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Reggie on big 3DS/Wii sales, Wii U price, social games, free-to-play
A portion of an AllThingsD interview with Reggie Fils-Aime...
ATD: A lot of retailers were concerned that we would see a Black Friday rush and then things would trail off after that. Is that what you are seeing?
RFA: We haven’t seen that. We have seen things accelerate as we’ve gotten closer to Christmas Day itself. We are anticipating this week, across all of our businesses, will be the strongest sell-through week of the year.
ATD: Does that change as we get closer to the next-generation console, the Wii U?
RFA: The market is going to continue to differentiate based on the types of experiences that consumers want. As an example, if I’m the head of a household of a family of four, and my disposable income is $50,000 to $60,000, I’m going to continue to look at the Wii because of the software, and it’s a great entertainment device. For consumers who want to have the latest gadgets and have a higher disposable income, that’s for the Wii U.
We haven’t announced pricing or availability or any other details, but given the current pricing of the Wii, it’s not going to be there.
We’ve been very clear, the market is going to decide how long these products will coexist side by side. Our goal is to launch the Wii U and drive it into the marketplace, but it will speak to a different consumer than the one that is buying the Wii today during the holidays.
ATD: I’ve spent the past week covering Zynga’s IPO. What’s your perspective on social gaming?
RFA: What’s the share price? It will be interesting when it breaks below $9 … I have a couple of thoughts on social gaming.
Consumers want to be entertained in a variety of ways, like watching TV or reading a book. The thing about entertainment — as consumers have a range of experiences — their desires for what’s new continues to be pushed out. So delivering the same experience all the time … consumers will move on.
So when I look at gaming experiences on social networks, there’s a variety of entertainment value. Some are strong, some are not. But in the end, how will they evolve? Doing the same thing over and over again is no longer fine.
ATD: Is that your comment on the free-to-play model? Will you experiment with free-to-play?
RFA: I have two comments on that.
First, we make games for Nintendo devices, and that is a competitive advantage for us. You can only play Mario on a Nintendo device, so from that standpoint, I wouldn’t expect to see our franchises on other platforms, and I would argue Facebook is a platform.
My second point, on whether we will experiment with other forms of monetization?
Certainly.
How that comes about, or which ones we do first, that’s all experimentation that’s going on right now in our various studios.
Full interview here
ATD: A lot of retailers were concerned that we would see a Black Friday rush and then things would trail off after that. Is that what you are seeing?
RFA: We haven’t seen that. We have seen things accelerate as we’ve gotten closer to Christmas Day itself. We are anticipating this week, across all of our businesses, will be the strongest sell-through week of the year.
ATD: Does that change as we get closer to the next-generation console, the Wii U?
RFA: The market is going to continue to differentiate based on the types of experiences that consumers want. As an example, if I’m the head of a household of a family of four, and my disposable income is $50,000 to $60,000, I’m going to continue to look at the Wii because of the software, and it’s a great entertainment device. For consumers who want to have the latest gadgets and have a higher disposable income, that’s for the Wii U.
We haven’t announced pricing or availability or any other details, but given the current pricing of the Wii, it’s not going to be there.
We’ve been very clear, the market is going to decide how long these products will coexist side by side. Our goal is to launch the Wii U and drive it into the marketplace, but it will speak to a different consumer than the one that is buying the Wii today during the holidays.
ATD: I’ve spent the past week covering Zynga’s IPO. What’s your perspective on social gaming?
RFA: What’s the share price? It will be interesting when it breaks below $9 … I have a couple of thoughts on social gaming.
Consumers want to be entertained in a variety of ways, like watching TV or reading a book. The thing about entertainment — as consumers have a range of experiences — their desires for what’s new continues to be pushed out. So delivering the same experience all the time … consumers will move on.
So when I look at gaming experiences on social networks, there’s a variety of entertainment value. Some are strong, some are not. But in the end, how will they evolve? Doing the same thing over and over again is no longer fine.
ATD: Is that your comment on the free-to-play model? Will you experiment with free-to-play?
RFA: I have two comments on that.
First, we make games for Nintendo devices, and that is a competitive advantage for us. You can only play Mario on a Nintendo device, so from that standpoint, I wouldn’t expect to see our franchises on other platforms, and I would argue Facebook is a platform.
My second point, on whether we will experiment with other forms of monetization?
Certainly.
How that comes about, or which ones we do first, that’s all experimentation that’s going on right now in our various studios.