While supporting the Wii U still takes priority at the company, Shigeru Miyamoto has confirmed that Nintendo has already begun drafting up some early ideas for the next hardware system.
The creative visionary made the comment in an interview with Associated Press, where he stated that the studio has set aside resources to begin early work what the next console could be.
“We’re focused on providing a robust line-up of Wii U software for next year. It seems like we’ve managed to do that this year and people are very happy with what we’ve done on Wii U. For the time being, our focus is on the Wii U hardware, but Nintendo as a whole has groups working on ideas for new hardware systems. While we’re busy working on software for the Wii U, we have production lines that are working on ideas for what the next system might be.”
Much has been said about Nintendo’s presence in the console hardware business following the dismal performance of the Wii U. Despite gaining some traction of late thanks to a string of big releases — including Super Smash Bros. Wii U and Mario Kart 8 — the system is still underperforming relative to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Still, if history has taught us anything it’s that Nintendo dances to its own beat, and it’s likely that the teams within the company’s research and development sectors are experimenting with several nascent ideas that may never see the light of day.
The Big N will be hoping that one of those concepts will crack the market in a similar vein to the Wii — which broke sales records across the board when it arrived and changed the scene back in 2006 — though the more pressing problem for Nintendo as of now is the status of its flagship console, the Wii U.
Published: Dec 19, 2014 11:39 am