There are rumors circulating that the Nintendo NX will launch next year, but despite that we still have precious little information about the console. Aside from patent filings that may or may not be related to it, we have very little idea what Nintendo’s next piece of hardware will be like. Now in a new interview with Time, Nintendo’s new president Tatsumi Kimishima says you shouldn’t expect a replacement for the Wii U.
We talked about the transition from Wii hardware to the Wii U hardware and how difficult it is to explain to the consumer base what is different and new about the new hardware. It’s difficult to convince them to switch from their current platform to the next platform. That being said, I can assure you we’re not building the next version of Wii or Wii U. It’s something unique and different. It’s something where we have to move away from those platforms in order to make it something that will appeal to our consumer base.
Kimishima was also quick to include that the name NX is not the official name, but a codename that has been used during development and to speak to the press about Nintendo’s upcoming hardware.
As for the codename NX, I don’t believe that there’s any real meaning behind it, and to be perfectly honest, I don’t know where it came from. Or perhaps Mr. Iwata had meant to tell me and then never got the chance.
As for the Wii U, Kimishima also stated that Nintendo is doing what it can to keep from abandoning the platform, especially its staunch supporters.
At this point in the Wii U lifespan, we’re looking at 10 million sell-through for the hardware itself, which is just about a tenth of what we sold overall for Wii.
What I want to do, I think our first job right now is to make sure that the customers, those 10 million customers who have a Wii U at home have software to play. And we need to make sure that they are satisfied with their purchase and continue to enjoy playing on this platform. So we can’t just abandon them and say ‘Hey, it’s time to move on to the next thing.’ Of course we are working on NX and looking at the experiences we can bring to that platform. But first our job at this point is to support the consumers who have purchase Wii U and make sure that they have software experiences available to them.
So it seems as though Nintendo won’t be dropping the Wii U in favor of the NX and the NX is not something that will immediately replace the Wii U in their development portfolio. What do you think of this information? If you want to read the full interview with Tatsumi Kimishima, you can check it out here.
