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Former THQ President Jason Rubin Has Mixed Feelings About Nintendo
Naughty Dog co-founder and THQ's last president during its operation, Jason Rubin, has some thoughts about the future of Nintendo. His sentiments come during a financially challenging year for the House of Mario, but one marked by a number of stellar titles.
"Nintendo is irrelevant as a hardware manufacturer in the console business," Rubin said to GameTrailers. However, he also believes that the company should release its games on other systems, calling Nintendo a "worldwide treasure."
Nintendo recently said that it would not be branching into multiplatform development, as it would only yield "short-term profit." In other words, don't expect Mario on Xbox One or The Legend of Zelda on PlayStation 4.
[Source: GameTrailers via MCV]
Our Take
I assume that by "console business," Rubin means "home console business." The 3DS is doing huge numbers, and is home to one of the best received games of the year (The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds). Nintendo owns the handheld sector, and as long as it doesn't cave and push Pokemon and other IPs to mobile, that market stays alive.
As for the Wii U, there's no doubt that Nintendo is struggling. The console needs to be re-messaged, and 2014 has the potential to be a strong year for software. Super Smash Bros. Wii U, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, and Yoshi Wii U are just the titles that we know about. An announcement of a new Zelda game on the system would cap things off nicely.
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