Iwata: Nintendo has “a clear idea to some extent about the direction our next hardware is going to take”

As always, Nintendo is working on the next round of hardware. Just don’t expect to see a new system anytime soon.

“Once we launch a new platform, we naturally start to prepare for the next one,” Nintendo president Satoru Iwata explained to attendees during an investor briefing last week. He continued, “the most difficult question for us to answer in public in concrete terms is when we are going to launch our new hardware and what kind of hardware we are going to launch, and I am afraid that I cannot talk about this in more detail. However, I can certainly assure you that we are not at a dead end of any kind in which we are out of ideas for developing new hardware.”

Iwata went on to caution that launching new hardware could prove dangerous “unless we first make sure that those who have already purchased our platforms are satisfied.” Nintendo will strive “to work hard to ensure that consumers who already own our platforms are satisfied, and make sure that people will continue to see great value in our software”.

Iwata did end with one notable tease, stating “we already have a clear idea to some extent about the direction our next hardware is going to take.”

Once we launch a new platform, we naturally start to prepare for the next one. As it takes several years to develop a single platform, if you ask us whether we are preparing for our next system, then the correct response will be that we are always developing new hardware. On the other hand, the most difficult question for us to answer in public in concrete terms is when we are going to launch our new hardware and what kind of hardware we are going to launch, and I am afraid that I cannot talk about this in more detail. However, I can certainly assure you that we are not at a dead end of any kind in which we are out of ideas for developing new hardware. I of course believe that launching new hardware will not produce good results unless we first make sure that those who have already purchased our platforms are satisfied. We will continue to work hard to ensure that consumers who already own our platforms are satisfied, and make sure that people will continue to see great value in our software, but I would like to say that we are preparing for our next hardware system, and in fact, we already have a clear idea to some extent about the direction our next hardware is going to take.