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Nintendo Talks About Its Hopes For The NX Launch
Nintendo recently announced the Nintendo NX – whatever exactly it is – will come out in March 2017, and while the system won't make this holiday season's shopping bonanza, the company believes the March launch is the right move.
In an English translation of a financial results briefing Q&A, Nintendo president and CEO Tatsumi Kimishima expressed Nintendo's hope that the NX would not launch at a financial loss and that it will be sufficiently supported by software at that time.
"We are not thinking of launching the hardware at a loss," he said. "When Wii U was launched, the yen was very strong. I am assuming that situation will not repeat itself. Selling at a loss at launch would not support the business, so we are keeping that mind in developing NX."
In terms of the launch in March itself, Kimishima wasn't phased by missing the 2016 holiday season. "One of the reasons for choosing the launch timing that we did is so that the software lineup will be ready in time for the hardware launch. Not only at launch, but we also need to be able to continuously release titles after launch." Later on he continued, "The fact that consumers spend more money in the holiday season may be a big factor in why launching then is a good way to start. However, our hardware and software business structure does not end in that year. We want consumers to continue to play this game system for many years, so we believe that in the beginning it is most important to make sure that everything is in order at launch."
[Source: Nintendo]
Our Take
Missing the holiday season with a March launch isn't ideal, but it sounds like Nintendo is trying to make sure it is everything it can be. Still, given that that's less than a year away and there have been no officially announced specs or features, I wonder how finalized details are for developers and what's really in development. If the system's components were finalized, I'd think that the company would have a better idea of whether it was going to sell at a loss than saying it is still "keeping that mind in developing NX."
Nintendo says the system won't be shown at E3, but I can only hope that some details are announced. Missing the holiday season is one thing, but to compound that with a lackluster first year on the shelves would be a bad start.
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