Nintendo NX: Is The Company Alienating Its Fans With No NX Announcement?
It is now October, and fans still know little to nothing about the Nintendo NX. On March 17, 2015, the former president of Nintendo Satoru Iwata announced Nintendo’s plans to what at the time seemed to be the successor to the Nintendo Wii U. Iwata made the announcement in conjunction with the announcement of the partnership with DeNA to explore mobile gaming.
The announcement was designed to ease shareholders’ minds that Nintendo was still dedicated to making consoles, Polygon reported.
“Nintendo, together with DeNA, will jointly develop a new membership service which encompasses the existing Nintendo 3DS and Wii U systems, the new hardware system with a brand-new concept, NX, and smart devices and PCs, and Nintendo will be the primary party to operate this new membership service.”
Eighteen months later, fans of Nintendo have about as much evidence about the system codenamed NX as they did in March of 2017. Sure, there have been plenty of rumors floating around, but there has been nothing definitive straight from Nintendo. The only thing fans know for sure is that Nintendo expects the NX to launch in March of 2017 just prior to the end of their fiscal year.
There has been some buzz surrounding the NX in recent weeks. On September 22, the CEO of Ubisoft, Yves Guillemot, continued his praise of the console when speaking with IGN.
“I think, once again, the interface is very attractive. It’s a machine that will be easy to use for all gamers. They have built in something that will give us chance to really have a different experience from what exists today. That’s what I like – that they come with something new that is adapted to what we actually want now.”
If that wasn’t enough, Pokemon Company CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara all but confirmed that the Nintendo NX would be a hybrid home console and handheld to the Wall Street Journal. He went as far as to say that The Pokemon Company would be making games for the new system yet stopping just short of adding it would be a mainline Pokemon game that has traditionally been on handhelds only.
“The NX is trying to change the concept of what it means to be a home console device or a handheld device.”
However, as the months continue to tick by with no information, a number of Nintendo fan sites have gone from elation of the upcoming new platform to frustration over the lack of information. Nintendo Life is a site in particular that has accused Nintendo of “testing fans’ patience.” The particular fear is that now less than six months from a proposed launch, the lack of information could turn into delays.
“It’s all an odd state of affairs considering the fact Nintendo will be fully aware of the frustration among some of its followers. Yet wait we must, hoping that it’s all part of a brilliant plan to get everyone excited ahead of a release in around five months time. If the long silence and mystery is finally broken by an announcement of a delay, there’ll be no defending Nintendo from the fury of its fans.”
In the meantime, sites will continue to speculate about when the reveal will come. Squish Turtle announced a possible October 21 reveal date for the NX to coincide with the five-year anniversary of Nintendo Direct. However, it should be noted there is nothing to substantiate those claims.
Do you think the Nintendo is taking the right strategy in how it handles the upcoming Nintendo NX? Is secrecy the best way to keep the hype for their next system, or do you think that they are making a mistake by continually keeping their fans in the dark?
[Featured Image by Shizuo Kambayashi/AP Images]
