Plenty of info has come out of a recent Q&A for Nintendo shareholders–including the acknowledgment of rumors aboutnew Switch models in the works. Veteran designer Shigeru Miyamoto broke down his ideas on the future of cloud gaming, virtual reality, and online services in that same Q&A.
“I think that cloud gaming will become more widespread in the future, but I have no doubt that there will continue to be games that are fun because they are running locally and not on the cloud,” he said.
This notion was partially shared by Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa who stated that while he doesn’t expect cloud gaming to completely overtake local gaming in the near future, he sees cloud and streaming technologies becoming more and more prevalent. If this tech brings new gamers to the market, he believes that leaves Nintendo with a potentially larger audience.
Miyamoto rejected the idea that Nintendo is failing to keep up with these palpable changes, despite acknowledging the fact that it may appear that way because Nintendo doesn’t publicize its experimentation with tech until something releases. He pointed to theNintendo Labo VR Kitas an example.Super Mario Maker 2’s successlends credence to the idea that Nintendo is still holding its own.
Furukawa spoke on subscription services, noting that their increased popularity isn’t limited to gaming. He gestured to Nintendo Switch Online and its inclusion ofNES titlesas an indicator of the company’s modernity. It’s a good start, but adding titlesoutside of the NES librarywould certainly help.
He also responded to a question about Switch sales dropping off by claiming that its install base is actually accelerating.Luigi’s Mansion 3,Pokémon Sword and Shield,Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and thatBreath of the Wildsequelare all expected to pull big numbers.
