I think it’s fair to say that the Wii U hasn’t yet been fully embraced by industry watchers. Of course the same happened with the original Wii which then proved to be a big hit with mainstream consumers. But the new console looks to be even more of a gamble than the Wii was.
Nintendo will be launching the Wii U later this year fully aware of competition from Microsoft and Sony looming on the horizon. But Nintendo President Satoru Iwata isn’t concerned by what will be the PS4 and Xbox 720 (names for reference only).
In a recent interview with The Telegraph newspaper, Iwata said:
“If they decide to increase the spec numbers, will the consumers be able to realise the difference enough so that they can understand it’s much superior to today’s machine.”
“If they beef up the processing power, that simply means much more work for software developers to take advantage of those spec numbers. So I have to ask the question if that type of differentiation really makes sense.”
“I think further arguments must wait until probably next year, when they have finalised and disclosed whatever they are thinking about for the next generation of consoles.”
This demonstrates how different the mindsets of Sony and Microsoft are compared to Nintendo’s. The latter is concerned more with offering a unique experience than just upping the numbers and the visual capabilities of its hardware.
Whether this is the right mindset to hold remains to be seen but, as Iwata implies, we’ll likely know by this time next year after Sony and Microsoft unveil their new hardware at E3 2013.
