"Visibility in society" is a major factor in software success, according to the Nintendo CEO. http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=21139 In a recent investor Q&A, Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata discussed the strategy behind certain European releases.
When faced with reduced software sales in Europe, Nintendo's response was to try to introduce games that would take on the role of a social phenomenon that held relevance outside of standard video game circles in the same manner that had been previously achieved with Brain Age. They addressed this challenge with three specific titles: Professor Layton, Style Savvy, and Rhythm Heaven.
While Style Savvy did not fare well, selling only 5,000 units in its first week in a girl-game saturated European market, Professor Layton sales skyrocketed. Professor Layton and the Curious Village sold over two million copies in Europe in 61 weeks. Its sequel, Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box, has broken 1.3 million in just 16 weeks. Despite thise success, Iwata does not feel that Layton sales have reached the cultural phenomenon that Brain Age represented: "Its influence on driving hardware sales by driving consumers to purchase hardware to play the software or revitalizing a number of Nintendo DS sleep users has not yet made it a social phenomena about which newspapers write up."
Later, Iwata said to investors, "What is most important is to make what can really become socially recognized phenomena. Of course, it is a fact that piracy activities in the European market including devices like Magic-Coms (R4) are large concerns for us. As I have mentioned before, we will continue to confront it with legal and technological measures."
Topic: Iwata Speaks on European Software Sales (Read 1485 times)
