Saturo Iwata reveals Revolution launch plans and sales targets
Nintendo president Saturo Iwata has revealed details of the Revolution console’s launch plans and sales targets.
In an interview with Japanese magazine Nikkei Business, Iwata announced that Nintendo would be following in the Xbox 360’s footsteps, attempting a simultaneous worldwide release.
He stopped short of giving precise details of how Nintendo planned to achieve this, however, saying only that,
“We hope to make it a simultaneous worldwide release as much as it’s possible.”
Iwata told Nikkei Business that the Revolution would launch sometime after the end of the current fiscal year [March 2006], preferring not to specify the exact month.
In the Nikkei Business interview, Iwata also discussed Nintendo’s sales targets for the new console, saying that,
“It [the Revolution] would be a complete failure if we didn’t sell more units than the Nintendo GameCube.”
To date, the GameCube has sold 18.76 million units worldwide.
The Revolution’s innovative new controller was also a topic of conversation, with Iwata revealing that former Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi was not involved in the controller’s development.
He confirmed that the Revolution’s controller would make use of certain new technologies, but declined to outline specifics.
As far as the Revolution’s pricing is concerned, Iwata did not shed any new light on the matter.
Comment: Popular gaming and technology site SPOnG, which claims to have insider information from sources involved in the Revolution manufacturing process, has stated that,
“A global roll-out with Japan, the US and Europe seeing hardware in the same day is thought highly unlikely.”
SPOnG is asserting that the Revolution will be released in June 2006, with Japan being the first territory to receive the next-generation console.
SPOnG also claims that the American and European Revolution launches will follow soon after the Japanese launch, with the European launch possibly taking place in July.
Rearding the Revolution’s price, SPOnG claims that
“a tag of $200 for the US, €300 in mainland Europe, and £200 in the UK is a near certainty.”
Nintendo has not yet confirmed or denied SPOnG’s claims regarding the Revolution’s release date and launch price. We’ll be sure to post an update if and when Nintendo makes an official response.
Related:
October 27, 2005 @ 3:04 pm
kareem Said,
“It [the Revolution] would be a complete failure if we didn’t sell more units than the Nintendo GameCube.”????? well then I guess nintendo shou […] more
October 27, 2005 @ 6:19 pm
Tom Said,
Kareem, you just wasted 30 seconds of my life with your completely dumb post, which contained such things as “I read an article that said…” and “nin […] more
October 30, 2005 @ 5:51 am
Sooj Said,
Haha, Kareem good one.
I also read that article which I believe that you are reffering to Kareen and all I can say is a big “HAHA”. Nintend […] more
October 30, 2005 @ 5:32 pm
some kid Said,
Kareem what exactly is ur problem with nintendo? u must have been either really disatisfied with a nintendo console or dont even own one. everyone tha […] more
January 8, 2006 @ 7:31 am
nintendo hater Said,
ha. if they sold less revolutions than gc, more people will have gone to see gigli and more people will have been disenfrachised by bush