Reggie Son-Loves Nintendo has games that he would like to sell you

Reggie Fils-Aime is in hype mode. This is the Nintendo of America president's main training the week before Black Friday as he sits in a 38th-floor Manhattan hotel suite full of game consoles and Nintendo systems. "While we look forward to the next 45 days," he says, "we are excited to have literally something for every type of player, every household type here, in the Americas."

Nintendo remains different from most other gaming companies and when I meet Fils-Aime to discuss, I am reminded once again of how much this gaming company is rooted in selling games and systems not just to teenagers and adults, but also children and families. Nintendo is the gaming company that always feels the hippest on the toy industry, on huge Christmas contracts and on loading its gamut of games for the last few months of the year. That's why we meet. Its mission is to add Nintendo items to all holiday wish lists.

In the sequel of the hotel, Fils-Aime plays the role of the largest Nintendo seller in the United States, unveiling the details of the new announced Black Friday offer. There is a Switch One with Mario Kart 8, a 2DS with Super Mario Maker. He describes it as a "$ 40 value," although when I check later to see if it means it costs $ 40, he says no, it costs $ 80. You save $ 40 by purchasing components – 2DS ($ 80) and Super Mario Maker 3DS ($ 40) – separately.

Son-Aime gives me a tone so powerful that he could be nominated for the Cy Young. Switch is doing well. People are excited about the new Pokémon and Smash. Super Mario Party is doing very well in the Americas, he oversees the sales part of Nintendo, and he says that he visited his daughter at the university and that he played this game for hours with her and her friends. Did they drink? J & # 39; intercepts. "No alcohol," he says. "It was early in the afternoon."

He is proud of everything from upcoming games to recent Switch games. He says that more than half of Switch's owners in America have bought copies of The legend of Zelda: the breath of nature, Super Mario Odyssey and Mario Kart 8.

He is proud of the Nintendo 3DS and 2DS, which he calls "our dedicated handheld business," to the likely consternation of all Nintendo fans who want the company to focus solely on Switch, which "Here in the Americas, we saw growth in the first three quarters of the year. (Data shows that software sales for 3DS have decreased worldwide this year, but hardware sales have increased in America, Europe, and Japan, where the system began to heat up.)

This is a good seller who makes him personal. Son-Loves throws himself up and down, recognizing that he knows that I have young children, the kind of details that come out little by little over the years with a person you've interviewed for more than ten years. He tells me that the 3DS / 2DS is great "for the first user, the parent aged five, six or seven. You are not quite there yet. Soon, you will buy a 2DS or a 2DS XL … "

I do not know if Son-Loves has memorized exactly the age of my children. They are almost two. "Will you sell them again in four years?" I asked.

It would be impressive, if not extraordinary, for a company that has been keeping the 3DS hardware standard alive since 2011, which is tantamount to saying if Apple decided to keep selling iPhone 4S versions while selling more phones powerful.

"Yes, we …" Son-Loves paused, perhaps letting himself slip from his personal request by accidentally promising several extra years of support, "hopefully."

"For this entry consumer, it's perfect," he says, returning to the strongest. "You want to give them a product that will withstand the abuse of young children and that offers more than 1000 games available as well as some of the classics of all time in the industry."

Sold.

When the president of Nintendo of America sells, he sells everything, and he has a lot to sell. There is not a new one Pokémon full game, there is a new batch with a Pokéball controller, a copy with the game and the balloon alone. Supply can always be a problem, he admits, but he thinks they've planned their work well. However, he tells me, a package of equipment for Smash Bros Ultimate, The biggest game of Nintendo in 2018, is "actually exhausted".

The NES Classic and SNES Classic systems are for the first time reunited, he said, probably acknowledging that the first was sold quickly in 2016 and that Nintendo only put it back on the market this year.

There are many, and there are not many signs of weakness, a skill that we must solve when they had to sell the Nintendo product via the Wii U's nadir. suggests a possible weakness of the Nintendo 2018 range, its key titles are not entirely new, knowing full well that there is a huge defect in my premises. I miss the fact that I know that Nintendo has sold more than eight million copies of Mario Kart 8 on Wii U, and then repacked it with a minimum of changes for Switch and sold 11.7 million additional copies, according to Nintendo. I think the November of the Switch Pokémon Games Let's go Pikachu / Let's go Eevee, are not brand new, nor Ultimate Smash..

"Technically, these games are based on older games," I say. "smash is based on smash Wii U … with a lot of things added. "

Son-Aime emits a negative sound, essentially a long string of the letter n. So what: "smash is a brand new smash. "

"I was curious," I said. "Have you seen this as a factor limiting the ability of these games? These are not new games. You know what I mean."

"Why do we always disagree, Stephen?" He asks.

"It's more interesting," I say.

He is laughing. He surely knows what I mean. He surely knows that the whole problem with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate it's that he has all the characters and all the steps of each smash game that precedes it, although there is certainly a ton of novelties (characters, scenes, story mode) that seem original. I know it's not just a rehash, but it probably will not crack like a new game. I also know that it may not be important in terms of sales. And I'm sure he knows all that, but that nuance is not the right one. No, it's the pitch:

"Take Smash Bros.," he says. "Smash Bros. is a brand new smash Game. The vast list of playable characters, new playable characters, this is a brand new game. [The franchise director] Mr. Sakurai will continue tweaking the various characters until launch and even after the launch. New experience. We showed what the experience of a single player looks like. This one is not something of the past systems. It's something new for that smash players. "

Nintendo has huge goals this year. The company is trying to sell 20 million switches for its current fiscal year, which runs from April 1, 2018 to March 31, 2019, halfway through this period. Sales tend to balloon as the holidays approach, but this goal could be difficult. In the nearly 13 months of the first hot year of the console, from early March 2017 to the end of March 2018, Nintendo sold about 18 million switches. The first year, the switch had a new Zelda, a new Splatoon and a reconditioned Mario Kart at the end of the summer then a new Super Mario play in the fall. The second year of Switch was a weaker hand. He has been rich in wonderful games like the independent platform game Celestial or oddball released by Nintendo Sushi Striker Cardboard folding experience and Lab game, but the big Nintendo brand games have been rare.

An investor recently openly murmured about this relatively weak composition for 2018, presented to Nintendo's general chairman, Shintaro Furukawa, stressing that "no major headlines have been published between January and September of this year." adding, "I'm wondering if this strategy was the right one." Furukawa then responded that "software development takes time," which may create gaps between major releases. unavailable, Nintendo had to "fill the gaps" with sales, downloadable content and more.

"That's our goal," said Fils-Aime of Switch's 20-million-year-old brand. "This period of October, November and December is essential to achieve this goal." It highlights the success of Mario Party, the promise of Black Friday offers and more, all signs of strength in North and South America, sales region for Nintendo he leads. "We are well placed to do our fair share to achieve this goal." This "fair share" is a reminder: it's not responsible for all Nintendo sales and system sales in Japan, Europe, Australia and elsewhere. North and South America are not his responsibility.

I point out that the switch seems to cool some. The NPD group, which oversees sales of games and equipment in the United States, ranked the Switch as the number one selling console for September 2017, while claiming that the PS4 was at the top in September 2018, no doubt helped. by the indispensable system of this system. Spider Man game, which is a little point.

Son-Aime does not communicate with my data because he is better able to share. "In the first 12 months of availability, Nintendo Switch in the US was the best-selling system of all time," he says. "Outperforms the Wii, surpasses today's competitive platforms, surpasses all of the most popular gaming consoles, the best-selling platform. Our goal is to continue this trend and we want to be able to come out on vacation where we can be proud of our results compared to the Wii and the current competitive consoles. "

I ask what could have gone better during the first nine months of this year and what follows is a rare concession. "Would I have liked to have seen, for example, Smash Bros. launch earlier in the year? Certainly. A launch in early December is a challenge, "he says smash. This niche of December is what Nintendo gave last year to a larger niche, although ultimately 1.5 million copies sold. Xenoblade Chronicles 2. "It's a challenge from a business point of view," he says. "It's a challenge from a retailer's point of view." So it's no surprise that Nintendo insists on pre-orders, season tickets and the chances of unlocking a bonus fighter if you act now.

"But that said," he continues, "looking at the pace of growth we've experienced, our ability to Fortnite to the system, our ability to have Diablo III on the system, Wolfenstein, you look at the support from the third party that was strong enough, when you look at the support from the independent community that was pretty strong, I think you and I reconnected in January and we're looking at our performance over For the first 22 months of its life cycle, I think we will be exceptionally proud of the result achieved in the United States of what Nintendo Switch has been able to do. "

I understood. I understand everything. This is the tone of a Nintendo rising higher than in a few years. Son-Aime may sell an overly optimistic view of Nintendo's sophomore year by pushing the switch and taking away the 3DS and 2DS. It's his job. It does not have a bad choice of games to sell, but there is no doubt that the glory will come easier next year and that the objectives will be more easily achievable, when a brand new Pokémon sell and a Crossing of animals and maybe other mega-games too. I'm just going to have to find something different to not disagree with him.