At E3 we expect fantastic new games to be front and center, but sometimes hardware steals the show. While there was plenty of hardware buzz going ’round this year, mainly due to a huge VR presence, Microsoft was the only company actually revealing anything new. We got great promotional videos for two new consoles: the Xbox One S and Project Scorpio. The former is a slim and sexy take on Microsoft’s current console, while the latter is something new and exciting. Scorpio already has developers excited, something that was clearly emphasized in the announcement video, and Phil Spencer claims when it comes out next holiday season it’ll be the most powerful console in the world.
Well, that will get people talking – especially when Sony is on the verge of announcing its latest console, code-named Neo, some time this year. Both consoles are set to offer significant improvements compared to current models, with “4K” being a favored buzzword. And what of Nintendo? Nintendo remains silent; tight-lipped; distant. It hasn’t conceded to offer us a single expectation or idea of what the NX has in store for us, but that doesn’t stop the press from asking about it. Bloomberg recently caught up with Reggie Fils-Aime after E3 to ask him how the NX would stack up against the newly revealed Project Scorpio an Sony’s new console. His response is making for a lot of pretty dreary headlines.
“For us, it’s not about specs,” he said. “It’s not about teraflops, it’s not about the horsepower of a particular system. For us, it’s about the content. We’re focused on bringing out best entertainment to both the Wii U as well as the NX in the future. So for us, whatever Microsoft and Sony are doing in terms of talking about new systems, that’s for them to fight out in that red ocean.” For those of you who didn’t pay attention in your business classes, a “red ocean” strategy (generally speaking) is one that focuses on dominating the competition in a particular market by making better, aggressively-priced products. “Do it better than anyone else” is the red ocean mantra. Alternatively, a blue ocean strategy focuses primarily on creating a brand new market – creating new demand – that only you and your product can satisfy.
In other words, Reggie is saying that Microsoft and Sony can have their power war. The console war has been reduced to a volley of numbers: Who has the most CPU cores? Who has the fastest GPU? How much internal storage is provided? What’s the power threshold? How many teraflops? Nintendo drowned in that red ocean with the Game Cube, and its blue ocean strategy was fully realized in the Wii.
Now, the Wii was a tremendous success, and it truly did create and cater to a market that was quickly imitated by Sony and Microsoft once it became clear that Nintendo had produced what would turn out to be one of the fastest-selling consoles of all time. The motion controls were implemented in a way that felt truly novel, and having a controller shaped like a remote really did make for an inviting experience. Families were playing Wii Sports and Mario Kart together, and the virtual console was a great way to experience the classics all over again.
The Wii U didn’t do so hot. As a console, as a concept, it was poorly marketed. No one knew that the Wii U existed, and those who did thought it was some kind of add-on or peripheral. What’s more, gamers who knew all about the Wii U knew very well how it stacked up against the competition. In terms of raw horsepower, the Wii U was less powerful than consoles that had come out almost seven years prior, and with the imminent release of the Xbox One and PS4, there was little incentive to go with Nintendo’s box unless (like me) you just love everything Nintendo. The Wii U sold very poorly, and several major third-party developers were alienated as a result.
Could Nintendo be making the same mistake again? Could we see another gimmick and an extra screen instead of impressive performance? I’m glad Nintendo is focused first and foremost on content – that’s what makes Nintendo games the most polished games in the world – but Nintendo fans don’t want to get left behind. I don’t need the most powerful box in the world, I really don’t. I want to play the latest games from Square Enix, though, and maybe even from Activision. Reggie’s comments don’t necessarily indicate that the NX will be inhibited by power constraints, but they don’t exactly fill us with hope, either. What do you guys think? Personally, I’m still excited to see what the NX is going to be, and I think it’ll be much different (and better) than what we expect.