15th August 2003, 11:40 AM
And to drive the point further home, Derek's N-Philes is reporting on Nintendo's plan to regain some of the market, and Iwata again talks about Nintendo's desperate situation:
Quote:"Investors became so overly pessimistic about our future growth potential that Nintendo's share price plummeted,'' Iwata said. In the past, Nintendo was able to maintain its decisive lead in the video game industry just by promoting new game titles via TV commercials targeted at the general public. But traditional marketing methods, which had been effective since the introduction of the company's blockbuster Family Computer models in 1983, no longer work, say company officials.
Iwata said the video game market is becoming saturated and Nintendo can no longer rest easy. That sense of crisis is a main factor behind the decision to launch the new point system, company officials said. Sony, meanwhile, is attempting to transform its game consoles into digital appliances by fusing them with the company's highly rated audio-visual equipment. Nintendo has refused to follow suit, maintaining instead that its priority is to offer entertaining game titles that anybody can readily enjoy.