Keyser Soze
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SEATTLE -- Nintendo DS, the new $149.99 dual-screen portable video game system from Nintendo, will be in short supply this holiday season, with the company's largest marketing campaign for a hardware launch ever expected to drive strong demand.
The $40 million marketing blitzkrieg will not only help Nintendo sellout the 1 million hardware units shipping in the fall, but also every one of the additional 1 million units earmarked for the first quarter, analysts expect.
As part of its marketing blitz to make sure everyone knows about its new video game handheld, Nintendo will be hosting a celebrity launch party in the fall in Los Angeles.
"We'll use celebrity outreach to get Nintendo DS buzz going for us," said George Harrison, Nintendo of America senior vp marketing and communications.
Nintendo's "lifestyle outreach" also includes its sponsorship of the Fusion Music Tour, which headlines Story of the Year, Lost Prophets and Autopilot Off.
Nintendo's marketing push also will focus on the silver screen. "Gamers are doing a lot more than watching TV today, and we will get their attention in theaters with a big push this December," Harrison said.
In addition to running Nintendo DS ads on 12,000 screens this holiday season, Nintendo will have in-theater promotions in the lobbies. It also will use TV, print and online ads, as well as street teams in a half-dozen big cities.
Nintendo is taking advantage of its "clear window of opportunity," according to Harrison, and now plans on growing its ownership of the portable gaming space by supporting two video game systems.
"Game Boy Advance SP remains a strong system, and Nintendo DS will not replace it," said Perrin Kaplan, Nintendo of America vp marketing and corporate affairs.
The company, however, will phase out its older Game Boy Advance system in the fall, which will leave consumers with a choice of GBA SP ($79.99) or Nintendo DS. The latter is backward compatible, which means anyone who buys the new hardware will be able to play any of the 600 GBA titles on the market. Nintendo also has 124 Nintendo DS games in development worldwide.
It will have more than a dozen Nintendo DS games, retailing for $29.99, on store shelves during the last 35 days of the year to support the launch window. Such publishers as THQ ("The Incredibles" "Scooby-Doo" and "SpongeBob SquarePants"), Electronic Arts ("Madden 2005," "The Urbz: Sims in the City"), Ubisoft ("Rayman," "Sprung") and Namco ("Mr. Driller: Drill Spirits") will have multiple launch titles.
Activision is bringing its successful "Spider-Man 2" movie-game to DS for launch, as well. And Nintendo's own Mario will star in "Super Mario 64 DS," which marks the 10th time that Nintendo has launched a new game system with the famous plumber on hand.
"With games like 'Metroid Prime: Hunters -- First Hunt,' 'Madden' and 'Tiger Woods,' Nintendo is targeting the 18- to 34-year-old demographic instead of the 10- to 18-year-old audience," American Technology Research analyst P.J. McNealy said.
The portable player utilizes a stylus for game play and incorporates voice recognition technology and wireless gaming. The majority of launch titles will make use of wireless game play.
For next year, Nintendo has such first-party titles as "Mario Kart," "Animal Crossing," "WarioWare," "Advance Wars," "Legend of Zelda: Four Swords" and a new Mario game in the pipeline for DS. On the third-party front, Square Enix is working on DS versions of "Final Fantasy III" and "Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles," and EA has "GoldenEye" and "Need for Speed: Underground."
Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America executive vp sales and marketing, recently gathered a small group of journalists and analysts to give them the world's first hands-on experience with the new device.
Fils-Aime also took a shot at Sony, which enters the portable game space in North America next year, saying Nintendo DS has an edge when it comes to battery life and game titles.
"Competition in the console space is good," Harrison said. "It stimulates the market and spurs creativity. Nintendo is fiscally sound and we have a great cast of franchise characters to leverage on DS. Sony doesn't have that."
John Taylor, Arcadia Research video game analyst, said that Nintendo can remain competitive with Sony's entry into the space without a pre-emptive price drop around PSP's launch, though Nintendo could reduce the hardware price for next fall. When Sony does launch PSP in North America, which is slated for March, but could be as late as next fall, it will face two Nintendo portables.
"For Nintendo to remain competitive, they can't just rest on the success of one gaming product," McNealy said. "Come next fall, Nintendo won't just be competing with PSP, they'll be competing with cell phones that play games and PDAs that play games."
The $40 million marketing blitzkrieg will not only help Nintendo sellout the 1 million hardware units shipping in the fall, but also every one of the additional 1 million units earmarked for the first quarter, analysts expect.
As part of its marketing blitz to make sure everyone knows about its new video game handheld, Nintendo will be hosting a celebrity launch party in the fall in Los Angeles.
"We'll use celebrity outreach to get Nintendo DS buzz going for us," said George Harrison, Nintendo of America senior vp marketing and communications.
Nintendo's "lifestyle outreach" also includes its sponsorship of the Fusion Music Tour, which headlines Story of the Year, Lost Prophets and Autopilot Off.
Nintendo's marketing push also will focus on the silver screen. "Gamers are doing a lot more than watching TV today, and we will get their attention in theaters with a big push this December," Harrison said.
In addition to running Nintendo DS ads on 12,000 screens this holiday season, Nintendo will have in-theater promotions in the lobbies. It also will use TV, print and online ads, as well as street teams in a half-dozen big cities.
Nintendo is taking advantage of its "clear window of opportunity," according to Harrison, and now plans on growing its ownership of the portable gaming space by supporting two video game systems.
"Game Boy Advance SP remains a strong system, and Nintendo DS will not replace it," said Perrin Kaplan, Nintendo of America vp marketing and corporate affairs.
The company, however, will phase out its older Game Boy Advance system in the fall, which will leave consumers with a choice of GBA SP ($79.99) or Nintendo DS. The latter is backward compatible, which means anyone who buys the new hardware will be able to play any of the 600 GBA titles on the market. Nintendo also has 124 Nintendo DS games in development worldwide.
It will have more than a dozen Nintendo DS games, retailing for $29.99, on store shelves during the last 35 days of the year to support the launch window. Such publishers as THQ ("The Incredibles" "Scooby-Doo" and "SpongeBob SquarePants"), Electronic Arts ("Madden 2005," "The Urbz: Sims in the City"), Ubisoft ("Rayman," "Sprung") and Namco ("Mr. Driller: Drill Spirits") will have multiple launch titles.
Activision is bringing its successful "Spider-Man 2" movie-game to DS for launch, as well. And Nintendo's own Mario will star in "Super Mario 64 DS," which marks the 10th time that Nintendo has launched a new game system with the famous plumber on hand.
"With games like 'Metroid Prime: Hunters -- First Hunt,' 'Madden' and 'Tiger Woods,' Nintendo is targeting the 18- to 34-year-old demographic instead of the 10- to 18-year-old audience," American Technology Research analyst P.J. McNealy said.
The portable player utilizes a stylus for game play and incorporates voice recognition technology and wireless gaming. The majority of launch titles will make use of wireless game play.
For next year, Nintendo has such first-party titles as "Mario Kart," "Animal Crossing," "WarioWare," "Advance Wars," "Legend of Zelda: Four Swords" and a new Mario game in the pipeline for DS. On the third-party front, Square Enix is working on DS versions of "Final Fantasy III" and "Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles," and EA has "GoldenEye" and "Need for Speed: Underground."
Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America executive vp sales and marketing, recently gathered a small group of journalists and analysts to give them the world's first hands-on experience with the new device.
Fils-Aime also took a shot at Sony, which enters the portable game space in North America next year, saying Nintendo DS has an edge when it comes to battery life and game titles.
"Competition in the console space is good," Harrison said. "It stimulates the market and spurs creativity. Nintendo is fiscally sound and we have a great cast of franchise characters to leverage on DS. Sony doesn't have that."
John Taylor, Arcadia Research video game analyst, said that Nintendo can remain competitive with Sony's entry into the space without a pre-emptive price drop around PSP's launch, though Nintendo could reduce the hardware price for next fall. When Sony does launch PSP in North America, which is slated for March, but could be as late as next fall, it will face two Nintendo portables.
"For Nintendo to remain competitive, they can't just rest on the success of one gaming product," McNealy said. "Come next fall, Nintendo won't just be competing with PSP, they'll be competing with cell phones that play games and PDAs that play games."
