Reggie Fils-Aime, President and COO of Nintendo of America, has told Forbes that the company is not ready yet to begin work on a new home console to replace the Wii. “When the software developer comes forward with an idea that can’t be executed on the current platform, that’s when we start thinking seriously about the next system. We’re not there yet, from a Wii perspective,” he said.
Fils-Aime once against mirrored Nintendo’s general attitude toward including the latest technology in games consoles, saying that as an enabler, technology has to enable a new and unique experience for players. “So when people talk about high definition for the Wii console our feedback is that that by itself will not create a brand new experience,” he said.
“Therefore, we’re not interested. What we have to push for are groundbreaking new experiences. Technology has to enable it, not to be a means all by itself.” He said that Nintendo has no plans to sell virtual items like rivals, saying the company does not feel it is an idea that creates value for the consumer.
On the issue of the new motion controllers on the horizon for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 (PS3), Fils-Aime cautioned that the competition will face its own challenges in terms of the need to develop compelling software and to offer it as a competitive price.
“They will be separately challenged because the motion-enabled part of their business will only be a small part of their line. For us, it’s core to what we do,” he said.
Result for: nintendo
An analytics firm, the Strategy Analytics Connected Home Devices (SACHD) has released a forecasting report that says the Sony PlayStation 3 will eventually outsell the Xbox 360 and the Wii, on route to 127 million units sold.
The “Taming the Waves: Games Console Life Cycles and Platform Competition,” report says that Sony’s PS3 will surpass the Wii eventually despite a giant gap now, as the firm believes the PS3 will still be a viable platform for at least five years after the Wii is replaced.
Overall, SACHD sees 103 million units sold for the Wii, and 127 million for the PS3. They did not offer a prediction for the Xbox 360.
“Nintendo has done a great job with the Wii in bringing console games to new audiences,” says SACHD analyst David Mercer. “But its sales are now falling, particularly in mature markets, and its installed base will peak in 2011. Ownership of both the PS3 and the Xbox 360 will hit their highest points between 2012 and 2014.”
The SACHD also says the “global installed base of home consoles will reach over 220 million” by the end of 2010.
Result for: nintendo
According to a new WSJ report, Sony is finally ready to create a PlayStation-branded smartphone, one that will help it compete against the iPhone, and Microsoft’s new Windows Phone 7 line.
Additionally, the company will be creating “a portable device that blurs distinctions among a netbook, an e-reader and a PlayStation Portable, or PSP,” one that it hopes will compete against the iPad and net/smartbooks.
The products have a target launch in 2010, but prices are nowhere near finalized.
Equally as surprising is the news that this will be a Sony-only venture, leaving out Ericsson, its long-time smartphone partner.
PSP and PSP Go sales have been extremely disappointing since the launch of the iPod Touch and the Nintendo DSiDS continues to rack up impressive sales, all at the expense of PSP market share.
