Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has told The Wall Street Journal that the company has no intention of making its key titles available on tablets and smartphones over fears it will damage the brand and also impact on Nintendo 3DS sales.
“The spread of smart devices does not spell the end of game consoles. It’s not that simple,” President Satoru Iwata said at a news conference Friday. The key is to figure out a way to use smartphones to make people aware of Nintendo’s games, and encourage them to try out the console version of the games, Mr. Iwata said.
“It doesn’t mean that we should put Mario on smartphones,” he said.
In the meantime, it is worth noting that Nintendo is beefing up its research and development budget, and that Mr. Iwata promises to surprise game players in the future. While there are plenty of unknowns, Nintendo isn’t saying game over to consoles just yet.
mynintendonews.com
Predictions for LT console sales:
PS4: 120M
XB1: 70M
WiiU: 14M
3DS: 60M
Vita: 13M