Nintendo NX: What We Know and What We Think

Okay, if you’ve been awake today then you know that Nintendo has announced a whole new gaming platform in development called “NX”. The problem with that is that the announcement came in the form of a single sentence (lasting seventeen seconds) of an hour long conference (clip above) where Nintendo was discussing its partnership with DeNA.

“Who is DeNA?” you might be asking yourself. I’m glad you asked!

DeNA is a mobile game development company based in Japan. All official sources list them as a quality group, but as of yet I haven’t really heard of anything they have produced even after looking up their games list. For reference, I have the list here.

So why is Nintendo getting in bed with a mobile game developer in the first place, especially when they have the 3DS? According to DeNA’s official page: “Leveraging the strength of Nintendo’s intellectual property (IP) and game development skills in combination with DeNA’s world-class expertise in mobile games, both companies will develop and operate new game apps based on Nintendo’s IP, including its iconic game characters, for smart devices.” (Link: http://dena.com/intl/press/2015/03/nintendo-and-dena-form-business-and-capital-alliance.html) So in short, DeNA will “officially” be making mobile games for Nintendo.

A lot of this math didn’t add up in my book. Here’s the thing: This wasn’t a conference structured in the way one would be if the 3DS or Wii U was failing and Nintendo needed to take a wild new direction. This entire conference felt more like foundation work for something bigger. But what?

I took a look at the official translation transcript and something about it stood out to me:

“Nintendo, together with DeNA, will jointly develop a new membership service which encompasses the existing Nintendo 3DS and Wii U systems, the new hardware system with a brand-new concept, NX, and smart devices and PCs, and Nintendo will be the primary party to operate this new membership service.

“Unlike the Club Nintendo membership service that Nintendo has been operating, the new membership service will include multiple devices and create a connection between Nintendo and each individual consumer regardless of the device the consumer uses. This membership will form one of the core elements of the new Nintendo platform that I just mentioned.”

I want you to take a good look at that second point for a moment. “…the new membership service will include multiple devices and create a connection between Nintendo and each individual consumer regardless of the device the consumer uses.” Why would Nintendo need a mobile software developer to help them make the new system to replace Club Nintendo? On top of that, what is so special about this project that it is ideal to develop an entirely new hardware system that will work seamlessly between the 3DS, Wii U, and this new NX system?

The only product that I know of that Nintendo has that thus far works between the 3DS and the Wii U is the Nintendo eShop. Why is it so important that this new service also works on PC and mobile devices?

Here’s the thing, the NX (from what the conference indicates) isn’t meant to supplant the 3DS or Wii U. Now, in fairness, Nintendo has said that in the past about (then) future consoles. Given that the announcement for the NX comes out next year and the average life cycle of a console is also four years, we may be seeing early announcements of Nintendo’s next home console.

But keep in mind, the big part of this conference was this partnership with a mobile game developer. So what if it’s something else? If Nintendo is developing a membership system that’s meant to work across the 3DS, Wii U, smart devices and PC… does that mean they are going to start developing software for those four machines?

This could mean that rather than repeating the console cycle, Nintendo is looking at developing on PC, or that they have a much more ambitious physical network in mind that we can’t even imagine yet. What if they’re imagining taking on Sony’s cross play concept but with a much more stable iteration?

The problem is, even in Nintendo’s own words, it’s too early to say what the NX is definitively. That means this is likely something much more experimental than just the next console generation.

That being said… I think they’re going PC. You can find the whole conference right here if you’d like to make your own guess.

So what do you think the Nintendo NX is?  Let us know in the comments below!