No Sense Clinging To Consoles Forever
Nintendo has been kicking major ass this generation, a position mostly attributed to their versatile approach to hardware. Therefore, it stands to reason that continued success will require a similar level of flexibility. To that end the Japanese Nintendo president, Shuntaro Furukawa, sees a future for the company in cloud-based gaming.
An article from Nikkei (translated by Nintendo Everything) features Furukawa speaking candidly about the company and its future. He noted that “it would be pointless to solely focus on methods of play that can only be had on dedicated hardware.” In today’s gaming landscape, “Once your audience starts saying they can play on other consoles or smartphones instead, you’re finished.”
While this isn’t the first time someone at Nintendo alluded to the cloud and its awesome potential powers, the time for these dreams to be made real fast approaches. Microsoft and Sony are both working towards a viable cloud-based gaming platform. Once they crack that nut, the game will be forever changed. Nintendo isn’t always the innovator when it comes to working online, but they’ll have to be if they want to succeed here. Time will tell what the next generation brings to the table.