Nintendo put themselves on the other side of the so called ‘hardcore-casual’ divide of the gaming industry with the Wii and to a lesser extent, the DS- and while they have been trying to bridge that gap ever since, especially with the follow up Wii U and 3DS, on the whole, there is an argument to be made that their systems appeal to the casual gaming audience first, and core gaming audiences second.
However, with the NX, Nintendo is aiming for a machine that can truly appeal to both demographics. Speaking to Nikkei Trendy (via Nintendo Everything), Shinya Takahashi, General Manager of Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development discussed some of Nintendo’s intended strategy with the new system.
“I can’t talk about this in detail yet, but we are aiming so that neither people who like games nor moms dislike it. I think that I want to release a game device that both customers who have much experience in gaming and customers who haven’t played much can enjoy greatly,” he said.
In a sense, that does sound a bit ominous, since it’s the kind of rhetoric that we also heard a lot of in the lead up to the release of the Wii and the Wii U. However, given that Nintendo are a bit more wary of casual gamers of late, I think we can at least conclude that any new machine for them will not focus exclusively on the casual demographic at the expense of all else, at the very least.