Remember when you were excited about having a black Wii?
Wondering what goes into the decision at Nintendo to release new hardware? Curious about what hardware teams do between platform launches? SPOnG has answers.
In an investor Q&A, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata let fly with the following choice quotes:
"Of course, we have no intention of disbanding our hardware teams since we do not think that Nintendo DS and Wii will last forever. Our internal hardware teams are always researching and working on new hardware so that we can launch them whenever we find an very interesting idea that can make people all over the world to feel like purchasing our new hardware just to play with the software, or when Nintendo or third parties developers come to the conclusion that, after all these different endeavors, there are no more ideas nor tricks with Nintendo DS and Wii to make software to surprise people in meaningful ways.
"You may not be able to believe this, but even when Nintendo has completed a hardware, it does not mean that we will surely launch it."
Iwata notes that, from conception, it usually takes two to three years to develop new hardware.
Remarkably, Iwata says that Nintendo will sometimes develop new hardware then never bother to release it. The process goes like this: "So, as soon as a new hardware is completed and introduced to the market, a team is established within the company which starts reviewing what the next hardware will be.
"Following a completion of a new hardware development, if the company determines that it will be better to continue with the sales of the existing hardware on the market after reviewing the circumstance comprehensively, it can no longer be used as it is in the future because that new hardware was optimized to be launched at that time. Some of the ideas may be used again in a new hardware. However, at the very least, we have had certain custom chips completed that ended up being unused, and it can happen again in the future."
Fascinating stuff.
In an investor Q&A, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata let fly with the following choice quotes:
"Of course, we have no intention of disbanding our hardware teams since we do not think that Nintendo DS and Wii will last forever. Our internal hardware teams are always researching and working on new hardware so that we can launch them whenever we find an very interesting idea that can make people all over the world to feel like purchasing our new hardware just to play with the software, or when Nintendo or third parties developers come to the conclusion that, after all these different endeavors, there are no more ideas nor tricks with Nintendo DS and Wii to make software to surprise people in meaningful ways.
"You may not be able to believe this, but even when Nintendo has completed a hardware, it does not mean that we will surely launch it."
Iwata notes that, from conception, it usually takes two to three years to develop new hardware.
Remarkably, Iwata says that Nintendo will sometimes develop new hardware then never bother to release it. The process goes like this: "So, as soon as a new hardware is completed and introduced to the market, a team is established within the company which starts reviewing what the next hardware will be.
"Following a completion of a new hardware development, if the company determines that it will be better to continue with the sales of the existing hardware on the market after reviewing the circumstance comprehensively, it can no longer be used as it is in the future because that new hardware was optimized to be launched at that time. Some of the ideas may be used again in a new hardware. However, at the very least, we have had certain custom chips completed that ended up being unused, and it can happen again in the future."
Fascinating stuff.
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