During a financial results presentation last night, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata touched upon future plans for the Nintendo 3DS.
Iwata began by stating that Tomodachi Life has sold 3.96 million units worldwide, and that Western sales of the game contributed to that figure. In particular, Iwata stated, Tomodachi Life has done well in Europe (with France seeing the highest sales).
Creating more titles like Tomodachi Life—ie; those with fewer competitors in the videogame business—is key to growing the Nintendo 3DS further, Iwata said. He added that the pink Nintendo 2DS with the help of Tomodachi Life has made its mark as an entry-level 3DS device in Europe, particularly among young women.
(Here’s hoping this means we see Style Savvy 3 localized in the near future.)
Iwata then moved on to discussing third-party software for the Nintendo 3DS, stating that he is aware of several third-party 3DS games that are in development and have not yet been announced. This is in addition to games like Bravely Second, The Great Ace Attorney and others that have already been revealed. He added that Nintendo will continue to assist Japanese developers with promoting their 3DS games overseas, and that this will “create new possibilities”.
Finally, Iwata stated, there are plans to promote the local multiplayer aspect of the Nintendo 3DS in the West, as they feel that doing this will help accelerate sales.
During the popularization process of handheld gaming systems in Japan, multiplayer Local Play has contributed greatly to the Pokémon, Monster Hunter and Yokai Watch franchises,” Iwata said.
“We believe that multiplayer Local Play has played such a significant role in the expansion of handheld gaming systems for a variety of reasons: it creates a fun environment where users teach one another, games that are actually really fun to play tend to spread by word-of-mouth and for the experience of the super-stable 3D feature of New Nintendo 3DS, seeing is truly believing.”
