Moving on to a different topic, the Nintendo 3DS hardware incorporates a feature known as StreetPass.
When the Nintendo 3DS system is in Sleep Mode, this feature allows users who are playing any StreetPass-compatible game to automatically exchange game data with other users in close proximity who are also playing the same game.
StreetPass is very common in crowded Japan. In contrast, our American and European users seem to meet each other via StreetPass less frequently, and as a result, we have not seen a significant rise in the number of people who carry their Nintendo 3DS systems in Sleep Mode. When compared with our Japanese users, it seems that fewer people are experiencing the StreetPass feature on a daily basis.
This year we will release software that opens doors for new ways to play through the StreetPass feature, such as “Animal Crossing: New Leaf,” and I hope that more people around the world will be able to experience the benefits that StreetPass provides.

We will achieve that by taking advantage of Wi-Fi access points and implementing a StreetPass relay feature into the Nintendo 3DS hardware.
Starbucks and McDonald’s, among others, provide about 28,000 Wi-Fi access points, which are connected automatically to Nintendo 3DS, in the U.S. and 24,000 in Europe.
We are going to perform a system update that introduces a framework that uses these access points as StreetPass relay stations by this autumn.
This will involve taking a Nintendo 3DS system in Sleep Mode to an access point which will then connect automatically and send StreetPass data to a server. At the same time, the Nintendo 3DS system also receives the StreetPass data of another user from the server. In this setting, data is not exchanged directly, but rather through a StreetPass relay station. Hence, as opposed to, say, Person A and Person B directly exchanging game data, data will be transmitted in sequence from Person A to Person B, and then onto Person C and so on.
But the surprising and magical feeling of exchanging data with someone you simply shared a location with is as real as before.
Previously the StreetPass feature required multiple Nintendo 3DS systems in Sleep Mode to be in the same location at the same time, but in this framework, you can exchange data with others by visiting the same location even at a different time, so we can certainly expect the use rate of the StreetPass feature to grow significantly.

Turning to our home console, Wii U has lost momentum due to the release pace of software titles after the launch period. However, just as Nintendo 3DS has been revitalized by consecutive software releases, we believe the basic principle of the video game business is that software sells hardware.

Starting with “Pikmin 3,” we will intensively release our key titles to give sales momentum to the platform beginning in the latter half of this calendar year and into next year.

As we announced yesterday, this is the current first-party release schedule.
We believe that a decisive factor in buying a console is the fact that you cannot play a much-anticipated title without the hardware. In this sense, Nintendo has the advantage of having a strong lineup of first-party titles which cannot be played without our platforms.
With these key titles being released in succession from next month into next year, we believe that we can dramatically improve the situation of Wii U.

When it comes to third-party software,

this slide shows a list of games that have already been announced.
It is not my position to mention which titles each third-party developer will release in the future. However, more unannounced titles will come. We hope to revitalize the platform with our strong first-party lineup, and then an enriched third-party software lineup will follow.

Next, I would like to talk about our digital business, which we believe will play a very important role in enabling us to adapt to the changes in the business conditions, as well as creating new business opportunities.

This graph shows the transition of download sales through the end of the last fiscal year. As you can see, the sales in the last fiscal year were the highest ever.
The digital download sales of “Animal Crossing: New Leaf” in Japan contributed to this result. This game is well suited to being a title that consumers install on their Nintendo 3DS devices because players tend to enjoy this game a little each day. We would like to provide our American and European consumers with the opportunity to play the download version.
For your information, as I announced in the Financial Results Briefing in April, it is clear that once people have chosen to download a game, they tend to choose another download version the next time they make a purchase. We expect this trend to continue.
The main reason for the significant growth here was that we started simultaneous digital download sales of packaged software. For this fiscal year, in order to expand our digital business, we are planning to offer new types of content. We will release titles such as “New Super Luigi U,” which is brand-new add-on content updating more than 80 courses from “New Super Mario Bros. U,” and the first free-to-play software from Nintendo.

Also, at the March Game Developers Conference held in San Francisco, we announced to the attending game developers Nintendo Web Framework, which provides a way of developing Wii U software using open web technologies like HTML5 and JavaScript, and the provision of Unity for Wii U.
Since then, we have received great feedback. We have been in contact with more than a thousand parties.
Even though software for dedicated gaming devices has become advanced and complex, we have been working on those new approaches to expand the range of developers for the platform. As digital business expands, there will be even more opportunities for us to do business with small, independent software developers.