Nintendo has been having a very rough year, with operating losses, low sales for the Wii U and a shortage of first party titles. However, it is a given that Nintendo’s franchises are could what ultimately solve the issue – so why doesn’t Nintendo just ditch hardware and go purely into software, like Sega?
However, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata explained to CVG just why this isn’t happening. “If I was to take responsibility for the company for just the next one or two years, and if I was not concerned about the long-term future of Nintendo at all, it might make sense for us to provide our important franchises for other platforms, and then we might be able to gain some short-term profit.
“However, I’m really responsible for the long-term future of Nintendo as well, so I would never think about providing our precious resources for other platforms at all.”
“What I believe is that Nintendo is a very unique company, because it does its business by designing and introducing people to hardware and software – by integrating them, we can be unique. And because we have hardware and software developers in the same building, they stimulate each other.
“And those kinds of conditions have enabled us to create something that no other companies can create. Those kinds of backgrounds are there behind the fact that such a number of great Nintendo franchises exist, and those great franchises always shine for people around the world.”