Furukawa-era of Nintendo is just different, you would never in a million years under Iwata see TV commercials like this Metroid Prime 4 spot which is highlighting 120 FPS performance as a central part of the game's marketing:
The first Nintendo hardware released under Furukawa was also the Switch OLED, which also I think is a subtle but telling change of direction for Nintendo. In the past Nintendo wouldn't market a hardware revision based around a screen technology specifically, OLED is something "Casual Joe" wouldn't even know, they don't know the differences in screen display technology. But Nintendo did it and now you see hardware vendors like Steam copying that exact hardware progression (regular model to OLED model).
Even when you look at the Switch OLED and Switch 2 ... both the main OLED model (the white one) and the Switch 2 look a lot less ... toy like than previous Nintendo hardware. Less color, more of a premium electronics feel.
Switch Lite was under Kimishima, Furukawa came in after that had released so Switch OLED and Switch 2 are the two hardware products under his leadership. Nintendo isn't chasing ridiculous tier performance, but performance is definitely back on the menu, Switch 2 official marketing and even mainstream marketing like TV spots make note of things like 4K resolution and 120 FPS, something Nintendo didn't do even with the GameCube.
I think Nintendo hardware will more competent going forward under Furukawa with equal emphasis on having good performance at a reasonable cost (not dirt cheap, but not ridiculously expensive either). The new hardware designers at Nintendo and the president are younger and likely have more modern ideas about hardware than the older farts on Nintendo's board who are now retired or gone did. Those guys grew up in the 1950s/60s before game consoles even existed, the new wave of Nintendo leadership and hardware designers are guys who grew up in the 1990s, definitely going to be a difference there.
Switch 2 being called the Switch 2 even in the past I 100% bet Nintendo's older guard would've said "no we can't call a console Switch 2 because that's a Sony thing and Nintendo doesn't do that". Furukawa doesn't care about that, he grew up with a Playstation as well like most Japanese college age kids did circa 1996, it's nothing off limits to him, if something benefits Nintendo, they'll do it going forward, I think there's going to be far less stubborn backwardness on things due to "well Nintendo doesn't do that". That's the past, Furukawa doesn't care as much about that.
Last edited by Soundwave - on 24 October 2025
