Play Meter

Ci There still will be dedicated games they
have to buy. The system is only a segment
of our industry and not the entire thing. •
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asked themselves are: How do I know the manufacturer
will continue on with it? And , how do I know they won't
raise the price once they get me locked in?
We have answered these objections by consistant
prices we publish in the trade publications and in our
brochure s. We may have been a little slow in getting out
some of the stuff we 've talked about , but Nintendo is
dedicat ed to having at least 15 games in its system with
stable prices.
The third objection operators have voiced: Wh y
should I lock myself into one company? It 's a stupid
question in the first place because when you buy a
dedicated game you lock yourself into that company-
obviously. You buy a kit and you also lock yourself into
that company. When you buy a system, you lock your·
self in too , but there's more potential with a system for
improve ment and upgrading games. Would an operator
rather spend $3 ,000 for a dedicated game and be locked
in or a third of that and be locked into a system offering a
variety of games that are easy to change .
Ni ntendo has been approached by several different
companies who , because of the number of systems
Nintendo has out, are in the process of developing games
for Nintendo.
You're saying that other manufacturers see an
advantage in developing games for your system
instead of marketing their games themselves?
That's right. Let's do the numbers. Manufacturing is
really just a numbers game. The top dedicated game is
going to sell maybe 7,000 units in today's marketplace .
The people who make the boards can make $100 profit
therein from Japan, and that 's $700 ,000. It may cost a
couple hundred thousand to build it , so if they come out
with a stone hit they might make half a million. A
dedicated kit that is a "10" and I'm talking about on the
level of Commando or Yie Ar K ung Fu , may sell only
8,000 to 9 ,000 . We 're talking about the same money for
kits .
By comparison , say this company comes to us with
the same hot game . We have 100,000 systems out there
and we know that we can do 20 percent of the market,
and they make $75 a game from us. Now we're talking
about a million and a half instead of the half million. The
numbers make sense .
Of c ourse, Nintendo is the most popular system
out right now, the system is inexpensive and the
conversions are cheap, but do you think systems in
general will a chieve anywhere near that success?
Yes, I think so. Sente has made some inroads. Atari
has a couple of systems out now. Both of these
companies are seeing success . The selection Sente has
for its system is numerous and Atar i is adding to theirs.
However, I don't believe that operators can operate
only system games. There still will be dedicated games
they have to buy, and there will be kits they will have to
buy. The system is only a segment of our industry and
not the entire thing . ·
Do y ou think systems will ever be interchangeable
allowing software from one system to be used in
other systems' hardware or do you see a need for
that?
I really don't see that happening although some
would like to see it happen. But a system is not like a
jukebox where you say, OK , everyone design 45 rpm
records or let's all go to a video disk . What we are dealing
with here is engineers . Our company's hardware
enginee rs may decide that one system is good for doing
ABC and maybe Sente's hardware people may say they
don't want to do ABC , but want to do XYZ . So you have
the creative people coming up with different ways to
somewhat do the same thing. We are dealing with
geniuses and its pretty hard to believe we could get all the
geniuses to think the same way. To be very honest, it
would be bad if they did all think alike because it would
stagnate growth and development.
Is that perhaps why Atari has the two systems,
because each one is unique in certain features?
I think that's why. One has higher resolution . They
are different systems.
Do y ou think Nintendo will come out with a System
II?
We have Pun ch Out!! which is really a system. We
have had two games for it already and are soon coming
out with another. We promised two but are working on a
third .
But Punch Out!! is not really a system as we per-
ceive a system nor was it promoted as a system.
Punch Out!! was a very strong game. It wasn't
promoted as a aystem although the subsequent games
are just software changes.
But since Punch Out!! was such a strong game,
operators didn't buy it based on what was to come
but simply because it was a good game. However,
with systems, doesn 't an operator have to base his
decision on future expectations?
Punch Out!! was strong on its own, but so are our
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PLAY METER. October 1. 1985
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