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February 15th, 2021, 23:20 Posted By: wraggster
Nintendo has reportedly increased the amount of damages it is requesting in its lawsuit against Japanese developer and publisher Colopl.
The platform holder filed a lawsuit against Colopl in January 2018 over patent infringement, but with the case still ongoing, Nintendo has now factored in various fees that have built up over time.
The increase was revealed in a statement by Colopl, spotted by Famitsu and translated by Siliconera.
According to reports, the amount Nintendo is claimed has risen from ¥4.4 billion ($41.7 million) to ¥4.95 ($42 million).
Nintendo is arguing that the studio's mobile RPG White Cat Project infringes on as many as five patents the platform holder filed between 2001 and 2006.
These include a control scheme for emulating a joystick with a touch screen, multiplayer connectivity functions, a 'shadowing effect' used to show characters obscured by in-game objects (as seen in 3D Mario games), and characters automatically targeting enemies new a point where the touch screen is pressed.
Siliconera reports Colopl is "confident that our game does not infringe upon Nintendo's patent rights" and will continue to defend this stance.
Nintendo reportedly raises damages sought in Colopl lawsuit to $47m | GamesIndustry.biz
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February 16th, 2021, 22:13 Posted By: wraggster
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury was comfortably the biggest game at UK boxed retail last week, and is the fastest selling release of the year so far.
The Switch platform game is an updated re-release of the 2013 Wii U title, complete with a new side-adventure. Its launch is almost three times the size of the original game, which debuted at No.14 back in late November 2013 (on the same day as the PS4 launch). It's worth noting that the Wii U install base was tiny back then compared with the Switch.
It is actually the third biggest launch for a Mario platform game on Nintendo Switch, ahead of the 2D games -- Super Mario Maker 2 (June 2019) and New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe (January 2019) -- but behind the 3D titles -- Super Mario Odyssey (October 2017) and Super Mario 3D All-Stars (September 2020), which seems somewhat fitting for a game that is a cross between Mario's 2D and 3D adventures. The title's launch physical sales are more than 2.6 times bigger than New Super Mario Bros U, but nearly a third smaller than Super Mario 3D All-Stars.
Overall, it looks like a solid performance. There are a number of Mario games being pushed in the market right now competing with one another, including last year's All-Stars game. In fact, the 3D collection (no.12) saw an 11% spike in sales this week and Super Mario Odyssey (No.14) enjoyed a 28% sales increase. With Mario Kart 8: Deluxe at No.5, New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe at No.16, Super Mario Party at No.18 and Luigi's Mansion 3 at No.19, there are seven games set in the Mario universe in the boxed Top 20.
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury launch 190% bigger than Wii U original | UK Boxed Charts | GamesIndustry.biz
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February 16th, 2021, 22:32 Posted By: wraggster
The Pokémon Company has cancelled the Pokémon World Championships for a second year in a row.
The event was originally due to take place in London last August, but was cancelled due to the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
It was pushed back to August 2021, but with COVID-19 still affecting many countries -- including the UK -- the company has decided to delay the championships into next year.
"After careful review and pursuant to guidance set forth by local, regional and national health authorities, as well as the World Health Organisation, Public Health England, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, we have made the difficult decision to move out the next Pokémon World Championships to 2022," the statement said.
The company added that all invitations to the 2020 championships will still be honoured in 2022.
"We look forward to celebrating the accomplishments of all our competitors at an expanded 2022 Pokémon World Championships in London."
The Pokémon Company reiterated that the Play! Pokémon event series remains suspended, with all sanctioned events -- including League Challenge, League Cup, Premier Challenger and Midseason Showdown -- also on hold until further notice.
Pokémon World Championships 2021 cancelled | GamesIndustry.biz
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February 16th, 2021, 23:09 Posted By: wraggster
Nintendo has given insight into its priorities when growing the Switch's install base as the console approaches the 100 million mark.
In its most recent financial results, the platform holder revealed Switch has sold just shy of 80 million units -- just 21 million short of the Wii, the company's best-selling home console to date.
In a conference call that followed, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa answered questions on how firm plans to close this gap, indicating that selling multiple units to each household remains a key goal.
According to Nintendo's own research, 20% of Switches sold throughout October to December in key markets was "due to demand for multiple systems within the same family."
"We will aim to continuing increasing our sales volume by rigorously responding to this kind of demand for multiple systems," said Furukawa.
The Switch's back catalogue of million-selling titles will also continue to be key in growing Switch, with Nintendo revealing that 80% of games sold in major regions from April to December 2020 were ones released in the previous financial year, or earlier.
That includes Animal Crossing: New Horizons, of course, which released in March -- the tail end of the fiscal year. However, even without this title, back catalogue games accounted for 60% of Nintendo's software sales in the first nine months of its current financial year.
Key examples cited included Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Super Smash Bros Ultimate, Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Party. Furukawa also noted a boost in sales of Mario games around the holidays thanks to the Super Mario Bros 35th Anniversary campaign.
Nintendo discusses Switch growth plans as console enters "middle of its lifecycle" | GamesIndustry.biz
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February 17th, 2021, 00:06 Posted By: wraggster
Nintendo Switch has eclipsed the lifetime sales of the 3DS in less than four years, Nintendo has said.
The firm revealed in its latest financial report that 79.87 million Switch devices have been shipped worldwide. The console is currently Nintendo's fifth best-selling machine behind the Nintendo DS (154 million), Nintendo Wii (101.6 million), the Game Boy (118.7 million) and the Game Boy Advance (81.5 million).
In terms of sell-through (so in the hands of consumers, Switch sales are at around 74 million, Nintendo estimates.
532.34 million Switch games have been sold since its release in March 2017, putting it behind just the DS (948.72 million software sales) and Wii (921.85 million).
The sales figures are part of the company's latest financials for the nine months ending December 31st 2020, where the firm has already hit its annual net sales target of ¥1.4 trillion ($13.4 billion), a 37% increase over the year before. Overseas sales (outside of Japan) accounted for 77.6% of sales.
Digital sales accounted for ¥256 million ($2.4 billion) of the revenue, which includes Nintendo Switch Online, full game downloads, plus sales of DLC such as the Pokémon Sword and Shield expansions released last year. That's a rise of 105% over the year before. Meanwhile, the firm's mobile business hit a still modest ¥42 billion ($401 million), which is an increase of 14% over the year before.
The company's operating profits for the nine months is ¥521.1 billion ($5 billion), which is a 98% jump over the same period the year before.
The firm has now raised its full year revenue forecast to ¥1.6 trillion ($15.3 billion) and expects to deliver profits of ¥560 billion ($5.34 billion).
Nintendo Switch shipped 24.1 million units over the 9 month period, a rise of 36% compared with the same period the year prior, and making it the most successful sales period for the console to-date. 16.7 million was of the normal Switch variant, with the remaining 7.3 million being the Switch Lite device. 24 million was the company's previous estimate, and now Nintendo says it will ship 26.5 million by the end of March.
Nintendo Switch sales overtake 3DS as Nintendo raises forecasts again | GamesIndustry.biz
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February 17th, 2021, 00:18 Posted By: wraggster
The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) is bringing the Joy-Con drift issue in front of the European Commission.
BEUC, which gathers 45 European consumer groups, said on its website that there have been nearly 25,000 complaints across Europe regarding the infamous Joy-Con drift, which sees the Nintendo Switch controllers registering movement without any input from the player.
The organisation has therefore submitted a complaint (that you can read here) to the European Commission and the national consumer protection authorities, for premature obsolescence and "misleading omissions of key consumer information."
BEUC is calling for a Europe-wide investigation into the issue, and for Nintendo to "urgently address" the "premature failures" of its controllers. BEUC reported that, in 88% cases of Joy-Con drift, the controllers broke within the first two years of use.
The organisation is hoping for the European Commission to "launch a coordinated enforcement action and issue a joint position," which could lead to Nintendo changing the design of the Switch controllers.
BEUC director general Monique Goyens commented: "Consumers assume the products they buy to last an appropriate amount of time according to justified expectations, not to have to pay for expensive replacements due to a technical defect. Nintendo must now come up with proper solutions for the thousands of consumers affected by this problem.
European Commission called to investigate into Joy-Con drift | GamesIndustry.biz
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