Nintendo’s Minagawa slams Sega as GameCube 2 absorbs thoughts
Next-gen console race sees Nintendo ever-defiant.
Satoru Iwata
You may have noticed a change has come over Nintendo in recent months. Gone is the cuddly facade, as presented in the Yamauchi days, replaced with a determination, self-belief and defiance inspired by new president Satoru Iwata.
Indeed, the almost maniacal fist-shaking at Nintendo’s E3 conference this year demonstrated clearly the new aggressive stance the ancient Japanese toy firm is now taking.
Speaking recently to press, Polygon carries a transcript of Nintendo director Yashuhiro Minagawa’s comments on the state of play in the hardware market, and delivers some convincing home truths.
“Our consoles have never lost money,” Minagawa said, “unlike the Dreamcast and MegaDrive which never recorded a profit. People regularly predict our failure in this business, but we're still here, meanwhile Bandai, Matsushita, NEC, and Sega have all gone. We have more experience and can produce characters and games as well as anyone. Xbox has already absorbed substantial loses, and unlike Sony, Microsoft indexes its profits. The GameCube arrived in the American market 18 months after PlayStation 2, next time we'll launch at the same time.”
Then, talking of the possible threat to Nintendo’s cash-cow handheld market which it enjoys unopposed at this time, Minagawa was impressively bold. “Sony and Nokia will launch with nothing and we will already have 60 million Game Boy Advance players. We don't see the growth of the portable market as a threat, but an opportunity. It's allowed us to cut the price of components and release the Game Boy Advance SP.”
Next year’s E3 is likely to see GameCube 2, Xbox 2 and PlayStation 3 all rolled out for the first time, as well as several new handheld products. We can hardly wait.
Indeed, the almost maniacal fist-shaking at Nintendo’s E3 conference this year demonstrated clearly the new aggressive stance the ancient Japanese toy firm is now taking.
Speaking recently to press, Polygon carries a transcript of Nintendo director Yashuhiro Minagawa’s comments on the state of play in the hardware market, and delivers some convincing home truths.
“Our consoles have never lost money,” Minagawa said, “unlike the Dreamcast and MegaDrive which never recorded a profit. People regularly predict our failure in this business, but we're still here, meanwhile Bandai, Matsushita, NEC, and Sega have all gone. We have more experience and can produce characters and games as well as anyone. Xbox has already absorbed substantial loses, and unlike Sony, Microsoft indexes its profits. The GameCube arrived in the American market 18 months after PlayStation 2, next time we'll launch at the same time.”
Then, talking of the possible threat to Nintendo’s cash-cow handheld market which it enjoys unopposed at this time, Minagawa was impressively bold. “Sony and Nokia will launch with nothing and we will already have 60 million Game Boy Advance players. We don't see the growth of the portable market as a threat, but an opportunity. It's allowed us to cut the price of components and release the Game Boy Advance SP.”
Next year’s E3 is likely to see GameCube 2, Xbox 2 and PlayStation 3 all rolled out for the first time, as well as several new handheld products. We can hardly wait.
Read More Like This