During an interview with Bloomberg about a sudden stock drop after Nintendo’s E3 Direct, Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aimé talked about upcoming games this year, as well as his thoughts on lootboxes and other topics.
Here are the highlights:
On the stock drop and whether the games in the E3 Direct were all Nintendo had left:
Reggie Fils-Aimé, president: “Nintendo is a company that loves to surprise people. We show content that is going to launch in the next six to nine month, and no more. And so we always have surprises, there’s always more in store […] We believe there’s a lot more value for the consumer to tell them about content and then launch it, just like Fortnite, and Fortnite already has 2 million downloads specifically for Nintendo Switch.”
On the upcoming online service, and whether it will improve:
Fils-Aimé: “Absolutely. When we do a trial event, for example with Mario Tennis Aces, we’re as much learning about the technical infrastructure, as well as the way the game is going to play. So you have to expect some challenges when you do that. When we launch the game, it’s going to perform, just like it did for Fortnite.”
On the ‘Second Switch Set’ available in Japan:
Fils-Aimé: “It’s not coming the North American marketplace. This reflects the difference in culture and living situations that you have across the world. Japanese homes are small and typically have one TV in the household, so for that market, offering an additional SKU that takes out HDMI cables and things of that nature makes sense.”
On whether the Switch can carry the torch for both the Wii U and 3DS:
Fils-Aimé: “In the month of December our dedicated handheld business grew by 27% year-on-year. So far this year, our 2DS/3DS business is up 10%. So the Switch is not all on its own. And for us, we want to continue driving both those platforms. The dedicated handheld business is for kids; and for families, to get engaged potentially for the first time in video games, the Nintendo Switch is where consumers want to play Smash Bros. and Zelda and these big epic games.”
On Nintendo’s opinion on lootboxes:
Fils-Aimé: “Lootboxes, broadly speaking, have gotten a bit of a bad rap. The game mechanic of buying something that you’re not quite sure what’s inside, is as old as baseball cards. What we believe at Nintendo is that a gameplay mechanic that offers something to buy that you’re not quite sure what’s inside can be interesting, as long as that’s not the only way you can get those items. And I think that’s where maybe some developers have made some mistakes. For us, it’s one of many mechanics we can use to drive ongoing engagement in the game.”
On new Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa:
Fils-Aimé: “He’s a veteran – 25 years with the company. What’s great about him is he’s had fairly extensive experience outside of Japan. He was one of the first financial people Nintendo of America was dealing with back in our early days, he spent 12 years in Europe, he loves our content, plays our games, so from my perspective he’s a great choice to be our next global president.”
On eSports being done in ‘a uniquely Nintendo way’:
Fils-Aimé: “When we talk about doing eSports uniquely, for example it’s what we did here at E3. We held a global Splatoon 2 championship, we had an invitational for Super Smash Bros., what we want to do is create content that enables consumers and these professional players to come together and play. We create rules, a consistent structure, and then encourage the community to go from there. And so far that’s working for us.”
On a message to skeptical investors:
Fils-Aimé: “If you look at Nintendo over these many years, the number of analysts that have gotten it right are fairly small. And it’s because we as a company hold things close to the vest, we love to surprise the overall community and environment, and when we surprise, we surprise big. What I say is – Don’t worry.”
You can find the full interview below:
