Nintendo to "re-energise" Japan - Iwata

By Robert Purchese Published 9 April, 2009

Droopy market a problem of the past.

Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata reckons his company is ready to rescue the Japanese videogame market from decline, despite falling Wii sales in the country.

"The Japanese market is not very strong right now overall," Iwata told the Wall Street Journal (spotted by Kotaku), "so we need to do something to re-energise it."

Iwata - whose head resembles a mushroom - was not responding to lacklustre Wii sales in Japan, but to the yearly decline of game sales across the region - around 18 per cent last year.

He is confident that Nintendo can not only match PS3's building momentum in Japan, but once again boss the regional market.

The Wall Street Journal, however, pointed out that events like this blip in Wii sales can often be mirrored in other markets - those that Nintendo routinely dominates right now.

But the Mario-maker put on a brave face and denied weakness, claiming it was "not particularly concerned" about the Japanese sales results for March.

We will have to wait to find out whether this will be a bump or a descent.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (29) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Eraysor #1 3 years ago

    Perhaps Wii Fit drained the energy of the Japanese consumers.

  • spazmo #2 3 years ago

    Translation : "New Wii colours are coming."

  • gingerlink #3 3 years ago

    "whose head resembles a mushroom"

    What need was there of that?

  • Xerx3s #4 3 years ago

    "The Japanese market is not very strong right now overall,"

    The ps3 seems to be doing great atm tbf. Maybe you should actually make an effort of attracting the hardcore who keep buying good games no matter how bad the economy is?

  • Burkey123 #5 3 years ago

    ''whose head resembles a mushroom''

    Ah come on! There's no need for that!
    It was a bit funny though.

  • CallousB #6 3 years ago

    I think Nintendo was lucky in the west thanks to the natural fit of Guitar hero/Lego/star wars games for the Wii system and the popularity of those franchises. In Japan they have pretty much had to support the system entirely by themselves.

    In Nintendo's position I would start bundling Wii Sports Resort and motion+ as standard in Japan (for no extra cost)...plus a black Wii at the same time.

    To be honest they should have done some quick cash-ins as well....they could have done with Mario Party 9 being released in the last few months and something cheap and simple like Wii Play 2.

  • sneetch #7 3 years ago

    @gingerlink
    "whose head resembles a mushroom"

    What need was there of that?

    The public has the right to know! :p

  • Whatsfor #8 3 years ago

    Mushrooms come in many varieties.

  • MyPointIs #9 3 years ago

    Rob Purchase - whose penis resembles a chickpea - just loves making coments about funny-looking heads.

    Edit: Sorry, I mispelled his name. It's Purcheese.
    Edited by MyPointIs at 09/04/09 @ 12:26

  • makeamazing #10 3 years ago

    I think the Japan sales are just a blip and once they release even more of the same stuff (Resort) etc.. they will be above the PS3 again. Not that I am saying that stuff like Resort is any good, but its what the Japan market seems to want (and the rest of the world by Nins figures).

  • MyPointIs #11 3 years ago

    This is it!

  • andywilkie35 #12 3 years ago

    Re-energising Japan?

    I assume that means they're going to increase battery supplies as everywhere has sold out due to the wagglefest

  • Sean.Aaron #13 3 years ago

    "God it must be depressing to own just a Wii "

    You used that in the last Wii news comment. You need to hire someone to write some new material...

  • schnide #14 3 years ago

    If this is the gimmick appeal of the Wii finally starting to wear off, then it took longer than I predicted but still, it appears to be coming. I wonder which direction the Wii 2 would head in, and if the interest in upgrading you usually get from (shh) casual gamers is the same as with the (shh) hardcore?

  • canIdoyabombsforya #15 3 years ago


    No mention of Sony's billions of debt, as the source Wall Street Journal calls Nintendo "vunerable" LOL

    Laser Disc players were also most popular in Japan, suckers.

  • Zomeguy #16 3 years ago

    "You used that in the last Wii news comment. You need to hire someone to write some new material... ".

    Almost everyone has put him on ignore, so it does not matter anyway...

  • smelly #17 3 years ago

    God it must be lonely to be him with everyone ignoring him :-)

    But yip.. nintendo needs to announce some big boys soon (e3?) to sort this problem out...

    .. and they need to give 3rd parties a kick up the ass for constantly releasing shitty games and giving them a bad name.

  • bad09 #18 3 years ago

    Of course games sales are declining over there, they don't really like western games. If I only played Japanese games I wouldn't buy many games either....

    (of course I mean at present, I used to love the games we got from Japan but they've lost their way now - except for SF4!)

  • NegativeZero #19 3 years ago

    @canIdoyabombsforya: Nintendo *are* vulnerable compared to Sony. They're a small company who are completely invested in a single industry. If the games industry completely bombs in Japan, Sony still have their consumer electronics, music and film divisions to fall back on. Nintendo don't.

  • Meho #20 3 years ago

    You know, I own Microsoft's, Sony's and Nintendo's consoles and I am really baffled. Why do people keep saying Wii has no 'real' games?? Dead Rising CTYD, MadWorld, FFCC Ehoes of Time, Broken Sword and Gradius Rebirth are all out now. Metroid Prime and Muramasa The Demon Blade are out in Japan as we speak and will be soon(ish) available in other territories. Aren't they real enough?? New Dead Space and Silent Hill games are on the way too. Not saying they will necesarrilly RULE but they are nonetheless real. Monster Hunter Tri might be one of the best games of the year on any platform. It's actually a great time to be a Wii owner right now.

  • Sean.Aaron #21 3 years ago

    "The ps3 seems to be doing great atm tbf."

    Right, try taking a look at the actual numbers, game sales across the board are weak as are console sales -- even Sony's.

  • smelly #22 3 years ago

    @Meho : Metrodi prime has been available here for ages..

    it's one of the best looking and best playing games on the system (imho)

  • Meho #23 3 years ago

    I think we have a slight misunderstanding here. You are referring to Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, and I am referring to the remake of the original GC Metroid Prime, that is now being reissued for the Wii as part of Nintendo's 'new play control!' series (Pikmin has already been put out in this series). So far only the Japanese version is out (although it is possible to unlock the English language through a patch, but that demands a modded Wii and some knowledge. At least it suggets the western version is soon to be published, despite the lack of announced release date). For the ones who missed the boat with Gamecube, this is a great opportunity to play this classic game.

    But, back to topic, my point is, I can appreciate people not seeing Boom Blox or Let's Tap as 'real' games, although I think they're missing out on some good stuff, and I can see how everyone gets pissed off with Nintendo for emphasising lifestyle software over core games, but there are many really god 'real' games already out this year and coming out soon for the Wii. Get informed.

  • drumbaby #24 3 years ago

    Just burn all the Wiis you were going to sell to the remaining stupid people...all that heat should re-energise Japan.

  • canIdoyabombsforya #25 3 years ago

    "I can see how everyone gets pissed off with Nintendo for emphasising lifestyle software over core games"


    It's what happens when your consumer has been brainwashed by bigger corporations.
    It was never like this in the old days, you just played on your Amiga or ST or whatever..games were games. Let's tap would have been state of the art and most welcome back then. There are still enough veteran gamers around to appreciate what Nintendo can offer. I still think Sony and MS's model of building "super computers" is doomed.

  • Turambar #26 3 years ago

    Maybe they've just reached a point where everyone who really wants a Wii has one already. Maybe it's time to pass on the savings made from reduced manufacturing costs to encourage impulse buys?

  • bionutz #27 3 years ago

    Today I found myself looking again after a good Wii game - in a supermarket.I start to become bothered, that even after so long, I still play PS2 much more than Wii. I find this almost unacceptable and I hope that there will be some good real games like for instance rpg games for Wii. After all, I am becoming tired of all the mini games - I did play boom blox almost to the end. But the primitive implementations of the controller movement sensing left me cold so far, I almost wish this console was more conventional but with more choice in good games.
    Maybe this is the point where the hype of Wii dies___

  • BonzoBanana #28 3 years ago

    I've only recently got a wii after criticising it for so long for its weak spec. Yes the spec is weak but I'm enjoying it. There are some good games and it has a unique charm. I can see the appeal now. I'll still probably play more on the ps3 and 360 but that doesn't mean the wii isn't good value and great entertainment. I find all three consoles worth owning and compared to non interactive entertainment like the BBC and their legalised theft license fee I think consoles are amazing value.

    To be honest I think all the console makes got their spec wrong. The wii specification is too dated and the ps3 and 360 were too ambitious. Somewhere in the middle would have been better for the consumer as prices would have been lower quicker.

  • Nithron #29 3 years ago

    @lord:

    It doesn't cost as much over there.