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Satoru Iwata: Japan And United Kingdom React Quickest To New Trends

By Ishaan . May 12, 2010 . 9:52am

Satoru Iwata: Japan And United Kingdom React Quickest To New Trends

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata believes that Japan is the fastest nation in the world to adapt to new trends and technologies. Iwata has stated in the past that the Japanese, by nature, tend to get bored of current trends the quickest, which he cited as one of the reasons behind the Wii’s sales decline in the early half of 2009.

 

At the recent Nintendo investor Q&A, Iwata stated that he feels the United Kingdom, too, shares this trait to an extent. Addressing a question about DS hardware sales in light of the company’s 3DS announcement, he replied:

 

“I think Japan is a nation where the whole society shifts rapidly and dramatically to what is new – maybe the quickest in the world. United Kingdom is similar to Japan in a sense that its market also reacts quickly as well. On the contrary, slower tendency can be seen in nations like Germany. And the United States, whose market is often thought of as in-depth, has so many slow reacting consumers (along with rapid ones).

 

This trend can actually be seen with the gaming population expansion. While Japan once haltered in its expansion, U.S. kept continuing to expand, due to the different tendencies of each market. Thus I believe we will see a huge difference among countries on Nintendo DS sales after we actually make new proposals with Nintendo 3DS, due to price gaps between Nintendo 3DS and existing Nintendo DS family, and consumers’ acceptance of it.”

 

No real details were divulged regarding the 3DS and its features, or the software that would be released for it. Unsurprisingly, a large portion of the Q&A involved Iwata fending off questions from investors relating to those topics, asking that they wait until E3 for further information on the device — including its final name.


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  • cowcow

    “JAPAN IS AWESOME!” – Iwata

  • http://thrust-the-sky.deviantart.com/ WildArms

    So… the 3DS will be expensive, i get it?

    • Joanna

      not necessarily. When new handheld is released, the price of the old one drops. Remember when the Lite was going for 150, but than the DSi came out and it dropped to 130. I think of this the same way. 3DS will probably be around 200 with the DSi (both models) dropping to 150.

  • http://photovoltaik.bandcamp.com/ Ujn Hunter

    “Japan & United Kingdom are suckers and fall for fads the fastest!”

    • Ereek

      That’s how I read this, too. They are trends introduced in order to stimulate sales and make money, not actual future-defining “trends.”

      Despite the DS being out for years now, I’m still not convinced that the touch screen is worthwhile in handheld games. Even games that do use it well (and there are some) still are somewhat gimmicky. The DS is popular because of its third party support, not because of its touch screen and, in the future, 3D.

      • Joanna

        Me too. I read it as Japan and UK like shiny things and will drop whatever they have in favour of the newer thing, even if the product isn’t much better (DSi). So basically they are easily taken in by something new and don’t use their brain to consider whether the new thing is worth the money.

        I agree that the library was what made the DS as successful as it was, but I think the touchscreen is worthwhile. I fully appreciate things like Trauma Center, mapping in Etrian Odyssey, the touch screen puzzles in Layton, touch screen use in SRPGs, etc. Sure these games account for only a small fraction of all the DS games, but having such games alone makes the touch screen worthwhile. And I don’t think these games use the touch screen in gimmicky ways. There is nothing gimmicky about writing the number or word instead of using the control pad to enter letters/numbers on a digital keyboard. Nor is there anything gimmicky about using the stylus to perform movements similar to sewing instead of moving a cruiser along a path. You get the picture.

  • idofgrahf

    hm, wonder if its going to get the same reception as virtual boy did back in 1995. Both claim to be true 3d, we’ll see.

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