6. “Tomodachi Collection” for the Graduation/Job Hunting Season

Iwata - Talking about sales numbers a bit, this “Tomodachi Collection” shipped 100,000 copies in its first shipment. The reason being that, Japanese game retailers figured that they’d be set for a while if they had about 100k. As it turns out, this software has sold over 2 million unites as of the end of 2009, and it’s continuing to sell. Is it ok that this has happened? (laughs)

Attendees - (laugh)

Takahashi - It’s because it’s cheap! (laughs)

Iwata - In any even the concept is indeed “cheap” (laughs). But this title has an overwhelmingly “newness’ about it, regardless of what the dev team thought about it as they were working, and I think that it exists as something that is running straight in to a new frontier in terms of current Japanese game design. Naturally there must have been plenty of walls blocking the dev team’s path, not knowing what was on the other side, but Miyamoto-san, what do you see as the reason that so many customers have accepted this title?

Miyamoto - I think that comes down to the invention of the full package. Although this was already mentioned earlier, if there’s a clear concept already in place, everyone can have fun making different things and they just fall into place. That framework is already decided, so when an idea is born you can just say, “put it where it fits”.

To give another example, “Wii Sports” was also the invention of a new package, but a better example is “Wii Play” (※18), since it also had this framework in place where any random ting could be thrown in and fall into place. Furthermore, our go-to excuse for that one was “it’s an extra”, so it was perfectly fine for random things to be included.

But, usually when discussing a package the discussion becomes “you need to have consistency”. And maybe “Tomodachi Collection” had the makings of something that could be accepted by different people, even with various unrestrained elements being made and thrown in, was because there was a solid foundation built around familiarity. It was incredibly important that this framework was invented, and the director held on to that image without ever straying from it.

There’s another thing. Iwata-san just mentioned that the first shipment was 100,000 units. Back in the day you would just promote your game prior to release, put it on sale, and that would be the end. Of course, if it sold you were continue to promote it, but if it didn’t sell they wouldn’t promote it for you. Furthermore, even if you did continue to promote it, there’s no guarantee that it would sell. But there are cases sometimes where things go well, and they’ll promote your game a little longer if it sells a bit. And then because it sold a little more, they promote your game for a little longer. That was the case with “Kirby’s Dreamland” (※19).

Iwata - Thanks for the history lesson. (laugh)

※18 “Wii Play”＝ Introductory software for controlling games with the Wii Remote. Released as a set with a Wii Remote in December 2006.

※19 “Kirby’s Dreamland”＝Action game relased for the Game Boy in April 1992. Developed by HAL when Satoru Iwata was CEO.

Miyamoto - (laughs)

“Tomodachi Collection” was similar - it entered into this amazing cycle that continued on, and furthermore it’s entering into its most challenging period with graduation.

Iwata - Does everyone understand what Minamoto-san is talking about in regards to “graduation”?

Attendees - …

Miyamoto - I’m saying you should make a graduation album.

Iwata - Precisely. Even after going separate ways, if graduates create their graduation albums with “Tomodachi Collection”, their friends will stay with them, living in their DS. Lately Minamoto-san has been talking about how interesting it would be if that happened.

Miyamoto - Right. It has already sold well during the end of the year sales season, but this is the kind of product that has yet to meet the season where it could reach its true potential.

Itou - …

Iwata - Itou-san, you were just trying to say something, weren’t you?

Itou - Yes. Actually, one of the people that joined in the same year as me has transferred to NOE (Nintendo of Europe), and when that happened I gave them Tomodachi Collection with 70 Miis packed in.

Iwata - You’ve already put it into practice.

Itou - Well, internally anyhow.

Iwata - Even though it’s internal, I think “Tomodachi Collection” will be a great gift for company transfers.

Miyamoto - Definitely.

Iwata - And with that said we’re almost out of time, so please let me summarize.

Although there are different ways to make games, I think “Tomodachi Collection” falls into a class of its own. I’ve seen many different products born in different ways, but it’s rare for a game centered on a group with such little experience to be made, and I think one of the reasons it did so well was because the director continued on without any second thoughts. Furthermore, Takahashi-san had a wonderful person to consult in with Sakamoto-san, who was probably distanced just enough from the project

There are games that start with a design doc, and get made by following the steps laid out in it, but “Tomodachi Collection” was made in a different way, and as Miyamoto-san said, as long as you have a proper framework, even if various people have different, disparate ideas, that framework allows for those ideas to find a place within the game. And it turns out that those very people making the game didn’t have a clear vision of just what it was going to be like until right before the very end. Which is actually quite interesting to hear.

But I think that, for a developer, being able to have that kind of experience is the happiest thing you can imagine. Naturally things got tough during development, and you want to call to the developers saying “it’s finally over”, but at the same time, more than anything, I want to say “good job”.

This is the end for today, and although everything you attendees are creating is on a small scale, it’s also very dense, so good luck in creating something that, hopefully, becomes a sensation. We’ll end it at that. Thank you.

Attendees - (Applause)