Nintendo President Iwata admits botched E3; promises Third-Party support and exclusives for Wii U

Amid rumors that Nintendo failed to impress with its E3 presentation, CEO and President Satoru Iwata admits that his company didn’t exactly meet its own lofty expectations. An interview with The Telegraph details Nintendo’s long-term plan for increasing third-party support, even after a dismal E3 showing. Iwata says, “On the stage we couldn’t fully explain what’s so unique about our product. It’s only after people . . . have the hands-on experience with the Wii U they started to realise that it is a surprise. The excitement is very high every day. It’s our homework to come up with the most effective way to communicate the newness of the Wii U. The people who came to the hands-on appreciate the uniqueness, but we have come to realise that people don’t get it when we just show what it looks like.”

Interestingly, Iwata considers one of the most important ways for people to experience the Wii U is through an increased dedication to third-party support. Iwata considers third-party support supremely important for the Wii U, an area where the Wii was sorely lacking: “In terms of graphical capability, there was a sheer difference between the Wii and the other two devices, most notably between SD and HD . . . [w]e decided to differentiate the Wii not with graphics but with motion control. We believed that motion control was unique and would create more attraction rather than trying to make the Wii HD. On the other hand, we had lost the third-party support when they were focusing on multi-platform titles.”

Iwata then goes on to say that “[i]n the case of the Wii U, we have decided to make it so that it is capable of doing whatever the other two consoles can do, so games are easily portable. Even though the other machines are six years old, they have the advantage now because developers are capable of maximizing the graphic capabilities, while with the new machine they will have to start from scratch to create the most capable graphics. So the Wii U has that room for improvement. So in terms of performance, we don’t see any issues for third-parties to be willing to make their software available. As we expand the install-base of the Wii U, I see greater opportunities for the third-parties to be able to provide the Wii U with quality software titles. And as well as the third-party multi-platform titles, we will have publishers making exclusive Wii U titles.”

The promise of third-party support is one that will bring many back to Nintendo’s fold. While the company has always shown a knack for creating innovative IPs, the support has been lacking for Nintendo since the middle years of the Gamecube cycle. Looking ahead, the Wii U could be the console that Nintendo always meant to create to compete with more mainstream gaming alternatives Microsoft and Sony. With luck, we’ll have more information on Wii U exclusives in the coming months.