Nintendo VP of Marketing and Corp. Affairs, Perrin Kaplan, recently sat down with Gamespy for an interview at the D.I.C.E. conference this past week. When asked about their launch strategy in comparison to their competitor’s launch strategies, Kaplan had the following comments:
“Well, we didn’t have anyone in line that got shot waiting for our system. So there’s one sign of the different approaches between our two companies … I think Sony’s efforts were in trying to get the core gamer to accept and adopt it, which for them in the PS2 era, spread to the mass consumer. I think we were just really prepared. Years of experience doing this ensured that we would have a very good launch.”
In response to why Nintendo is releasing the Wii Channels and extras little by little, it was moreso not to overwhelm consumers, and allow owners to take in what was there first, and then take in each new feature as it comes out.
“I think if we had just taken the whole package, here are all the channels, here are all the online games, here are the Miis, the news, the weather, I just think it would have overloaded the mass consumer. So instead we began rolling everything out in a fashion where people can really understand it … We have more things coming, and online is definitely one of them.”
Yes, that’s right. Not to worry, online gameplay is a “priority for Nintendo and you will see it.” I trust Kaplan very much. She knows what’s going on and is usually very honest with whatever she can be. Remember, she even revealed the Wii being slightly more powerful than the GameCube when she wasn’t supposed to, just for us!
