Nintendo president says the company could move away from home consoles

By Gabe Gurwin Updated January 7, 2019

Nintendo Switch review

Almost every Nintendo game ever made has been released on the company’s own hardware, whether that be the primitive Game & Watch stand-alone systems or the newer Switch, but it appears that approach could change in the future.

In an interview with Nikkei translated by Nintendo Everything, new Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa was asked about the risk that goes into having a role in both the software and hardware businesses, and running into an “innovation dilemma.”

In response, Furukawa said that the company will continue to “think flexibly” about how Nintendo delivers experiences to players. This could mean moving away from home consoles entirely, he added.

“In the long-term, perhaps our focus as a business could shift away from home consoles — flexibility is just as important as ingenuity,” Furukawa said.

Nintendo Switch review — Nate Barrett/Digital Trends

Furukawa’s wording doesn’t make it clear whether that will mean moving away from all consoles, or simply developing hardware that operates in multiple setups, such as the Nintendo Switch. The Switch’s success — combined with the age of the 3DS — has made it Nintendo’s primary focus, but Nintendo hasn’t ruled out releasing another dedicated handheld device. 3DS games continue to come out, as well, though at a reduced rate than they were prior to the Switch’s launch in 2017.

When Nintendo has experienced hiccups, such as with the early troubles with the 3DS and the entirety of the Wii U’s lifespan, there have been calls for the company to shift its focus entirely to software. Of course, then something like the Nintendo Switch comes out, reignites interest in the Nintendo brand, and that debate is pushed back once again.

Because Nintendo systems are typically best known for first-party games, that argument does have some weight, but the Switch seems to be changing that perception. Alongside games like Super Mario Odyssey and Splatoon 2, the Switch has also gotten quite a bit of support from third-party publishers. Bethesda, Ubisoft, and Take-Two have all released several of their games on the system, where its portability and flexibility has made it the platform of choice for some players. Buying games a second time, just for the convenience the Switch offers, isn’t out of the question, either.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…

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https://twitter.com/GameHistoryOrg/status/1494398068346654720
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Officially, Nintendo’s FAQ on the eShop closures says “this is part of the natural life cycle for any product line as it becomes less used by consumers over time." The answer doesn’t get into specifics and might confuse those still playing games on the system or fans of games only available on Wii U or 3DS. Omdia Principal Analyst Matthew Bailey explains Nintendo’s user base argument in more detail, highlighting the massive gap between the number of people playing the Switch as opposed to the Wii U.
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If one is going off just the numbers, it’s sensible that Nintendo would want to focus on the majority of its players. Bailey admits that “Switch users are already reaping the benefits of Nintendo’s singular first-party development focus on one platform.” Still, one might argue that Nintendo should just let the eShops remain up even if it isn’t actively updating or maintaining them.

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“As these systems age, they require patches, security, special contracts, updates, and personnel that know how they were built (and maintained),” his Twitter thread explains. “As time goes on, there are security holes, servers, code, infrastructure, etc., that can’t be brought up to modern standards. It becomes a constant struggle between maintaining legacy systems, paying people to do so, and trying to keep up with global regulations. It’s not cheap by any means. They can’t just ‘leave the lights on’ and stop supporting them. What if someone hacked the payment processor?”
With every passing year, the Wii U and 3DS eShops likely became more expensive to maintain and an increased security risk for the video game publisher. Instead of investing the time and resources into pleasing a smaller amount of players, the easier option is to turn everything off entirely. While he isn’t affiliated with Nintendo, Game Over Thirty’s assessment aligns with what we’ve heard from Nintendo and Omdia.
"The Wii U’s global active installed base will drop under one million in 2022."

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