e3 2019: Nintendo is totally focused on the current generation: The future is now

"Before we talk about the next generation, let's talk about the current generation."

That was the general theme of Doug Bowser's replies from Nintendo of America to my questions about the company's plans for its next console. It's no surprise that they do not want to spend a lot of time looking to the future, at least in terms of hardware. As Bowser himself explained, the Switch is still at its peak, recently totaling 34 million units sold. From the company's point of view, why draw attention from the growing success of Switch?

"In the US, growth has been very strong in the last five months," says Bowser. "The Switch was the best-selling console ever."

Nintendo next generation focus talks

Even so, I was curious about the meaning of "next generation" for Nintendo. We had little information about the new systems from Sony and Microsoft, but the two companies and their fans are historically focused on technical and graphic fidelity. Issues related to new consoles are almost always the same. In what quality will the games play? What new features will the hardware be able to process? How many people do the servers endure? Will there be cross-play? Is it possible to play via streaming?
Launching new hardware to compete with other manufacturers is not Nintendo's style.

But as we saw with the launch of Switch in 2017, launching new hardware to compete with other manufacturers is not Nintendo's style. The company gives more value to creativity and originality - with a home console that can be used as a laptop, for example - than to lists with technical specifications. She is focused on bringing her beloved franchises into new territories and genres, such as the hugely popular Breath of the Wild.

Basically, it competes with itself, not with its rivals in the market.


"There are people who are always thinking about what will come next," says Bowser. "But I, and the whole team, are thinking about what we have now." "Obviously, there are a lot of long-awaited announcements that can be made here at E3 by the other console manufacturers, but we've just entered the third year of the Switch. We have had considerable growth. "

Of course, players expect to see some features that have become standard nowadays. Recording data in the cloud, for example, ended the worry of losing a 100-hour Breath of the Wild save due to a hardware failure. But it took a year for Nintendo to adopt this feature on Switch. Being able to chat with their multiplayer partners is very useful in online matches, but Nintendo's chat feature has been inconsistent in their game collection, as well as requiring a separate mobile application that, for some, disrupts the online experience. Even so, Bowser remains confident about Nintendo's pursuit of evolving technologies and incorporating them into their hardware.

Speaking specifically about the cloud, now that Google has unveiled Stadia, its new streaming gaming platform, Bowser says: "There are teams that are always watching the next technology. We're using the cloud with the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch Online - you can record your data and transfer it between devices. "

"We also have the NES in Nintendo Switch Online, which allows us to pick up a wide variety of games. I know there are more than 40 games in the catalog. So we're taking advantage of the cloud in different ways, but we really see the Switch as a great device to play. "

Regardless of your point of view regarding Nintendo's approach to the use of new technologies and the expectations that come with them, one thing is certain: Nintendo is pleased to focus on its current list of releases, and it can speak about her next-generation vision whenever she wants, regardless of whether Sony and Microsoft have already begun to reveal their plans.

And this marketing strategy is not just for the next-generation hardware issue. Also worth for the content presented at E3. That's why we had two Nintendo Directs before Direct from E3 2019. "Our focus is usually on playable content, which is ready and arriving in the calendar year," he says. "And as you've seen, most of Direct was dedicated to this type of content. "

So in Direct Nintendo prioritizes revealing the games of the year based on what is ready, usually avoiding bragging things that will come in the very distant future. "Depending on how much content we have to share, we determine how we want to space them," says Bowser. That does not explain game teasers like Metroid Prime 4, but it does explain the greater number of Directs focused on games with closer release dates.

"From time to time, I depend on the franchise, depending on the stage of development, we can give a small sample of something new," he continues. "We had already said Animal Crossing: New Horizons was on its way. We wanted to make sure the fans know when it's going to come out and what's going on in the development process. "

That does not mean that Nintendo does not find E3 relevant - a subject increasingly common among players and journalists in 2019 after Sony announced that it would not be at the event, and with companies finding new ways to reach the public in weeks which precedes the fair (not counting the leaks).

"We do not always see E3 as an opportunity to reveal something new," says Bowser. "It's more about sharing the games of the year with consumers so they know what's coming and get excited. People who know Nintendo well know that we always do things our way. And we have discovered the most effective rate of communication for the content we are bringing to the market. We see what content is available, what stage of development it is in, and then we schedule our communication with the fans for the right time. "

This is Nintendo.