Nintendo has shared new information in their financial report from a few hours ago. While addressing concerns of a 3rd consecutive year without profits, they revealed new products, including their entry to the NFC business.
But 1st, let’s get the business side out of the way. Aside from lower than expected sales of software and hardware, Nintendo cites a major purchase of some undisclosed technology from the last quarter (analyst David Gibson stated this cost as much as $ 100 million). The Wii U is no longer sold at a loss, and they intend to reap benefits from 3DS selling 43 million units. In Tatsumi Kimishima’s words, having a fourth fiscal year without profits is unacceptable, so they are prioritizing rebalancing expenses and revenue for the coming year.
Now, to get to the real news. Nintendo has revealed plans for new figures enabled with NFC, which they have rebranded as NFP, meaning Nintendo Featured Platform or Nintendo Figurine Platform. These will use the Wii U Gamepad’s NFC reader, and the 3DS will also get a new NFC reader accessory.
Unlike the Skylanders and Disney Infinity toys, Nintendo is enabling these toys with both a read and write function. In plain English, this means that not only will your consoles read data from it, but they will function as bespoke memory cards themselves. The data saved will presumably allow you to create your own characters from scratch. It will also take read and write data from multiple games, which could simply mean using them on sequels of the same franchise, or more than that.
Nintendo also reiterated plans to enter developing markets, like China. They are still studying the situation, but they are selling different games and platforms, at different price points, than those available in major gaming markets like US and Japan.
You can get more details from Nintendo’s last investor’s meeting here. We’re sure to keep you up to date with more info on NFP and other Nintendo products as they appear.
