Still haunted by the colossal failure that was the Virtual Boy, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Amie has said Nintendo won’t be jumping on the growing virtual reality trend.
In an interview with Polygon, Reggie said that he feels the technology hasn’t progressed to the point for VR to be enjoyable. The Nintendo executive also criticized VR for being devoid of social elements.
“What we believe is that, in order for this technology to move forward, you need to make it fun and you need to make it socia… I haven’t walked the floor, so I can’t say in terms of what’s on the floor today, but at least based on what I’ve seen to date, it’s not fun, and it’s not social. It’s just tech.”
Nintendo was one of the first companies to embrace the concept of virtual reality, releasing the Virtual Boy in 1995. However, the systems poor design and hefty price tag turned it into a commercial failure. The Virtual Boy was discontinued just months after its launch.