The next few weeks and months are incredibly important for Nintendo’s fiscal year as they gear up to launch both Pokemon: Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee later this week alongside the early December launch date for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
In the midst of all of this, Nintendo of America’s head Reggie Fils-Aime has expressed nothing but hope and optimism surrounding their lineup this holiday season. In a recent interview with Kotaku, Fils-Aime hyped up Nintendo’s upcoming lineup and continued to believe that the company will reach their internal goals by the end of this fiscal year. Despite this, however, that doesn’t mean that Fils-Aime wouldn’t want to change a few things this year if given the opportunity.
Speaking about Super Smash Bros. Ultimate specifically, Fils-Aime said he would have preferred to see the next installment of the classic fighting series launch earlier in the year due to the challenge that comes with releasing in December. Fils-Aime’s full statement said the following:
“Would I have loved to have seen, as an example, Smash Bros. launch earlier in the year? Certainly. An early December launch is challenging. It’s challenging from a business perspective. It’s challenging from a retailer perspective.
But having said that, as I look at the pace of growth we’ve had, our ability to bring Fortnite to the system, our ability to have Diablo III on the system, Wolfenstein, you look at the third-party support which has been quite strong, when you look at the independent community support which has been quite strong, I believe when you and I reconnect in January and we look at our performance through the first 22 months of its life cycle, I believe we’re going to be exceptionally proud of the result here in the U.S. of what Nintendo Switch has been able to do.”
I’d imagine that missing out on Black Friday is something that really bothered Fils-Aime about this December launch date for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Skipping out on the biggest shopping day of the year is surely going to haunt you if you’re in the business of moving units at retail.
Still, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will surely be Nintendo’s biggest-seller of the year and even if its launch date is somewhat less than ideal, consumers will still show up in droves to purchase it for themselves on launch day.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is slated to release on December 7, exclusively for Switch.