Nintendo may move away from home console development and establish a moon base, says company president

Gemini73 · Last edited by Gemini73 on Sun Jan 06, 2019 12:49 pm, edited 2 times in total.

That's what top Nintendo boy Shuntaro Furukawa has hinted at anyway...

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019 ... -president

Nah.

NickSCFC

They already have, Nintendo Switch is a handheld console that just happens to be bundled with a dock.

It's the successor to the 3DS, not the Wii U.

NickSCFC

I think further Switch iterations will focus on handheld improvements too, including a more pocket friendly "Lite" version and a 1080p screen version.

I'm happy for Nintendo to take this handheld oriented direction in future, provided they don't fall too far behind Sony and Microsoft in terms of specs (eg: support for the latest Unreal Engine version).

Focusing on a single platform is great too, once 3DS dies all of Nintendo's developers and third party partners will be focused on Switch.

There may also be some overlap when their next gen system launches where the Switch is treated in the same way that they currently treat the 3DS with smaller titles.

The translated quote that read to the headline is as follows...

Have you ever run into an “innovation dilemma” – where the company’s past successes were too big, making innovation impossible?

Furukawa: We aren’t really fixated on our consoles. At the moment we’re offering the uniquely developed Nintendo Switch and its software – and that’s what we’re basing how we deliver the “Nintendo experience” on. That being said, technology changes. We’ll continue to think flexibly about how to deliver that experience as time goes on.

It has been over 30 years since we started developing consoles. Nintendo’s history goes back even farther than that, and through all the struggles that they faced the only thing that they thought about was what to make next. In the long-term, perhaps our focus as a business could shift away from home consoles – flexibility is just as important as ingenuity.

Do you expect fluctuations in business performance to continue from here on?

Furukawa: I’m thinking about little ways we can reduce that kind of instability. I’d like to increase the (amount of) games on smartphones that have a continuous stream of revenue. We’re also dabbling in theme parks and movies – different ways to have our characters be a part of everyday life. I’m anticipating a strong synergy like that.

Odious clickbait technique #1: Extract the most extreme possibility from an interview, phrase it as a fact, and stick a question mark on the end.

NickSCFC wrote:They already have, Nintendo Switch is a handheld console that just happens to be bundled with a dock.

It's the successor to the 3DS, not the Wii U.

I disagree. I think it's the convergence between the Wii and the 3DS. It does pretty much everything that both of those did, aside from twin screening, and has sold numbers to back that up. Plus, its price point, as well as the fact Nintendo still sells the 'handheld', shows where it fits in their line-up.

NickSCFC

Poser wrote:I disagree. I think it's the convergence between the Wii and the 3DS. It does pretty much everything that both of those did, aside from twin screening, and has sold numbers to back that up. Plus, its price point, as well as the fact Nintendo still sells the 'handheld', shows where it fits in their line-up.

You do have a point.

Maybe when Nintendo launch systems going forward they'll be more home focused while the previous system is treated more like a handheld with regards to game development.

At that point they'll be back to supporting 2 systems concurrently, but it'll be more of a generational overlap rather than concurrent home and handheld systems.

So early on the system comes with a dock and gets the big 3D Mario, 3D Zelda and Metroid Prime style titles, then towards the end of the lifespan a pocket-friendly version is released with a focus on Pokemon, 2D Zelda, Professor Layton style titles while the bigger games are developed for the upcoming successor.

NickSCFC wrote:They already have, Nintendo Switch is a handheld console that just happens to be bundled with a dock.

It's the successor to the 3DS, not the Wii U.

It's an amalgamation of their handheld and home system businesses, and frankly a very smart move, as it nullifies the expectation of competing directly with Sony & MS that they've suffered with for a decade.

NickSCFC

Alvin Flummux wrote:
NickSCFC wrote:They already have, Nintendo Switch is a handheld console that just happens to be bundled with a dock.

It's the successor to the 3DS, not the Wii U.

It's an amalgamation of their handheld and home system businesses, and frankly a very smart move, as it nullifies the expectation of competing directly with Sony & MS that they've suffered with for a decade.

I always found it frustrating when Nintendo split development between two systems each generation.

While I didn't own a Wii U, I did get my hopes up when a new Direct was announced in anticipation of new games being unveiled only to find that it was 3DS only, a format I had no interest in.

That's still lingering but to a lesser extent, I've been short of Switch games I really want to play lately and Metroid: Samus Returns would've filled a gap for me.

I wouldn't take too much into what he said, though I would be well up for a Nintendo phone.

rinks wrote:Odious clickbait technique #1: Extract the most extreme possibility from an interview, phrase it as a fact, and stick a question mark on the end.

"Would Nintendo ever consider building a Moon base?"

"Well, I don't think we have any plans to expand off-world, but in 200 years who knows where we'll be."

"NINTENDO TO OPEN NEW MOON BASE - CLICK HERE FOR NEWS ON HOW TO GET OFF WORLD WITH MARIO!"

NickSCFC wrote:I think further Switch iterations will focus on handheld improvements too, including a more pocket friendly "Lite" version and a 1080p screen version.

Hilariously I woke up today from a dream that Nintendo had a lower resolution version that came with a Labo cardboard stand and just a cable to connect.

I just can’t see them moving away from console development anytime soon, they seem to have found themselves in a fantastic area of the market with the Switch so I see no reason why they wouldn’t continue improving on the Switch rather than go for a whole reinvention for their next console, plus the Switch is doing pretty well sales wise so it clearly shows they can still shift their hardware whether its marketed more as a home console or a handheld one.

They’ll set up a moon base, and it’ll be completely spartan, lacking all the expected facilities of other moon bases, but it will be ok because Nintendo. Then once everyone has moved there they’ll introduce a monthly fee, and try to justify it by letting you wear 1960s astronaut suits.

That sounds like the plot for a PC immersive FPS.

Hybrid systems are the way forward for consoles. I find it hard to believe the next gen Xbox and PS4 won't allow you to stream to any tablet. They are dabbling with that now on Xperia phones and tablets for example.

Nintendo have spotted the gap in the market and what they have done with the Switch is tremendous, but they need to keep on their toes as their rivals can easily add similar functionality.

captain red dog wrote:Hybrid systems are the way forward for consoles. I find it hard to believe the next gen Xbox and PS4 won't allow you to stream to any tablet. They are dabbling with that now on Xperia phones and tablets for example.

Nintendo have spotted the gap in the market and what they have done with the Switch is tremendous, but they need to keep on their toes as their rivals can easily add similar functionality.

Streaming to another device is very different to being portable as it relies on an internet (or local network) connection. PlayStation has supported it for a long time already.

Nintendo may move away from home console development and establish a moon base, says company president

Who is online

Affiliates