Perhaps its failure was exaggerated by the Wii’s runaway success – upwards of 101 million units sold at the time of writing – but it’s no secret that the Wii U will go down in the history books as a disappointing misfire.
Doomed early on by mixed marketing and an alarming lack of third-party support, Nintendo has been candid in acknowledging the Wii U’s shortcomings – shortcomings that the Big N will actively work to avoid with the launch of the Nintendo NX in 2017.
That’s according to Reggie Fils-Aime, President of Nintendo of America, who spoke with AListDaily about what the Japanese giant can learn from past mistakes when prepping its new hardware for release next year.
“Every time we launch a new platform, every time we launch a critical new game, we always learn. We always do our breakdown of what worked, what didn’t, and certainly we’ve done that with Wii U. One of the things that we have to do better when we launch the NX–we have to do a better job communicating the positioning for the product. We have to do a better job helping people to understand its uniqueness and what that means for the game playing experience.”
How exactly this learning process pans out is still up for question. For now, the overriding Nintendo NX rumor claims that Nintendo is manufacturing some form of console/handheld hybrid replete with detachable controllers. It certainly gels with the company’s philosophy of blazing a path of its own, but we’ll reserve judgement until the Big N finally unveils its latest home (portable?) console.
Beyond a vague 2017 launch window, Nintendo NX is still without an official name or release date to call its own. We know that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will arrive as a launch title though, which is sure to get those all-important sale figures off to a commendable start.