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12-10-2004, 05:11 AM
Satoru Iwata states Nintendo will not lose handheld war against Sony.
December 9, 2004 - In a recent statement given at the Tokyo headquarters of the Foreign Correspondents Club, Nintendo Co Ltd president Satoru Iwata said Nintendo will not lose the imminent handheld war against Sony. The claim follows the successful launch of the Nintendo DS, which Iwata states has been flying off store shelves in both the US and Japan.
"In the US, sales has already hit one million units since the launch on November 21 and in Japan, it has reached 500,000 units just four days since the launch," Iwata said, "To meet strong demand, we will ship 2.8 million Nintendo DS consoles by the end of December, about 800,000 units higher than we had initially targeted."
Iwata claims the reason behind such a successful launch lies with Nintendo's dedication to innovation. The NCL President has spoken in favor of this approach for some time now, stating that impressive graphics and conventionally powerful game consoles no longer satisfy consumers. Only game systems capable of providing new levels of interaction between the player and the software will succeed in coming years.
"In other words, the old formula for success - the combination of high-specification game consoles and advanced graphics - is no longer working, " Iwata said, "We now need to create a new proposal for our customers to set a new course for the industry, and the launch of the Nintendo DS is our answer to such challenge."
Iwata feels this approach will place the Nintendo DS ahead of the Sony PSP, which is set to launch on December 12, 2004. Speaking on Sony's first entry into the handheld market, Iwata said:
"I believe that the PSP is built on the belief that the old formula for success is still viable, although we do not think so.
He also added:
"Although we have no intention of fighting over the market share with Sony, we will make our utmost efforts to help people understand that our approach is right."
As it is with most things, time will tell which company winds up on top.
December 9, 2004 - In a recent statement given at the Tokyo headquarters of the Foreign Correspondents Club, Nintendo Co Ltd president Satoru Iwata said Nintendo will not lose the imminent handheld war against Sony. The claim follows the successful launch of the Nintendo DS, which Iwata states has been flying off store shelves in both the US and Japan.
"In the US, sales has already hit one million units since the launch on November 21 and in Japan, it has reached 500,000 units just four days since the launch," Iwata said, "To meet strong demand, we will ship 2.8 million Nintendo DS consoles by the end of December, about 800,000 units higher than we had initially targeted."
Iwata claims the reason behind such a successful launch lies with Nintendo's dedication to innovation. The NCL President has spoken in favor of this approach for some time now, stating that impressive graphics and conventionally powerful game consoles no longer satisfy consumers. Only game systems capable of providing new levels of interaction between the player and the software will succeed in coming years.
"In other words, the old formula for success - the combination of high-specification game consoles and advanced graphics - is no longer working, " Iwata said, "We now need to create a new proposal for our customers to set a new course for the industry, and the launch of the Nintendo DS is our answer to such challenge."
Iwata feels this approach will place the Nintendo DS ahead of the Sony PSP, which is set to launch on December 12, 2004. Speaking on Sony's first entry into the handheld market, Iwata said:
"I believe that the PSP is built on the belief that the old formula for success is still viable, although we do not think so.
He also added:
"Although we have no intention of fighting over the market share with Sony, we will make our utmost efforts to help people understand that our approach is right."
As it is with most things, time will tell which company winds up on top.