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Former Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata questions PSP and future of games industry in lost 2004 interview-Adam Starkey-Entertainment – Metro
A 2004 interview with former Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has been published in full, where he comments on the difficulties the PSP will face against the Nintendo DS.
Satoru Iwata reveals the Nintendo DS in 2004 (AP Photo/Nintendo, Bob Riha, Jr.) (Credits: AP)
A 2004 interview with former Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has been published in full, where he comments on the difficulties the PSP will face against the Nintendo DS.
As the gaming industry spirals into a particularly bleak period, between mass layoffs and studio shutdowns, there’s a sense that we’re stepping into uncharted territory in terms of the future of AAA development.
In reality, as shown by rediscovered comments from former Nintendo boss Hiroshi Yamauchi recently, the same problems have constantly repeated themselves over the past 20 years – as rising development costs lead to a more financially volatile industry.
A 2004 interview with then Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, who died aged 55 in 2015, has now been published in full for the first time. In the interview, Iwata highlights how the games industry is heading in an unsustainable direction, as it chases more powerful hardware rather than innovation.
The interview was recorded by website Kikizo at E3 2004, shortly after Iwata had revealed the Nintendo DS and teased the Revolution (the codename for what would become the Wii) on stage. At the time, he had been Nintendo’s global president for two years.
During the clip, which is available with full English translations, Iwata questions the longevity of Sony and Microsoft’s plans with the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles.
‘I don’t think the next generation consoles that Sony and Microsoft are considering have a future,’ Iwata said. ‘If I thought so, we would be doing the same thing, right?’
He added: ‘I was just making games until recently, but even if I had a machine with 10 times the processing power and 20 times the graphics, the work would be harder, and I don’t think it’s that easy to make customers clearly recognise the difference.
‘Just as the DS demonstrated, for example, a completely new interface, or a completely different way of playing, without something like that, I don’t think the majority of customers will want to buy a new hardware just to play games.’
While the sales of the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 prove more powerful hardware is a selling point for many, the Wii outsold both its rivals and the Nintendo DS went on to become the second best-selling console of all time.
However, it’s Iwata’s comments on the strain developers face in making games on more powerful hardware which rings especially true today.
Elsewhere in the interview, Iwata also discusses the challenges the PSP will face in the handheld market. ‘With the DS, we are not replacing the Game Boy Advance,’ Iwata said. ‘Instead, we are expanding the Game Boy Advance market with the DS.
‘So, by the time the PSP is probably released worldwide, the total [GBA] install base will be around 60 million units. They will need to show superiority against both the existing 60 million GBA units and the DS, which offers new ways to play. I think that will be a tough challenge.’
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While the Nintendo DS went onto trounce the PSP in sales, with over 154 million units sold worldwide, Sony’s handheld still performed well, with nearly 80 million units sold – although a disproportionate amount of those sales were in Japan.
Sony largely ditched the handheld market after the PSP’s successor, the PS Vita, failed to find a sizeable audience, but recent rumours suggest the company is now planning a new handheld console.
Satoru Iwata died on July 11 in 2015 (AP Photo/Ric Francis, File)
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