Nintendo recently held an event where they discussed the financial situation of the company, potential for another price drop, and the release schedule for their software. Iwata didn’t give any good discussion topics for price cuts; he denied them immediately. However, he did give us a few details as to how his company plans to launch most of the games 3DS owners have been dying for. In short, he said that Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 are the only 3DS games from Nintendo that will be available this Holiday. Others, like Luigi’s Mansion 2 and Kid Icarus: Uprising will be held into 2012, despite being finished or almost finished. Wii owners have already gotten Kirby’s Return to Dreamland, and the new Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword will most likely be the last high-profile Wii release when it sees store shelves later this month.
Really, this is nothing new for the gaming industry. Some developers tend to focus on releasing their games in the summer months, where it won’t be caught in the middle of games like Modern Warfare 3, Battlefield 3, Uncharted 3, Batman: Arkham City, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, and Saints Row: The Third. Nintendo is just trying to maximize profit, not to mention keep a few games on the horizon so as to avoid the drought of new compelling software for any of their platforms that has is just beginning to end.
