Nintendo expanding into non-wearable health products

https://twitter.com/gibbogame/status/428704863321464832

https://twitter.com/gibbogame/status/428705356814884866

https://twitter.com/gibbogame/status/428705589741359104

https://twitter.com/gibbogame/status/428706170589552640

Mr. Iwata now going into how Nintendo is going to expand into new fields. He looks back the past 10 years of his tenure, saying he’s had some success in expanding the gamer population by bringing Wii and DS to people who may not have played games in the past before.

What’s Mr. Iwata going to focus on for the next 10 years? The main theme: enhancing the quality of life through entertainment. The key word is health, Mr. Iwata says. Citing a flood of wearable devices already on the market, he says Nintendo is trying out something completely new: non-wearables to monitor your health.

For those of you wondering what non-wearables are, Nintendo will unveil the details of its new business during 2014 and launch it for the fiscal year through March 2016. Mr. Iwata’s speech is now over. And now the Q&A session is starting.

Defining entertainment by improving quality of life QOL in the next 10 years. To improve this, first area is health, I want to find a blue ocean.

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/01/29/live-nintendos-strategy-briefing-to-address-future-direction/

I'm not making this up...I swear...o_O

Nanomachines son

I'm genuinely interested in what he means by non-wearable. Hmm..

i don't know. its not like those sydney based scientists who leapfrogged moore's law by looking at the end point for transistors, atomic computing, and simply aimed for that.

they're talking about entering a market which ... as far as i know, doesn't exist yet, but they are predicting it will.

seriously, nintendo - employ me. i can help you, **** any gamespotter can help you and it will be much much cheaper than a venture like this.

Oh.

Okay.

Yes.

Totally.

Could be anything, dumbells, health insurances, vitarmin pills, food chains...

Wii u fit pro ultimate?

This could be... interesting? I guess?

I mean, it has nothing to do with their gaming side, so it's ultimately irrelevant to me.

- Nintendo wants to get into health care and wellness and lifestyle products

- They want to improve your quality of life

- This has nothing to do with games

- They want to announce ways to make you healthy

- This will not involve wearable devices because there are too many of those.

- This is integrated with games

- This will launch in April 2015

I am now officially applying to become a Nintendo™ Doctor, later suckers!

my japanese is very rusty, but just looking at the diagram with the arrows, it seems they want to go from a games console platform to a quality of life (QOL) platform. they will bring some game experiences such as wii fit to the QOL platform, shown by the blue arrow. also, it seems they might continue to hold on to game platforms, as its suggested from the diagram a title could start on the QOL platform, then go to the games platform, the orange arrow.

i wonder if they suspect they can be the market leaders in an electronic QOL product.

what i'm about to say kind of contradicts my earlier post: not silly if i'm honest. having thought about it, the wii was popular for many reasons including its ability to circumvent many barriers to exercise. its possible that at the right price, an exercise, health, or QOL focussed electronic device will be desirable.

very interesting. at this time I wish my japanese were better so I could understand their strategy exactly.

"Then I said, we're going to start our own Punch-Out™ Gym. Next thing I know, men in white coats put me into this straight jacket."

This is all a clever ruse and PR...

Doctor Mario Announcement INCOMING!!!!

Nintendo seems out of the loop.

It's a non gaming product. Nintendo is making a non gaming product. That is all it is.

It's obviously a new line of basketballs with Kirby's face on it.

I... don't get it. I really don't.

It's not a product in the conventional sense, Iwata is probably either

1) preparing a 5 year escape business
2) laundering Wii money
3) evolving the company by absorbing gaming into something larger
4) doing acid on a business meeting

Looks like they are finding a business in case... THAT happens.

See, 3) sounds sensible.

It sounds like he is future proofing the company so that its profits and losses are not singularly determined by the fate of one or two products.

**** you Nintendo... I started regreting buying this Wii U

I think Wii U will be their last console, but they'll stick to the handheld (hence mentioning hardships in unifying both businesses). This third business is their new venture since home console gaming isn't working out for them.

It won't be. I know Iwata said the Wii U is not doing well, but come the hell on. The Wii U is still one damn system, no way they are going to retreat after history of successes and profits. I mean, wow, did anybody say they should give up after Virtual Boy (which sold worse, MUCH worse)? Because even if anybody did, they were proven wrong back then, they'll be proven wrong now.

"......bu bu bu.....all they needee was killer appz!! And a price cut!!"

*sigh*

.....and the end begins. Way to go, Mr. Iwata, way to go. You're going to be the end of Nintendo as we've all known and loved it. Y'know, I didn't really wish for mobile games, but I was hoping that they'd at least REMAIN in videogames.

Wonderful.

@MirkoS77: were did you get them leaving gaming all together? This is a separate business that they're planning on carving out from the look of things

Their stock rose up yesterday (jpn time) because they had a massive buyback of stock with cash reserves. So, it's a little premature to be basing the subsequent fall strictly based on these new strategies. Probably a little from column and and some from column b in all reality.

Waaaay too much of an overreaction over something that isn't even related to gaming

If we're going that far, then so be it...

Im confused

"and also license more rights to its characters."

Not making this up

They should start selling insurance too. Works for Sony being on of their few profitable divisions.

Yes, like Hyrule Warriors, Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem, or, going earlier back, Star Fox Assault and F-Zero GX.

Iwatacare FTW!! Non-wearable health monitoring, to be elaborated on in FY2016! Just let me count the days.

from cards to video games and now to this pointless shit. In the next 10 years Nintendo will not even be making games anymore but diapers for the seniors.

Where does it say it's not related to gaming? If anything, from what I can see, it implies that's going to part of their gaming business.

Nintendo was clear on the matter that they're an entertainment company with the priority of putting smiles on people's faces. Video game or not, we're not talking about serious health products, but rather the continuation of games like Wii Fit and Art Academy. They provide fun and engaging ways to stay fit or learning how to draw. I think we should think along those lines.

Here's an example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xOCgI6Acy0

It's a combination of a "serious" activity (burning calories) but dressed up as a fun mini game (obstacle course). Nintendo will stick with this philosophy, but applied in an entirely new way (blue ocean).

Nintendo's just suffered 3 conseculative annual losses. They've lost 3 billion in capital since 10. But **** all that, why even bother to find out why or take steps to fix it? Let's just truck on forward with a ton of vague new strategies, throwing whatever shit we can at that blue ocean wall until something sticks!

Brilliant! Who needs a vision with passion behind it when you can have 20 half-assed visions that will hopefully have at least one work.

**** Iwata and Nintendo.

A bit like the Xbox One then.

Can Nintendo stock holders not replace this insane short Japanese man? This makes no sense at all for Nintendo.

This is stuff Nintendo has been doing for quite sometime.

It would be interesting to see Nintendo start getting into the Health Business and start seeing Nintendo themed Hospitals or something.

Games like Wii Fit and Wii Sports really help keep people active and motivated. That Vitality Sensor they showed way back in 2009 showed us they were more interested in entering this line of business.

Wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo is planning on releasing their own "Gaming Treadmill" like the Virtuix Omni.

@ldustin: no. He's stacked the BoD with his yes men, and he's instilled himself into every gamer's heart with his cute charismatic "wear a Luigi hat and play with bananas with white gloves" routine over and over.

Plus, he's taken TWO pay cuts! And he bows a lot. And apologizes. And understands. He's so humble! So, People demand that he remain CEO because these qualities signify a good CEO.

Not that running a good business matters, of course.....

Sony: "We're sorry we have crappy Online Security! Here have some games. Again we are sorry."

*bows*

cameras everywhere, gamers crying "We forgive you!" "So Humble!" "Thanks for the free crap!"

@LegatoSkyheart: difference being, Sony's in touch with something called reality. They make mistakes, they take action to fix it.

How long has Iwata been apologizing for software droughts?? GCN days? Oh, that's right. Perhaps if he puts on his cut little hat for ya and improves your "QoL" with more brain ages and "unwearables", all's forgiven.

When was the last year that Sony made money?

Well this is unexpected. <- best way i can express my thoughts. Though I must say... i don't get it at all.

There really isn't anything to get until Nintendo announces their product. It could just be an expansion of Wii Fit, or it could be something completely different. Regardless, it's probably good news for Nintendo as a company. Most of their ideas under Iwata have ended up being gold mines.

I wouldn't call his ideas gold mine but let's hope the best for them. Would be a shame if they end up in serious trouble because of the Wii U.