Iwata: Merging hardware teams could result in more hardware
Speaking to investors, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata elaborated on Nintendo's aims regarding the merger of its console and handheld development teams. Iwata takes the surprising stance that putting the two teams together in Kyoto will result in more potential platforms, not fewer.
"What we are saying is that we would like to integrate software development methods, operating systems, and built-in software and software assets for each platform so that we can use them across different machines," Iwata said. "This means that if we manage to integrate our platforms successfully, we may in fact be able to make more platforms." Iwata explained that the ability to share development resources and assets between teams will allow them to work more efficiently, and that they would be "spread too thinly" if they tried to work on more than the current console and handheld platforms.
As usual, it's impossible to guess what Nintendo is up to in specific terms. "We feel that we are nearing a saturation point in terms of simply improving performance or enhancing graphics," Iwata said. "What is far more important for the future of video games is whether we can make new propositions in other aspects and create games out of something that people never expected to see in the form of a game." The problem with things we never expect to see is that we don't know what to expect, and therefore what to tell you.
