Iwata discusses hardware market share around the world, 3DS gains as Wii U falters
This is a graph which compares the video game hardware market shares in Japan, the United States and Europe during the three-month period of January to March in 2012. I think it is quite clear from this graph that the three markets were very different. The platform with the largest share is different in each of the three regions, and the handheld platform shares are overwhelmingly high in Japan, while the home console platform shares are higher in the Western markets.
Nintendo has shown a greater presence in the market during the holiday season from October through December nearly every year, but that presence tends to weaken during this period, right after the end of the holiday season. I would like to show you how this trend changed this year.
This is the graph showing the hardware market shares in each region from January to March this year. The market share of Nintendo 3DS in Japan is about the same as last year, while the market shares in the U.S and Europe slightly improved compared to last year.
As for the market size, the number of hardware units sold this year showed a 1% increase in the Japanese market compared to the same period last year, while the shares in the U.S and European markets dropped by about 25% and 29% respectively, showing no momentum in the market.
In such condition, in the Japanese market, Nintendo 3DS has kept its momentum that it had during the holiday season and has progressed well, showing a slight improvement compared to the same period last year. On the other hand, in the U.S and in Europe, due to the shrinking market size, Nintendo 3DS showed an increase in the hardware market shares despite its unit sales falling below last year’s sales.
As the size of the U.S and European markets shrunk, the ratio of Japan’s market increased on a global basis. This led to an increase in the share of Nintendo 3DS from 25% to 29% in the Japanese, the U.S and the European markets combined.
In the U.S and in Europe, we were unable to create sufficient momentum of the Nintendo 3DS system during the holiday season, and so the situation was not looking good at the beginning of the year. However, "Fire Emblem Awakening" was launched in February in the U.S. and "Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon" was launched in March in the U.S and in Europe, both of which were well received by our consumers. Also, this is not a Nintendo title, but an overseas edition of "Monster Hunter 3 (Tri) G," or "Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate," was also launched in March. Recently, with the launch of titles like these, we are seeing that the Nintendo 3DS sales are gradually gaining momentum.
On the other hand, as for Wii U, it took off smoothly in the holiday season, but due to the lack of new software titles, we were unable to maintain the momentum this year. We initially hoped that Wii U would be showing more of a presence in the market by now, but the current situation shows that we need to spend more time on and put much effort into recreating the momentum.
Also, as you can see from this graph, Nintendo platform shares in Europe are lower compared to the other two regions, but the situation varies greatly in each country.
This graph contains data from the previous graph, and compares the hardware market shares in countries within the European region.
The main reason that Nintendo does not have a high market share in Europe is due to lower-than-expected sales in the UK, the largest market in Europe. As you can see, Nintendo 3DS has a greater presence in countries like France, Belgium and Germany. In fact, there are several Nintendo 3DS software titles ranked in the hit charts in these countries, and we have great hopes for the coming titles. It could be said that we are beginning to see positive signs of market penetration.
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