Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata has again acknowledged the angry reaction to the company’s E3 Digital Event, but has argued that the trade and media reaction has been more positive.
“We recognise that we have let down a number of the online viewers of this year’s E3, especially the avid Nintendo fans, because we did not show what they had expected,” Iwata told investors. “We listen sincerely to the voices of fans who were not happy about the announcements we made in the online Digital Event, and we will have to make further efforts to improve.
“But when it comes to the reactions to our E3 activities overall, the reactions from trade customers and the media were not that unfavourable. I hope you will understand it.”
The exec also argued that E3 attendees enjoyed the Nintendo booth more than that of their rivals.
“One thing I should say about Nintendo’s E3 booth is that, unlike the other booths in general, most of the visitors to our booth were smiling and actually picking up the controllers and playing with our games,” he continued. “So, this was one big difference because a number of the visitors to other booths appeared to have spent a lot of time just watching game videos.”
That point was reiterated by development boss Shigeru Miyamoto.
“When we looked at our booth at E3 this year, I had a solid feeling that our trade customers appreciated the very fact that they were able to play the software which soon would be released into the market and that many of them were Nintendo-like software titles,” he added.
“Other than Nintendo, the major hardware manufacturers, Sony and Microsoft, also had booths, and I got the general impression that they were showcasing not only the products for this year but also many products for next year or the year after and, because of that, introductions for many of their software titles were done visually, not with playable demos.”
Miyamoto also had something to say about the E3 criticism the company has faced.
“For this year’s E3 in particular, Nintendo focused on the products that are significant for our doing business in the US this year,” he observed. “However, depending on the year, we focus on not only the software that will be released immediately after E3 or right after the turn of the year but also the products that will be released much later or experimental demos to showcase future possibilities.
“For example, during last year’s E3, we highlighted some of our experimental software to demonstrate the unique attractions of the Wii U hardware because its appeal had not yet been sufficiently conveyed. Because compared to last year, we now see people in the US are gradually realizing the compelling nature of Wii U hardware, we decided to showcase a number of products scheduled to be released that will have a direct effect on our business in the near term.
“Since we only introduced the software to be sold early next year, we acknowledge the criticism from our fans that we failed to excite them with new proposals.”
Nintendo's American boss Reggie Fils-Aime said earlier this week that "there's no sugar coating" the hostile reaction to Nintendo's E3 showing.

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