Nintendo on NX: “For us It’s Not About Specs”

Back in the early days of home consoles, Nintendo released systems with impressive specifications which featured superb graphics and excellent third party support. Even the Gamecube managed to uphold this idea and utilised better hardware than the PlayStation 2. All this changed with the Wii which targeted the casual gaming market and sold in unbelievable numbers. On the other hand, there was a lack of power compared to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 which meant many titles with astounding graphics never made it to the Wii. This strategy also applies to the Wii U which suffers from a complete lack of third party support and released at a time when Microsoft and Sony were preparing their new consoles. Despite having a number of brilliant exclusive games including Bayonetta 2, Pikmin 3 and others, the Wii U sold very poorly and is Nintendo’s worst major home console so far from a financial point of view. Of course, Nintendo is readying their next system, the NX which remains a mystery to most people. There’s been an assortment of rumours regarding its “unique concept”, horsepower and form factor. In an interview with Bloomberg, Nintendo of America’s president and chief operating officer Reggie Fils-Aimé said:

“For us it’s not about specs, it’s not about teraflops, it’s not about the horsepower of a particular system.”

“For it’s about the content. Nintendo is a content-focused company We create entertainment that makes people smile.”

“So for us, we’re focused on bringing our best entertainment to both the Wii U as well as the NX in the future.” 

“So far us, whatever Microsoft and Sony are doing in terms of talking about new systems, that’s for them to fight out in that red ocean.”

This isn’t the kind of response I was hoping for especially since Nintendo really needs to attract third party studios. Don’t get me wrong, power isn’t everything and many Nintendo games are incredibly fun on fairly modest hardware. However, the NX should be powerful enough to drive innovation and give developers the tools to create something really special. If the NX is extremely underpowered compared to the PlayStation Neo and Xbox Scorpio, it could become a niche device and struggle to compete. Saying that, Nintendo doesn’t appear to be overly concerned and feels happy to sell their console as a different kind of gaming device to the competition.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xhl5sk9i6Mk

Image courtesy of YouTube channel Rawdjent Productions.