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Reggie interview - will Nintendo make new consoles, are consoles dead?
A portion of a Reuters interview with Reggie Fils-Aime…
R: Earlier in the conference there was a healthy panel discussion that contemplated the end of the line for “packaged” video games, and the advent of online gaming. Is that the future?
RFA: What nintendo has seen is a large installed base with strong innovative highly entertaining products sold at the right price. We can sell high volumes of software for very long periods of time. On the DS we have seen that with Brain Age”, “Brain Age 2″, “Mario Kart”, new “Super Mario Bros”. For the Wii console we are seeing that for Wii fit, with Mario Kart. So we believe that there can be this concept of evergreen titles as long as the proposition is right.
R: Given that, one wonders if you ever need to develop a new console. How long does this generation last? Are there any plans to develop a new console soon?
RFA: We believe the role of a new console, a new system, is to bring great new entertainment ideas to life. We launched (the Wii and DS) those systems when we had great ideas that would benefit either from a touch screen or from a Wii remote. We will consider the launch of new consoles when we have got great new entertaining ideas that can only be done with a new console. As we sit here today the Wii console has a long run ahead of it, (the DS too). At some point we will launch the DSi here in the Americas. So as we look at the near term for us its all about maximizing the opportunity with the (Wii and DS).
R: Some suggest there will never be a next generation of consoles, due to the imminent rise of online gaming. Do you buy that idea?
RFA: I don’t buy some of the core propositions. We have seen with our own systems that the consumer wants an experience that today is better delivered via packaged content. There can be add-ons and additional content but the sheer amount of entertainment enjoyment — 50, 60 hours - is pretty difficult to provide through an Internet connection. So I believe that certainly in the near-term the current approach of packaged software with some additional online play that works from a community standpoint and a content creation standpoint is probably the model.