Nintendo NX to Have Universal Appeal of the Wii

The Nintendo Wii was a surprise hit, which bridged the gap between traditional gamers and relative novices with its intuitive motion controls and family-friendly games. Now, after the relative failure of the Wii U – hamstrung by poor marketing, a dearth of launch titles, and a confusing name – Nintendo is attempting to capture lightning in a bottle for a second time with the forthcoming NX, which is strongly rumoured to be a home/portable hybrid console.

Shinya Takahashi, General Manager of Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development, has indicated that the Japanese company will attempt to employ the same marketing strategy it did with the Wii, aiming to appeal to hardcore and casual gamers alike.

“I can’t talk about this in detail yet, but we are aiming so that neither people who like games nor moms dislike it,” Takahashi told Nikkei Trendy (translation courtesy of WCCFTech). “I think that I want to release a game device that both customers who have much experience in gaming and customers who haven’t played much can enjoy greatly.”

“We are paying attention to that. Having said that, it isn’t about drastically increasing the amount of development staff,” Takahashi added. “To be specific, software development teams and teams that create the development environment are thinking about the NX lineup together.”

“For example,” he explained, “a software development team may have a request ‘if we had this library, then development would progress quickly’. Teams creating the development environment respond to that by considering ‘if we prepare an environment like this, then development will go smoothly’, and they actually discuss with development teams and hear their opinions and prioritize those things.”

“We have built a stronger cooperative relationship compared to what is was before and are making efforts so that software can be developed smoothly,” Takahashi concluded.

While the NX is slated for release in March 2017, firm details on the new hardware are scant. Nintendo is expected to unveil the new console before the end of the year.