Iwata presents the first DS.
In 2002, the same year Iwata became the CEO of Nintendo, last copies of Game Boy left the factories. The new CEO would later introduce a console that would elevate the Japanese company on whole a new level. The dual-screen DS console was Iwata’s idea but it was inspired by lecture of a book by doctor Kawashima, a famous Japanese scientist, promoting brain exercises through solving mathematical riddles to help one develop his mental abilities. Faithfull to his predecessor’s philosophy, Iwata worked “the other way around” and promptly hit the jackpot causing Nintendo DS to become one of the best selling consoles in history with over 150 million buyers all around the world. The corporation associated with infantile characters like Mario or Pokemon proved that, given the right software and unique hardware, it can reach even clients that were never interested in digital entertainment; including seniors that were soon to become the main marketing target for Nintendo’s next, stationary console. At the same time, Iwata didn’t break his commitment to younger customers: “I’ve never once been embarrassed that children have supported Nintendo. I’m proud of it. That’s because children judge products based on instinct. […] That doesn't mean we're making products just for children. We believe that there's interactive entertainment that people in their 60s, 70s and 80s can enjoy."
The foundations for the company’s new strategy were laid and a new generation of consoles was to follow. In December 2005 Xbox 360 hit the stores while Nintendo was wrapping up the development of GameCube’s successor, codenamed Revolution. In many interviews the CEO consistently promoted the company’s philosophy that “less is more”: "Making games look more photorealistic is not the only means of improving the game experience. […] If anyone appreciates graphics, it’s me! But my point is that this is just one path to improved game. We need to find others. Improvement has more than one definition."
Iwata proudly presents the future of Nintendo.
Nintendo, however, realized that using the code name for the final product would be improper for many reasons. The name had to be short, easy to pronounce and to remember. Wii was an attractive and fitting name for a console given its task of uniting the generations in front of the TV. Although there were people spitefully noticing that the name sounds similar to a certain physiological phenomenon… Except for the gyroscope and motion sensor technology used in its controller, Wii may have paled in comparison to its competitors but that didn’t hinder the sales. The Wii boom before the 2006 Christmas left the shelves empty and people formed long queues to test this fresh gaming solution. While the Americans were having trouble to buy even one copy, in Europe there were Wii a plenty left in stores since PlayStation dominated the European gaming scene. "In the first place, Sony and Microsoft are taking about the same approach for the future by making machines with powerful and sophisticated technology. Nintendo is taking a little bit different approach, and I think this is an interesting contrast," Iwata said.
The results were self-explanatory – Nintendo found the right approach. In the first week since its debut Wii sold in more than 350 thousand copies. By mid-2007 the sales of “duct taped GameCube”, as some called it, exceeded those of Xbox 360 AND PlayStation 3 collectively. In the span of the next three years customers bought more that 100 million copies of Wii. Most games released for Wii had intuitive controls and simple gameplay making the console seem very approachable and consecutively, it became the first platform for many households.
Nintendo is me.
While earning big money Nintendo began to lose some of its fan’s trust on the grounds of ignoring their needs. Although the Wii platform saw some very good, signature releases, the fans wanted more than the company could deliver. The first party developers had no time to rest while the third party developers’ games aimed at quick profits and were anything but ambitious. Iwata was well aware of the fact when he said: "I cannot imagine any first party title could be priced for more than $50. In the US, we're going to see the next-generation cost an awful lot. I really don't think that there's going to be a lot of acceptance by current customers of the $60 price tag. They may allow that for a limited number of premium titles, but not all."
The success of Wii launched a new trend - move controllers. The people were still hungry for novelty and both Sony and Microsoft knew what return they’re going to get when they started designing Muve and Kinect. Both controllers proved to be more technically advanced than the one used in Wii. The Wii controller was quite primitive to begin with until the motion sensor was employed but on the other hand, the Wii Remote came first and that was the crucial part to this competition.
Nintendo DS remained as a stronghold of more ambitious titles and eventually spawned a successor. The new console employed the freshly introduced 3D image displays technology, a luxurious solution indeed, especially for Nintendo. Iwata understood, however, that the 3D technology will dominate the market in the next few years and called the first shot.
Iwata presents the padlet.
Nintendo always had a clear policy on backwards compatibility. Whenever it was possible, the next-gen hardware could run earlier generations of games. If not directly, then by the means of attachments enabling gamers to do so. The company was ready to produce them for the sake of the idea that the players should be able to enjoy even the older games without getting their homes crammed with old hardware. Satoru Iwata wanted every new Nintendo console to be able to run every game Nintendo has ever created.
In the same year the company introduced Wii’s successor with the letter „U” added in its name. The business strategy remained unchanged: to show something completely new. The new console was designed with an original controller resembling a tablet in hope that this type of device will remain too costly and niche to effectively compete for the market. This prediction was wrong, however, and turned out to be partially responsible for the customer’s indifference to the new console. One more reason why the WiiU failed to impress was its resemblance to its predecessor. Many people for years thought that the new controller was just a new kind of attachment to add to the old Wii. WiiU lacked one more thing – computing power. Despite the bombastic declarations of third party developers’ support, after the first wave of ports, including AAA titles like Mass Effect 3, Deus Ex: Human Revolution or Assassin’s Creed 3, the same developers turned their backs on Nintendo to brace for the incoming next-gen. WiiU was the first Nintendo console that failed to net any profits. “[…] for the home console our biggest market opportunity was in the overseas markets in the U.S. and Europe, but because of the valuation of the yen and the exchange rates into dollars and euro, it made it a difficult proposition for us to capitalize on that, because of the cost that we were forced to sell the system at.” In the coming years Nintendo recorded nothing but losses causing Iwata to cut his own salary by 50% in 2014. He did it again when the next year’s financial statement showed no real improvement.