Nintendo Doesn’t Want to Get Dragged Into the ‘Performance Console War’

In an interview with Famitsu about the Nintendo Museum that is due to open on October 2, industry legend Shigeru Miyamoto made some interesting comments about Nintendo’s uniqueness and its desire to stand apart from what he called the ‘performance console war’ between Sony’s PlayStation and Microsoft’s Xbox.

If the goal is to preserve all of Nintendo’s past assets so that people can understand what Nintendo is, then it’s not just about the employees; we now have people spanning three generations who know about Nintendo. It would be great if those people could see it and understand what Nintendo is. I hope that through this, people will understand and refrain from dragging Nintendo into competitions like the so-called ‘console wars,’ which focus on high specs and hardware performance (laughs). Nintendo will continue to use the various technologies available today to create things in a way that’s unique to Nintendo. We’re not just limited to games; we’ll also be involved in films and will continue to create a variety of entertainment content. I thought this would be a good opportunity for people to understand that, and that’s why we made this.

I believe the most important thing is for various people to visit this museum and come away thinking, ‘This is a company that’s not at all related to the game industry competition or cutting-edge technology that people usually talk about.’ Of course, we conduct technology research. In the past, analysts and others have said things like, ‘Why isn’t Nintendo focusing on networking?’ or ‘What about mobile?’ or ‘Why aren’t you using cutting-edge chips?’ However, if people calmly look at the exhibits, they’ll realize that we’ve actually been working on those things all along. But Nintendo has a history of waiting for the right moment to release products, only commercializing them when we believe the timing is perfect. I think that becomes clear through the museum, and it helps build trust in Nintendo. For our shareholders as well, this serves as a kind of mid-to-long-term perspective, showing that they can trust us to manage the company properly.

With the unveiling of the Switch 2 believed to be imminent (the console is rumored to have already entered full production), Miyamoto’s comments may be interpreted as a way to prepare fans when the official specifications have been revealed. Indeed, from the leaks and rumors, the Switch 2 is estimated to be even less powerful than the Xbox Series S.

On the other hand, Nintendo has long since detached itself from the aforementioned ‘performance console war’. The last time the Japanese company produced a console as powerful as its competitors was with the GameCube, which was unsuccessful commercially. Following that experience, Nintendo avoided fighting Nintendo and Sony in raw computing power and designed its consoles with specific gimmicks, such as motion controls for the Wii, the gamepad/touchscreen for the WiiU, and the hybrid handheld/home console for the Switch. Two out of three times, they were right; we’ll see if whatever they come up with for the Nintendo Switch 2 will be a success or not.