Furukawa era is going to be different from the Iwata era just as the Iwata era was very different from the Yamauchi era. I said this many times and it's playing out in real time.
The only people who are dumbfounded by this are those who think Nintendo started existence in 2004 with the DS (or were vaguely the Game Boy company before that) or were going to operate like it's 2004-2006 forever.
We're in a different era, Nintendo becoming more of a premium brand as they get an older buyer base always made sense. Companies like Microsoft fading out of the hardware business also changes things, Nintendo simply doesn't like things when they are over crowded, but once there is room to operate ... well then, all bets are off.
There are no revolutionary tech gimmicks that can drive mass hardware anyway. The touchscreen and motion controls are coming up on 20+ years and there hasn't been since then anything that major. VR is more of an outgrowth of motion gaming and VR has its limitations and is not likely to drive 100+ million units (let alone 150 million). This isn't just a "Nintendo thing" ... everyone would love some brand new killer app interface ... you think Apple and Google and Meta and all these huge market cap companies that dwarf Nintendo and Sony wouldn't want that too? In fact nowadays they would be first to something like that, they have far larger R&D. No one's been able to make it because there's simply nothing that makes sense. A 2-3 year old can use a touch interface, you can't really get any easier/simpler/more dumbed down than that.
Last edited by Soundwave - on 15 April 2025
