With Nintendo NX now scheduled to launch in March 2017, GameStop CEO Paul Raines has indicated that the retailer will look to “be a dominant distributor” for the platform.
His comments came in a broad interview that reflected on the wider state of the games industry, whether that be new consoles from Microsoft and Sony or the anticipation that has surrounded Virtual Reality.
Regarding Nintendo, Raines touched on the company’s shift into mobile development but also the excitement building around Nintendo NX.
“There is some excitement around NX. Lately here, we’ve been hearing a lot more buzz than we have in the past,” Raines shared with [a]list.
“Nintendo is interesting in that they really are able to keep things as quiet as they can for a while. And then they just lost their leader, so they’ve gone through a mourning period and so forth. NX sounds exciting. We’re looking forward to it. They’re very innovative in everything that they do. I hope that they come out with something exciting and innovative. I think we’ll be a dominant distributor of that platform.”
He also spoke about Wii U, which he describes as having been “disappointing to everybody” – even Nintendo.
“Wii U was disappointing to everybody, including them,” Raines continued. “They made some bold bets, and maybe some of them didn’t work out. But they have a lot of creativity there. They’re a very innovative group of people, so we never count out Nintendo.
“Even now it’s incredible how strong some of their IP is — Pokémon, for example. We could have a Pokémon weekend this weekend at GameStop and we would break sales records just because every time they put out a new game they have a very loyal fan base. Super Mario, Zelda, all those IPs have a huge, loyal fan base.”
