With both the PS5 and the Xbox Series X set to launch during the holiday season of 2020, many gamers are looking ahead to what new technology will bring. Despite the potential for these two consoles to sell millions of units, Nintendo doesn’t view them as a threat to its business.
The Nintendo Switch, Nintendo’s current console, has been out for nearly four years. Despite rumors that anew Nintendo Switch modelwas coming this year, those rumors have since been quashed, leading some to wonder what Nintendo would do to compete with these systems.
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For the foreseeable future, the answer to that question seems to be that Nintendo will keep doing what it’s been doing. According to Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa in a Q&A with investors, Nintendo doesn’t see theXbox and PS5as being a major threat to its business. He stated that Nintendo believes that the target audiences for the next-gen systems and the Nintendo Switch are different, and therefore, “we do not believe that the business trends of other companies will have a significant impact on our business.”
Nintendo has a past that might lead the company to maintain this mindset. Despite the fact that the Wii released without the graphical capabilities of its competitors, the PS3 and Xbox 360, it didn’t stop the system from selling over a hundred million units, outselling its competitors, and becoming the most successful home console that Nintendo has ever produced. The novelty of motion controls and a solid line-up of software kept that console performing well for years, so much so that afinal game for the Wiiwas produced just months ago.
Today, the Nintendo Switch is likely positioned to do well due to its unique qualities as a hybrid console/handheld gaming device. Despite new game streaming services like Stadia stepping forward to allow gamers to play many games on their mobile devices, so farStadia hasn’t performed wellenough to take much attention away from the Switch, even if it promises to let players enjoy more graphically-intense games than the Switch can handle.
AsSony and Microsoft’s next-gen consolesare still months away at this point, only time will tell if Nintendo’s line of thought is accurate or not. However, the Nintendo Switch is passing new sale milestones, so at the very least, the near future for Nintendo looks bright.
