Nintendo has made some announcements about its future plans for the NX, which not only portends certain things for Nintendo’s next console, but also its current ones: the Wii U and 3DS.
Nintendo’s current slate of platforms includes the Wii U home console and 3DS portable console, the former having launched in 2012 and the latter in 2011. While some might hope for a longer lifespan for both devices, there’s reason to believe that they may both be wrapping up soon. Developers should be aware of the likely fates of the two consoles if they’re to consider development on either, so we unpack the recent Nintendo announcement and try to glean what’s really being said.
New legend of zelda not coming in 2016
Nintendo made a barrage of recent announcements concerning their next fiscal year. Perhaps the biggest one concerned the upcoming and anticipated Legend of Zelda game for Wii U. The most important being that it will not be launching in 2016, instead coming out in the first quarter of 2017.
While this was only part of the larger news, it’s hugely important for the Wii U and its prospects for 2016. The brand new Legend of Zelda game is the biggest release by far planned for this calendar year. With it now not coming until 2017, the Wii U will have to be sustained this holiday season by games like Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, and Paper Mario: Color Splash.
Not to disparage any games planned for the Wii U this year, but nothing coming out in 2016 will match a new Legend of Zelda title. Nintendo clearly had a decision to make – attempt to bring the new Legend of Zelda to the Wii U this year and try and shore it up in the short-term or push it back to 2017 and help their new system: the NX. Nintendo has chosen the latter…
NEW Zelda on nx
The news about the new Zelda title was layered on top of another bombshell: the announcement of the NX release date. The Nintendo NX will be coming out in March 2017, alongside its own version of the new Legend of Zelda game. Nintendo has confirmed that they are doing this to ensure the launch lineup of the NX will be stronger when it finally comes out.
This is an understandable move by Nintendo and one they have done in the past (they pushed back the release of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess in order to bolster the launch lineup of the Wii in 2006). It also implicitly says that the Wii U and NX will not be incredibly different in their hardware capabilities, if two versions of the same game are being developed for both systems simultaneously. There is precedent for such a move; the Nintendo Wii had only about a 50 percent faster graphics processing unit (GPU) compared to its predecessor the GameCube while maintaining the same memory and similar hardware architecture.
Such a move would also compliment Nintendo’s hardware releases since the Nintendo DS. Instead of having the fastest GPU or the most memory, their focus has been on dual screens/touch screen/mic support (DS), IR-based motion controls (Wii), 3D without glasses (3DS) and a controller with an embedded touchscreen (Wii U). Various patents filed by Nintendo have hinted that the NX will follow a similar path, though what exactly that will be is a matter of conjecture at the moment.
Nx will remain a mystery after e3
E3 has traditionally been the place for major hardware revelations in the console space, so many industry watchers assumed that Nintendo would use it as a platform to reveal the NX to the world. That will not be the case, however, as the system will not be present in any form at E3 2016. The NX will be revealed at some separate event later in the year.
This does not bode well for the future of E3 as an event or for Nintendo’s likelihood to shift back to having a larger presence at the Los Angeles based trade show. In fact, Nintendo will only have the new Legend of Zelda game for Wii U available to play at E3 2016. If there was any hope that there would be new Wii U games for 2016 coming, that announcement doused them very thoroughly.
Nintendo mobile games coming
The long awaited mobile efforts from Nintendo are also bearing fruit. Strategy series Fire Emblem and lifestyle simulator Animal Crossing are both coming to mobile in some form. Compared to Miitomo, they are promised to be more actively game-like.
This news received the smaller amount of attention, but it’s still important in showing that Nintendo is serious in its mobile efforts. It could also mean that the company is shifting its priorities around in the handheld market from their own devices to mobile phones, though more will have to be seen of these new games to be certain.
Nintendo’s pivot
With these announcements, one thing is clear: Nintendo is banking heavily on the future of the NX rather than on the present of the Wii U. This move is understandable from a sales perspective: at fewer than 13 million units sold, the Wii U is Nintendo’s slowest selling home console of all time and fits with rumors that they’ll stop production on the Wii U. Nintendo expects to sell less than one million Wii U hardware units this fiscal year (which includes the launch of the new Legend of Zelda).
The news might also mean a shift for Nintendo’s portable division as well. While the 3DS has done much better than the Wii U (it’s sold nearly 60 million hardware units worldwide) it is also over five years old at this point. By March 2017, the 3DS will be six years old and in prime position for sunsetting.
Rumors have been floating around that the NX will mix the capabilities of both a home and portable console. If it does, then the NX would be in a perfect position to replace both the aging 3DS and the languishing Wii U. The NX would then allow Nintendo to put all of its development resources into one system, rather than having to split its attention across multiple platforms. It could also signal a shift towards releasing games on the NX and mobile phones as their two main pillars, the latter being complimentary to the former with casual introductions to Nintendo’s franchises.
What developers should consider is that the Wii U doesn’t have much of a future, and the 3DS might not be long behind it. It seems likely Nintendo will shift most of its focus to the NX, with some secondary efforts on mobile. With this in mind, developers should plan accordingly.
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