In addition, the GamePad is the only video game platform with an NFC (near-field communication) reader/writer function. “Pokémon Rumble U” has already taken advantage of this function, but aside from this title, Wii U has failed to make use of the full potential of this function so far, despite it being a built-in feature.
This year, we will make full use of this function by preparing multiple proposals, including the implementation of NFC payments with JR East’s “Suica,” which we announced on a previous occasion. We will showcase our detailed propositions for utilizing the NFC functionality at E3 in Los Angeles in June.

Also, one of the major benefits of the GamePad is that we can easily play video games without using the TV, and this has been well received. Unfortunately, however, after starting up Wii U, there is a wait of over 20 seconds before we can select a video game title, and hence it is not an ideal situation for users now.

To solve this problem, a quick start menu for the GamePad will become a reality after a future system update planned for early summer.
This new function is currently under development, and although we cannot show a demo with a real machine, we have made a video to show you what the function can do, so please take a look.

The quick start menu enables you to load one of the software titles you have recently played without being routed to the console menu. From the start, the GamePad has been equipped with a “TV Button,” which is used to start the TV Remote functionality. The GamePad can complete this function without starting up the Wii U console, and so you can turn on the TV almost instantaneously by pushing the TV Button. The quick start menu uses the same mechanism as the TV Button.
We think that this function will make you feel that the time to start up a Wii U software title is cut by more than 50 percent, and that it will also lead to more Wii U users understanding the appealing nature of the GamePad.

On top of that, after spending more than a year on the research and development theme of taking advantage of the GamePad’s features,

We are now sure that we can solve the technical problem of displaying Virtual Console software from Nintendo DS on the GamePad.
The dual-screen Nintendo DS, one of which is a touch screen, has a very strong software lineup, and so we plan to add the Virtual Console titles from Nintendo DS software to the future Virtual Console lineup for Wii U.

As I explained, we will focus on enriching the value of the GamePad to give momentum to Wii U this year.

We will announce the specific release dates of each software title and the release of new titles in other opportunities such as Nintendo Direct, but today we would like to announce that a key title for Wii U this year, “Mario Kart 8,” is scheduled to be released globally in May (though it says on page 6 of the supplemental information that it will be released in spring 2014). To create huge momentum, we would like to ensure that the release of titles such as “Mario Kart 8” is not a one-off event.

On the other hand, the situation for Nintendo 3DS is very different from Wii U. Even though we weren’t able to achieve explosive growth in the overseas markets during the year-end sales season, the fact remains that Nintendo 3DS was the top-selling game device around the world last year.
In the Japanese market, in particular, although Nintendo 3DS fell slightly short of the 5 million unit mark, it did reach sales of 4.9 million units in total for the calendar year. As I repeatedly stated, if one considers that apart from Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS, no other game system in its peak years has achieved annual sales of 4 million units after the year 2000, we can say that the domestic sales of Nintendo 3DS remained at an extraordinary high level in 2013 as well. In the U.S. market, an independent market research company called NPD publishes data which shows that Nintendo 3DS became the game device with the highest share in the last calendar year with lifetime hardware unit sales exceeding 11.50 million units.

The worldwide hardware sales of Nintendo 3DS have reached 42.74 million units, a sufficient size to expand this platform business.
To symbolize this, “Puzzle & Dragons,” which has been successful using an entirely different business model as a game on smart devices, has also appeared on Nintendo 3DS as the packaged software “Puzzle & Dragons Z” and sold over one million units in no less than one month since its debut in the Japanese market. “Angry Birds,” which also has been successful on smart devices, appeared on Nintendo 3DS as Activision’s packaged software “Angry Birds Trilogy” in the year-end season two years ago and made an impact on the game business when it sold over half a million units in a short time. Now that they have observed the success of “Puzzle & Dragons Z,” the number of companies who have approached Nintendo with an offer to provide Nintendo 3DS with the titles which they originally designed for and grew on smart devices has been increasing. As this example illustrates, the Nintendo 3DS platform has already reached a scale with enough business potential for not only the titles invented for game devices but also the ones originally made for other platforms.
With the overall software lineup, we aim to make this year and the next one a profit-generating phase for Nintendo 3DS.

I would now like to turn to our medium- to long-term prospects.

Let me first talk about redefining the concept of a video game platform.
This medium-term goal is not expected to come to full fruition within the timeframe of this current calendar year. However, I feel that this is going to play an extremely crucial role in deciding whether dedicated video game platforms can adjust to rapid environmental changes in today’s market and can develop as a sound business.

The traditional definition of a video game platform was closely related to some kind of hardware and it would be no exaggeration to say that platforms were equivalent in meaning to physical devices.