The Washington Post published an interview with Nintendo’s executive vice president of sales and marketing Scott Moffitt. In it, Moffitt discussed the future of the console, in a series of impressively vague and dipolomatic answers. However, there are some interesting tidbits in there about the future of the beloved Nintendo 3DS.
The Nintendo 3DS has been a success for Nintendo, having sold more than the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 combined.
Moffitt insists that the handheld console holds a very different place in the market than what we might consider to be its closest competitor—smartphones.
“The inclusion of multiple control buttons on Nintendo 3DS allows a much deeper and more sophisticated type of play,” he said. This is…an interesting line of thinking, and one that I’m sure many mobile developers will disagree with, but it nonetheless highlights a mentality that I’m sure is shared by many consumers. He also implied that Nintendo’s expansion into mobile games isn’t meant to drive a stake between the 3DS and mobile gamers.
Rather, Nintendo wants to use mobile games to bring people to their other consoles, like the 3DS, the Wii U, and the upcoming NX.
They’re also focusing on creating deeper social experiences, with apps like Miitomo, and the creation of Nintendo accounts.
Lastly, the Washington Post asked Moffitt about the decision not to include power adapters with the New 3DS or New 3DS XL. Moffitt responded that enough players were upgrading from the 3DS that they didn’t need a new power adapter. So, it was one way of saving them money.
You can read the full interview here.
