The Nintendo company has been pushing the Nintendo Switch console into its seventh year. It’s hard to believe we’re still sticking around with this console. It’s proven incredibly popular, but that doesn’t mean some ideas are not being kicked around for what’s next. We’ve seen a flood of rumors hit the web about what we can expect for the Nintendo Switch 2. Recently, Inverse had the chance to speak with the Nintendo of America president, Doug Bowser; during their conversation, we got a look into the insight behind the idea of competing with graphically powerful consoles and how the transition will be handled for its successor.
For starters, we can look back on the Nintendo Switch as a well-received device. This hybrid console saw a ton of units being purchased since it was first released. However, looking internally, the game console couldn’t easily compete with the likes of Sony or Microsoft’s current console platforms. However, Doug Bowser noted that Nintendo doesn’t look at what’s powering the display. Instead, the focus is ensuring that players see what’s being displayed as captivating. You don’t need something visually intensive to capture someone’s attention. As long as it draws you in, that’s the main point and a rule of thumb for Nintendo regarding their line of video games along with their consoles.
I play on all the platforms, and I enjoy the content that everyone is creating. We’ve always said at Nintendo: What’s most important to us is not so much what’s inside the machine or the device, but what happens on the screen when you put your hands on the controllers and you start engaging in the gameplay experience. Does it draw you in? Is it immersive? To that point, you can use a variety of different art styles, some with higher fidelity, some with perhaps a different, more cartoonish-type style.
Doug Bowser – Inverse
While attempting to get some new insight into what’s next for the Nintendo company, Doug Bowser was not keen on giving anything away quite yet. That said, Doug noted that they had looked into transitioning players onto the next console. Looking back, the Nintendo of America president spoke about minimizing the drop the company would see from one console cycle to the next. Apparently, the big component here to solve this is the Nintendo Account.
Well, first I can’t comment — or I won’t comment, I should say — on the rumors that are out there. But one thing we’ve done with the Switch to help with that communication and transition is the formation of the Nintendo Account. In the past, every device we transitioned to had a whole new account system. Creating the Nintendo Account will allow us to communicate with our players if and when we make a transition to a new platform, to help ease that process or transition.
Doug Bowser – Inverse
The Nintendo Account was incorporated with the Nintendo Switch, and Doug notes that this is one area that will help players take their account and move it onto the successor. While this might help ease the transition, it’s still uncertain if there are any features here that would see our digital libraries get brought in alongside our account details. Likewise, plenty of players are out there wondering if our physical libraries will be playable on this new console. For now it’s a waiting game for Nintendo to make their grand unveiling of the new upcoming platform.
