Nintendo devs talk Switch name, design goals, lack of 2 screens, Wii U legacy, paid online & more

The following info comes from a Famitsu interview with Nintendo’s Shinya Takahashi and Yoshiaki Koizumi, as translated by NintendoEverything...

F: Mr. Koizumi, what were your thoughts when you first participated in Switch discussions?

Koizumi​: Even while I was in Tokyo, I had participated in the discussions regarding “what we should do next regarding new hardware” fairly often. The late president Iwata would often come to Tokyo and speak with me, so when I was told to come to Kyoto to participate in the development of the new hardware, I was very happy. But I also knew that I had to devote myself entirely to it, to live up to this responsibility that I was given. However, I was never asked to just “create something like this.” It was more often “how do you think we should do this, considering the situation?” And I began discussions centered around this grand idea of “what we need in present times” with this man I just met, Kawamoto. We broached and debated a wide variety of topics. For example, we’d start with something general, like “The Wii U is in the market, but so are smart devices…” and then go into more specific things from there. On top of that, we were narrowing down what it was that we should be making. From there we spent 3 years filtering the various concepts that came up during those discussions, deciding what would be used in the actual hardware.

F: I would imagine you gathered your ideas together while taking into account both Nintendo‘s strengths and weaknesses. Could you tell us a bit more about that process?

Koizumi​: Our goal from the beginning was to “bring everyone together and play”, and it never changed. After all, that is the core essence of Nintendo. And, while discussing the kind of hardware it would be, we made it another of our goals to make it possible for complete strangers to get sucked into the experience. We spoke about how the Nintendo Switch allowed people to “share the fun” at the presentation, and this key concept was something we came up with at a very early stage. But we were always concerned with how we would actually go about making that possible. It had to be capable of being played anywhere, and be able to be shared with strangers. We spent an incredible amount of time trying to figure out exactly how we would accomplish those two goals.

F: I’m really happy that I can play Zelda at home, and then pick it up and continue on the go, like I did on the two hour long bullet train ride here to do this interview.

Koizumi​: I ride the bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto too, so I was thinking that it would be nice to be able to set it down on the little tables in front of the seats. That’s why I asked them to include the retractable stand. I can play Zelda on the train, then fold the stand back in and stick it in my bag, and continue playing once I’m at work. I can be in the game at all times.

Actually, during the development of Switch, we gave two main ideas for the staff to work with: “let’s make a console that the most amount of people in the world can get sucked into”, and “let’s make the most addicting console in the world”

F: Recent Nintendo hardware, like the DS, 3DS and Wii U, had diverse gameplay by having two screens, yet the Switch doesn’t. I would imagine there people who supported the inclusion of dual screens.

Koizumi​: We decided from the beginning that we would only have one screen, because it’s something you play on your TV, then pick up and play on the go. Since televisions don’t have two screens, we kept it simple and only included one screen. We had other core ideas for the Switch, like “create something new” and “don’t get caught up in traditions”, so we had to be firm in our decision.

Takahashi​: Of course there were those who asked whether we would have two screens again, but in the end we kept it to a single screen.

F: The direct predecessor in your line of home consoles, the Wii U, ended up being short-lived. How do you perceive the Wii U’s legacy, and what lessons have you learned from it that you’re applying to your strategy with the Switch?

Takahashi​: It’s not just the Wii U that influenced our decisions. I think the Switch was the result of us taking a look at what we could use from all of our past hardware, at Nintendo’s history with games like the Hanafuda, and at the various ways we can bring joy to people. We regret that with the Wii U, we were unable to constantly be producing something that people would enjoy, but that wasn’t the only thing we took into consideration. We also ​switched​ our stance, and built off of everything Nintendo has done as a whole when creating the Switch.

F: And could you tell us about how the Switch got its name, despite the Wii being followed by the Wii U? I imagine there was a lot of heated debate regarding it during your development discussions.

Takahashi​: We had numerous discussions about it.

Koizumi​: The late president Iwata initially asked us to “Do something new”, so we had it in our heads from the start that we had to move away from older names like the Wii and Wii U, or the DS and 3DS. Our line of thinking was that all aspects of the system must be drastically different from past hardware, even down to the name.

Takahashi​: And that went for the software development side as well.

Koizumi​: Yes. In that sense, we would be changing many different things. For example, we were always thinking about how we could revise the development environment, the way development teams were structured, and even the mindset of the developers themselves. This had more of a connotation of “change”, but we decided it would be more appropriate to call it the “Switch”, as that had the nuance of a replacement. So we chose that name out of all of the various candidates.

Takahashi​: And there was no shortage of name candidates. We must have had thousands.

F: You also plan to start charging for the online service come fall. It’s only natural in this current age, but can you tell us again why you chose to charge for it, and what sort of services it will entail?

Takahashi​: We decided to charge for the service because we are concerned with customer satisfaction. We’ll be maintaining the online service and providing new services that we haven’t had up until now, and there are costs associated with those. We’d also like to maintain a stable playing experience and provide proper support. We are working to prepare all of the features until the service begins in the fall of 2017, and details on the service will be available at a later time.