The Nintendo Switch, which launched earlier this year, has quickly become one of the fastest selling video game consoles of all time. And despite its currently limited selection of titles and a unique controller that takes some getting used to, many critics and gamers alike love it. It seems obvious that Nintendo has a surefire winner for best console of the year, but it looks like not everyone working for the Big N had the same thoughts back when it was first announced.
According to a recent interview with Bloomberg, the Pokémon Company’s CEO, Tsunekazu Ishihara, admitted that when he first saw the Switch, he told Nintendo that it would be a failure. He realizes his mistake now, of course, and gave some hints of how the upcoming Pokémon Switch game would take advantage of the console’s hybrid nature.
On why he thought the Switch would fail, Ishihara explained:
I told Nintendo that Switch wouldn’t be a success before it went on sale because I thought, in the age of the smartphone, no one would carry around a game console. It’s obvious I was wrong.
However, he chalks up the Switch’s success to the excellent games on the system, rather than the innovative design of the new console, saying, “I came to realize the key to a successful game is quite simple – software with absolute quality leads sales of hardware.”
As for the upcoming Pokémon Switch game, Ishihara hinted at a game that would be “deeper and with a higher level of expression,” particularly if played on an HDTV, as opposed to the small handheld devices we’ve been playing Pokémon on now. He also revealed that the company was considering the use of multiplayer in the game, but it was unclear if it would be limited to local multiplayer or if online play would be considered.