Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata doesn’t want to discuss their next platform, codenamed “NX,” as he fears other developers will take their ideas and it will lessen surprise from fans.
In response to an investor who was worried over the potential split between NX and the WiiU, Iwata said in a shareholder’s meeting earlier this week that “We can’t talk about the NX. If we do, competitors may take our ideas and customers won’t be surprised.” In other words, Iwata won’t be discussing Nintendo’s latest product because of the NX is clearly a new start and a way to get past the troubles of the WiiU. With such secrecy beyond the codename, suspense and hype is building and expectations are rising.
The comments followed Nintendo of America boss Reggie Fils-Amie’s line of thought taken at the Nintendo E3 Digital Event. He also stated that no news would be coming till 2016, which took the wind out of an otherwise lackluster presentation. In fact, this stance has been mirrored throughout, since the initial announcement of Nintendo’s latest console.
However, Iwata’ meeting was significant because he did let slip that the console could be a mixture of home and portable console gaming [speculation]. He said that NX has been designed from the ground up completely fresh, but will not cause development to cease for 3DS or WiiU. Continuing to say discuss how both these have install bases and how Nintendo will ” “We will continue making 3DS and Wii software while preparing for the NX. We are prioritizing satisfying customers who purchased the Wii U.” This would suggest that all focus could be piled into the one console, just not before they have proper time to establish the NX as he rightly said “Immediately cutting off software for previous hardware upon the release of a new machine is inefficient.”
Ultimately, we will simply have to hungrily await 2016 for any news on the new console from Nintendo. For now, we’ll patiently play our consoles despite them now being near replacement-status.