Reggie – more devs at Nintendo than past eras, Switch voice chat, VC, backing up saves
This information comes from Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime…
On how Nintendo has more developers now than ever before…
Fils-Aime … we have many more developers today working on our content than we did five years ago or even 10 years ago. Internal, right. Exactly. We’ve got that new development building in Kyoto that’s full of hardware and software developers. So we have a lot more development staff than we did at the beginning of the Wii U generation and certainly throughout the Wii generation.
On why Switch requires a phone for voice chat…
Fils-Aime: We actually think that the phone is going to deliver a better, more robust execution. In terms of the APIs that we can build into an app, the fact that phones are ubiquitous, the fact that it allows us to do much more rapid improvements and updates to the service, that’s why we think a phone execution—and specifically a mobile app execution—is going to be better for the consumer.
So let’s be clear. What you’ve seen is the execution by one particular supplier. That is not going to be the only solution.
It’s going to require a phone. It’s going to require a mobile device and be delivered by an app.
On Virtual Console for Switch…
Fils-Aime: We’ve not used the term Virtual Console. What we’ve said is that as we communicate the specifics of the Nintendo Switch online service then at that point we’ll communicate what it is we’re doing with our legacy content. I see a lot of consumers hoping and wishing for that (GameCube VC) online.
On whether Nintendo hears the message about wanting to back up Switch saves…
Fils-Aime: We do. I can’t say there’s a solution coming, but we do hear the message.
