Iwata on Nintendo DS future and successor

Nintendo's not currently in need of any new weapons, Iwata has said,
suggesting that the company's next handheld isn't near.



November 03, 2007 - Typically, Nintendo's home consoles have endured
roughly a five-year lifecycle, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata
explained at the company's recent Q3 financial results conference,
while its handhelds have lasted "a little less." That must mean, then,
that the successor to the Nintendo DS must be nearing.

But Iwata said, "I'm quite doubtful that such a notion of platform
cycles can be applied in the future...As we continue our research and
study for new hardware, when we will be able to launch a new kind of
hardware will actually depend on when we can change entertainment
completely, and so have a strong impact on people around the world.
Or, there will certainly be a time when we have to say that we have
done everything possible with the current machine, that we can never
propose anything new.

"Lately, I cannot say I'm making video games on the frontline of
development, but as a person who used to develop software, the
availability of new hardware means that we possess a new weapon," he
continued. "We long for a new weapon whenever we cry that we cannot
fight anymore with the current weapons. But today's situation is such
that we are not desperate for any new weapons at all.

"Whenever we are working on so-called next generation hardware, we are
always thinking in terms of the future. We need to forecast what the
future will be like with the expected evolution of new technologies
which are available at any given time, and try to identify the so-
called "sweet spot" of technology over the next few years."

Not everything Nintendo's designed internally at its Kyoto base has
made it to market, Iwata said. "We have produced a number of hardware
prototypes which did not in the end reach the market place. We are
always preparing for new hardware so that we can launch whenever we
determine we should do so. However, scheduling for a rather fixed
launch date 4 years from today, regardless of future changes in the
industry and the market, appears to be too inflexible an approach to
us.

"We are always studying and working on what the new hardware must
become in the future, but we are also monitoring changes in
circumstances in order to act flexibly. Also, since Nintendo's
hardware engineers and software creators are always communicating
closely, only when both teams agree that it is time to challenge the
market with new hardware that we will launch it. So, it is not a
correct observation that we are having any trouble deciding on the
launch timing of the next hardware."

The real reason why Nintendo's not in need of a successor for the DS
at this point is, quite simply, "[that] we are not suffering from the
shortage of new ideas for DS," Iwata said. "I heard that some of the
attendees to our October 10th conference were expecting to hear about
a new portable machine announcement, but we never had that kind of
notion in the first place."

During the foreseeable future, much of Nintendo's handheld
advancements will come by way of new services offered through the DS,
Iwata indicated. "With that as the premise, we would like to establish
a circumstance where people can find new joy in carrying around DS all
the time. Such services should contribute to making DS an actively
used hardware and, also, to make the leap from one DS per household to
one DS per individual."


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