Will Nintendo Turn Another Corner?

The death of Satoru Iwata shocked the video game world. He was an innovator, and rarely ever settled for the norm. After Iwata became president of Nintendo in 2002, he brought about a new era of Nintendo devices. He experimented successfully with motion controlled games via the Wii, and brought a 2 screen handheld to market with outstanding results.

However, as Nintendo moved from the DS to the 3DS, and from the Wii to the Wii U, there was drop off in both sales and interest from the average consumer. Had Nintendo pushed their inventions too far, or at least, farther than the average consumer was willing to go. While the 3DS continued to sell well backed by powerful and exciting games, the Wii U – despite its best efforts and solid game lineup – never caught on. Many began to question whether or not Nintendo was suddenly disconnected with the general consumer.

The Nintendo NX has been in development for a while, and it will be interesting to see how much input Iwata had on its development, and how much might change as a result of his death. Whoever comes next as the president of Nintendo will have some decisions to make. What would be best for the company is to keep the Nintendo charm while attempting to bring something to market that rivals the Xbox One and PS4.

The question remains: will Nintendo hire another innovator, or someone who cares more about following the trends of the Xbox One and PS4: bigger, faster, and more powerful machines, where the purchase incentive comes down to dashboard functionality and exclusive titles.