Nintendo’s faith in the way its engineers constantly push design space in consoles finally paid off, however, and the Switch can barely stay on shelves long enough for the ever-increasing number of gamers who want one to be sated. For those who feel foolish about doubting the Switch, however, a candid and telling interview with Pokemon CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara conducted recently revealed even some of the smartest minds in the industry had their reservations. Ishihara had this to say about the Switch:
Those of us who were decrying a portable console in the age of powerful phones weren’t too far off in our risk analysis, then, although the outcome of Nintendo’s device launch certainly suggests that there is a huge market for something like the Switch. Ishihara, who is involved with projects like Pokemon GO and the yet-to-be-named Pokemon Switch game, shared some insight on what made the Switch a success as well:
Ishihara’s belief makes a lot of sense when taken into context with Nintendo’s recent successes and failures - the Wii U, despite the innovation it offered, never felt as though it had a must-own title, whereas the Switch had Breath of the Wild to immediately bolster sales.
Ishihara might have been wrong about the Switch, but Pokemon hasn’t been wrong about much else. Pokemon GO and augmented reality are just one of the many ways Pokemon has remained relevant after twenty years, and Ishihara indicated that the company was always looking to expand:
Source: Bloomberg
