Life has been tough for the folks over at Nintendo in the past few years with the company not reaching its expected targets and ambitions as it expected. Moreover, whatever hopes and expectations the company had with the arrival of Wii U, all was marred due to the device’s slow sales and the lack of first party games, alongside concerns about third party development since its arrival.
However, Ian Livingstone, president of Eidos Life, in a recent interview with Bristol Games Hub (via Pocketgamer), felt that it’s about time Nintendo started caring more about the software it has and that although this is an easy thing to do, it would still see a much needed response from the fans.
Livingstone, arguing that strengthening the IP should take priority over the publisher's platforms, stated: “Nintendo should have their IP on every platform. Otherwise a whole generation of young people will miss out on their games."
According to Livingstone, the Japanese developer should at least think about considering publishing its games on non-Nintendo devices, such as mobile phones, and that too even if it means that the company will have to sell its own hardware.
He also suggested that Nintendo’s failure to make the transition to other platforms will result in missed opportunities that the company might rue later. The transition, of course, is to introduce important Nintendo franchises to gamers who are yet to own any Nintendo-made handhelds or home consoles.
On a similar note, in a not so recent interview, Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata, on a possible smartphone development, said: “This is absolutely not under consideration. If we did this, Nintendo would cease to be Nintendo. Having a hardware development team in-house is a major strength. It's the duty of management to make use of those strengths."
The stance was also backed up by Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime, and according to him: “The concept of having our core franchises on other systems really flies in the face of what we believe in, and that's because, by understanding the hardware, that's how we're able to bring these great experiences forward," he concluded.”
While Livingstone’s advice may look like a sound advice for a company that’s slowly going down, it’s hardly likely that Nintendo will actually do something like this in the near future. Nintendo has already confirmed that the company won’t be available for this year’s E3.