted at all.
@14 Reggie is just speaking for the US here.
tbh, i think reggie is right about nintendo not wanting to offer real money gambling software on the wii.
i suppose the last thing they need is a load of parents suing them because their kids have blown all of their money on such a service.
i know there are parental controls on tge wii to prevent things like that happening, but not every parent is going to be savvy enough to put the locks in place.
also, problem gamblers are just as likely to gamble on the wii if the service is offered.
i`m not anti gambling, as i do gamble on the odd occasion myself. but as far as i`m concearned, the wii, and nintendo`s products should remain family orientated.
@16 That was just a ridiculous question to begin with. You can tell they have no idea what to ask a guy in charge of a video game company. Of course Nintendo isn't going to introduce gambling on the Wii. That's the last thing parents would buy for their kids.
The way I took the gambling question was meaning has Nintendo ever though of making gambling machines for casinos. Either way, it's still a very odd question to bring up lol
LOL @ 4:58
"I dont know if Zelda's really my thing."
Then Reggie just stares at her like "As soon as that camera dims I'm gonna punch you...."
Nintendo are getting Women and Girls which is great. I see Girls in Game shops talking about the Wii and DS which is cute. As a Hardcore gamer and Nintendo fan I do feel a little let down, but that is progress. Can't blame Nintendo for wanting to make money.
So I guess the Mario Kart*, Mario Party, and various Mario sports games don't count, huh? Those had Mario in the title.
*All Mario Kart games after the first one, which was only two players.
@BlueFlameBat: He worded it poorly, but he was obviously referring to Mario PLATFORMERS.
I don't think too much of this interview overall. It's not like they really said anything we didn't already know, right? While still spinning the facts to sound good, to boot (not very many good $20 games on Wii OR DS, largely because Nintendo refuses to revive the Player's Choice series).
I agree with Jockolantern. A savvy Wii Shopper can skip all of the shovelware and find the real Wii gems.
@19

He should have a appeared on an intelligent channel. Fox news is an insult and an abomination to journalism.
@post 25. CH405K1N6
I agree fully with your statement.
@25&26
Actually, that'd be a faulty statement. Fox News is the only news channel anymore that has any moral standards and isn't controlled by Obama.
Wow, and Fox typoed what he said with "NINTENDO AMERICA CEO: WE HAVE SOFTWARE FROM $20-$40" when he said $20-$50, as seen by comment 24.
@post27. Nintendo-Naut
Fox News has moral standards above the other stations? And all of the others are controlled by Obama?
Please, next time keep your crazy statements to one per post.
@27: Quite correct. Nice to see someone here with a decent head on their shoulders, politically speaking.
@26/29: Quite incorrect. Please limit your fallacious arrogance to zero times per post.
I wouldn't say
Fox ismost news stations are controlled by OBAMA specifically...they're just a bunch of liberal nutsos. It all comes out more or less the same in the wash, though.It's true, though...liberals think Fox news is crazy and conservatives think they aren't. I'm sure there are exceptions, but that general rule seems to be pretty valid overall.
EDIT: Umm...re-reading this, I noticed that it makes no sense. Fixing now.
@post 30. Jockolatern
Sigh....
Yes, I was the arrogant one there. Certainly not the person claiming Fox News has some sort of moral upper hand. That makes sense. If it helps I'm sure Glenn Beck will cry some crocodile tears for you, though.
Oh, and claiming that a certain earlier poster was the one with his head on his shoulders because his views were the same as yours? Pretty arrogant, really. I'd be careful if I were you, what with the glass houses and all that.
You're damn right I'm arrogant and proud regarding my beliefs, both in politics and in my choice of video games. If someone happens to share those views, I'm damn well going to make it known that they do have a good head on their shoulders. I'm sorry if such confidence offends or scares you.
And do I need to be careful about voicing my opinions? Whoa. Scary. At least, I'm inferring that from your "glass houses" remark which you may need to explain further. I'm afraid I don't understand if that's an inference to being able to see right through me or merely some remark regarding how easily breakable I am or if snipers can see into my house more easily or perhaps if it's in reference to that horrendous Leelee Sobieski movie.
See what happens when you post videos from a news station Nintendo Life
P.S.: All any TV station cares about is ratings.
@34: Uh, yeah. That would be the very nature of any TV network's goals by definition of the medium. Just as all a video game developer or publisher cares about are volume of sales. Why shouldn't either care about producing a product that the consumer desires?
That's my point, Jocko.
Okay, gotcha'. The way you phrased it made it seem as though you meant to infer something more cynical than otherwise. My mistake and my apologies for misinterpreting.
Journalism is mostly dead and it's not just in the US where this has happened.
People who disagree with the laughably emotional news stories flavored by opinion on the greater number of news outlets flock to FOX (or other contrarian news stations) to get laughably emotional news stories flavored by opinion that are closer to their viewpoint.
In the end, people lose their ability to assess what is ACTUALLY happening around them and nobody should be laughing about that.
If you side with one or the other as having integrity I may reserve the right to laugh at you... and also reserve the right to die a little inside while doing so.
@post 33. jockolantern
The glass house thing was kinda obvious, I thought. You called me arrogant while making an arrogant statement in the same post. I never said or implied anything about not voicing your opinion.
I guess your statement proves my point. You entangled your political beliefs with defense of Fox News. My original point being that Fox News is far too biased, dishonest and a poor excuse for a news station.
It would be interesting to know just how often you actually watch Fox News to back up any of your hatred towards the network. The out-of-context, hack-job YouTube clip doesn't count either. Not that gaining any real perspective would clear your mind of its ignorance but still... To think any level-headed man like myself agrees with everything I hear on even Fox News is laughable. For example, I find Fox & Friends to be pap and pure fluff for the most part; Bill O'Reilly is becoming more and more of a parody of himself by the night; not to mention Hannity, who is frustrating in his inability to stop shilling strictly for the Republican party, regardless of his supposed anger towards them. Still, I'll take honest men like Neil Cavuto, Shepard Smith, Brit Hume, Bret Baier, Glenn Beck, and Chris Wallace any day over their laughably benign, leftist shills who pretend to be "competition." If you had the slightest honest understanding of the heirarchy of a network like NBC, you couldn't see it in any other way than being entirely slanted toward this current administration and its agenda. I don't expect you to change your mind though; you can only do that if you truly desire to seek out the truth for yourself. And I hope you do.
The fact that liberals have ruled the television airwaves for decades simply reinforces the delusion people have regarding Fox News' "bias." A fair and balanced perspective does naturally seemed slanted when the status quo for so long was ardently leftward in nature. And I called you arrogant quite accurately. I see no reason to not respond in any other language than that which you understand best.
To steer the conversation slightly back on the video game track, it's a pleasure to report that Castlevania The Adventure ReBirth is one damn fine little game. I really hope Konami keeps up this ReBirth series business. Truly wonderful little gems of games and excellent homages to their original counterparts.
@jockolatern
"I'll take honest men like...................Glenn Beck"
Thank you and goodnight, folks! I won without having to throw a punch!
"And I called you arrogant quite accurately."
That's the pot calling the kettle black. Does everyone who disagrees with you get a looooooooooooooong talking down to, or am I that special?
Say what you will about Glenn Beck. If you have actually listened to the man on the radio or watched him on TV with any amount of intellectual integrity you understand just how very passionately and honestly he teaches and puts into practice what he believes. The man's life story is a testament to the power of both willful self-destruction and that of grace and second chances in life if one is willing to take the responsibilities involved. The man is as honest as he is often times over-the-top and annoyingly apocalyptic; but he makes no bones about who he is and willingly confesses to his own personality eccentricities gladly, unashamedly. The man is an open book and constantly challenges his listeners/viewers to do their own research and never to take his or anyone else's word without doing their own digging. Those stories he covers are but a means to get his audience as deeply involved in a study for the truth as he is; such application is truly a never-ending pursuit and the most forthright when compared to its liberal counterparts of mindless roboticism, cult-like devotion, talking point double speak, and utter lack of logical reasoning. I'm willing to question everything Beck says and most certainly do not agree with everything he has said. I am willing to decide for myself and constantly apply myself to the hard intellectual decisions day-to-day politics bring me. Bottom-line: Glenn Beck has integrity.
It's just a shame people like you choose so willingly to overlook such honesty in favor of your own personal malice against a commentator who can literally do nothing to you in the way of governmental restriction, law-making, taxation, etc. The Washington powers-that-be whom Beck consistently asks to be held accountable for their actions most certainly can and are doing a great deal to all of us; not all of it so good or noble.
I do not intend to talk down to you; I want everyone to be up on my level with all of this sort of discussion and I constantly speak at a level that has as its goal raising everyone to my level of understanding and comprehension. It would please me more than anything to see you change your mind and join my own conservative mindset. Not the Republican or the Democrat mindset, mind you. I'm sure you're a very decent guy... and you're a gamer to boot. Definitely points in your favor. I am certainly a long-winded kind of poster, yes, but I do so to try and educate and inform. I don't deal in soundbites (much less the short attention span level of discourse involved in most vulgar chat room/forum arguments) and what I have to say encompasses a great deal of verbage. I don't care if you still disagree with me eighty years down the road from now but I most certainly am not going to be dishonest with you regarding my ideals and principles. Any decent debate deserves that much respect... on both sides, preferably. Hell, at least we can both find common ground regarding your profile quote. Without music, life most certainly would be a mistake.
I suppose you are just that special though. Carry on.
O.o NL, please never post a news clip again.
@Jocko
Odds are we've probably eaten too much space with out argument. I'm more liberal, you're more conservative. You like Fox News, I dislike them. You give Glenn Beck a , while he gets a from me. Still, no hard feelings from me; I just like a good political discussion. It seems neither will budge on this one, though. Maybe we should both make our new year resolutions not to get into political arguments on a video game site?
That is one New Year's resolution I can definitely get behind. I certainly come to a place like Nintendo Life to escape politics, not get wrapped up in them. Video games are one of those few escapes from my few political junkie world so it would undoubtedly be for the best if we agreed to disagree since I'm sure we always will. I too definitely have that vice of getting wrapped up easily in political banter wherever I feel instigated by it but this is more a place to enjoy ourselves in our common love of gaming. Best to bury this particular hatchet.
No one else saw that coming? I mean, really, they did put "Fox News" in the title of an internet conversation. It was bound to be a mess, regardless of which side one takes.
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