Nintendo America’s President, Reggie Fils-Aime has spoken candidly for the first time about the failure of the Wii U and why he believes the Nintendo Switch won’t follow the same fate.
Fils-Aime believes that Nintendo has done a better job of communicating exactly what the Switch is. This is definitely true. People were confused months after the launch of the Wii U in regards to whether it was a new console, or just an add-on. Nintendo never made this clear to the regular consumer before launch.
“Nintendo Switch is a home console you can play anywhere, with anyone. Clear. Compelling,” he said. “We see the reaction by consumers whether it’s measured in Twitter trending topics or views of videos on YouTube or just the frequency with which I get called by old high school buddies that I haven’t heard from in 30 years who are asking me how to get their hands on Nintendo Switch. We have communicated the proposition clearly and it is compelling.”
Fils-Aime also believes that the Nintendo Switch will have more consistent games, admitting that there were huge chunks on the Wii U lineup that was unacceptable.
“Wii U will go down as having fantastic content–the issue was as you look at the reality of exactly when the games were launched, there were large gaps in between,” he said.
This second part remains to be seen. The Nintendo Switch has some great, key games in its lineup already, but it will need to do more just based on the initial reactions of the console. The key concern appears to be that the system is a great concept, but gamers aren’t too sure about Nintendo’s ability to consistently support the Switch without key third-party support.
