NOA VP of sales and marketing Reginald Fils-Aime recently did a presentation at UBS Global Media in which he spent some time explaining the Nintendo philosophy and revealing some new numbers on key Nintendo products.
As he did in a recent press summit, Fils-Aime took the time to explain the "Blue Ocean Strategy" at UBS, where a company creates its own space to "make the competition irrelevant". To support his contention that Nintendo needed to do this, he presented a number of interesting trends.
First, Fils-Aime showcased the tell-tale steady decline of the Japanese gaming industry. Since reaching nearly 800 billion yen in 1997, the industry has plummeted to just barely over 400 billion yen in 2004. Total industry dollars in the US have also been falling, though they were bolstered somewhat at the beginning of this year.
These figures become even more interesting when you take into account the installed base figures, especially when plotted against total penetration. Though installed base is indeed climbing, industry sales are dropping, resulting in steadily lower returns on each console installed — and total penetration has barely changed despite the installed bases climbing.
Given all this, as well as steadily dropping teen interest in gaming, it becomes clear why Nintendo has chosen to take the path it has chosen with the Nintendo DS and upcoming Revolution console.
Reggie next revealed how well the DS has been doing in the US: 2.37 million units sold through October vs. the Sony PSP's 2.16 million. When Japan is thrown into the mix, the lead broadens considerably: 6 million vs. 4.26 million. US unit sales from August through October showed Nintendo commanding a 72% share of the portable hardware market, with 41% going to Game Boy Advance and 31% to the DS.
Also revealed: Mario Kart DS, launch title for the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, has sold 250,000 copies, leading to an out-of-stock situation. Fils-Aime reminded the audience that 40% of Mario Kart players have played the title online. Also played up was Animal Crossing: Wild World's Japanese launch, the biggest DS game introduction in Japan, and Nintendogs' US success with 950,000 copies sold and a 2x purchase rate by female consumers.
One can definitely see where Nintendo is going, especially considering the success it has seen with the DS. Nintendo obviously hopes the Revolution will work much the same magic on the home console market.