Fils-Aime: 'I Like Our Chances' Against Rival Motion Controls

Nintendo of America Reggie Fils-Aime is unconcerned about motion control solutions from Sony and Microsoft -- and says no one has offered him even a demo of either new technology. "We applaud anything that will further expand the market of game players; it's in everyone's best interest," he said at BMO Capital Markets' Digital Entertainment conference in New York. "But all of this talk around new motion controllers does make me think about the people who initially said that the Wii Remote was just a fad," he added. "I wonder what happened to those people?" "For some reason," continued Fils-Aime, "No one's invited me to a firsthand demo of either of the other motion controllers reportedly in development. I don't know what they'll cost, and I don't know what software they'll operate." But Nintendo, Fils-Aime said, has sold 22 million Wii consoles in the U.S. -- plus an additional 26 million Wii remotes sold either as separate accessories or as a Wii Play pack-in. Additionally, Wii's Motion Plus accessory has sold over 3.8 million units since launch, he added. "Wii Motion Plus represents our second generation of motion control before anyone else has even introduced a comparable device," said Fils-Aime. "Yes, it could be that our current 100 percent marketshare in motion control could lose a couple of points," he said. "But... with a head-start of over 51 million controllers, I still like our chances." Fils-Aime also asserted that the market-expanding potential of motion control may have already been exhausted by Wii. "How much more can the expanded audience expand?" he wondered. Nintendo's research finds "tens of millions" of Americans interested in becoming gamers who haven't yet bought a console -- more than half of them are female, and the largest share over 25. Fils-Aime implied these remaining consumers are more likely to be reached by Wii's "continuing redefinition of what a video game is, along with increased pick-up-and-play capabilities."