Nintendo CEO and President, Satoru Iwata, has discussed his thoughts regarding the competition to the company’s upcoming Nintendo 3DS handheld in relation to rival Sony’s recent unveiling of their successor to the PSP, the NGP (“Next Generation Portable”).
“We are more focused on drawing newcomers to gaming and appealing to a wide range of people,” Iwata explained. “What we do won’t change because of what another company is doing.”
Whereas Nintendo are to offer glasses free 3D gaming with their latest handheld, Sony are aiming to achieve graphical quality on par with its PlayStation 3 through the NGP. Whilst the NGP is due to go on sale later this year, Sony hasn’t released any details in regards to pricing or regional release dates.
Nintendo have recently reported a 74% fall in profits between the April-December period, with their earnings suffering by momentum beginning to wane on its worldwide Wii sales. Whilst Iwata acknowledged such fact, he stressed that Nintendo still remained to hold the majority of the market share compared to its competitors.
In regards to the NGP, Iwata stated that he was fully confident in the 3D capabilities of the Nintendo 3DS and that in the end it would be consumers that would be able to decide which handheld they wanted. Having angered many with comments last year in brushing off Apple’s iPad as “a big iPod Touch,” Iwata was a little more reserved in his comments about Sony’s latest handheld.
“It is clear that it’s trying to appeal to customers in a different way from us,” he remarked about the NGP. “But I realised I shouldn’t even be talking about my first impressions.”
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Iwata: Nintendo 3DS and Sony’s NGP “appeal to customers in a different way”
