Original Interview: http://nintendoeverything.com/kimishima-comments-on-nintendo-movies-mobile-nx/
Interview conducted between current President of Nintendo, Tatsumi Kimishima and Asahi Shimbun.
-What are your thoughts on your next-generation console, NX?
It’s something very new. The hardware, the software lineup, all of it is something I’d like to play for the first time myself.
-By releasing in March 2017, you’re missing end-of-year sales. Isn’t that a bit late?
It’s for the purposes of our game development schedule. When people finish the launch titles, they’ll want things to buy in spring, on summer break, at Christmas. As such, it’s not simply a question of when the hardware’s ready; rather, we need to ensure our software lineup is also in a good place.
-Is that in response to criticisms that the Wii U stalled out due to lack of games?
That was indeed a learning experience for us. However, it’s also true that we were struggling with the exchange rate at the time as well.
-Given the NX will be released next March, won’t that cause people to stop buying consoles this year?
Our business is a lively one. Of course, if you compare the Wii U to the Wii, you understand that situation. When the NX is released, the Wii U business will slow. But the 3DS has Pokemon coming this autumn, and that’s such a big hit that I can’t imagine the NX will have a negative impact on the 3DS.
-It seems more to me that the NX will have an effect on the Wii U due to the fact that both will be consoles.
I suppose it can be seen that way. However, the NX is neither the successor to the Wii U nor to the 3DS. It’s a new way of playing games, which I think will have a larger impact than the Wii U, but I don’t feel it’s a pure replacement for the Wii U.
-The forecast for the fiscal year ending March 2017 remains unchanged from last year. However, projected Wii U sales are 240,000 units behind. Do you feel the NX will sell enough to make up that difference?
The NX is still an uncertain quantity, so any numbers are tentative. However, it’s true it will be difficult unless we foster a strong interest in the NX in our customers. In addition, I have high hopes for the sales of our smartphone apps.
-I am curious about the price. Nintendo has a history of value-focused consoles.
It’s true there is a certain expectation for the prices of Nintendo consoles. Our developers put a lot into them, but we can not sell at a loss. The final price is determined by balancing these two conflicting ideas. I don’t believe it’s as simple as “because this is a new platform, we can make it more expensive.”
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So, I think we can gain from this interview is that NX is not necessarily what we believe to be a traditional console, but it will still slow sales of the Wii U... Interesting enough, NX is projected to not impact the sales of the 3DS hinting that it isn't a handheld. There's a lot of information for the picking here. Feel free to pick at any information here, it's actually got some interesting bits here.
Ultimately, the "New way to play games" thing is scaring me stiff. It is most likely gimmick focused with wording like that. Oh NX, so close yet so far away. Thoughts?
If this has already been posted, please lock it.
