Tatsumi Kimishima, the president of Nintendo, has stated that the video game giant will continue to support the Wii U, which underperformed compared to its predecessor the Wii, and its successor, the NX, could be out as early as 2016.
Kimishima stated that it is important that the people who purchased a Wii U feel satisfied and supported in an interview with Time. “As you know within the game business momentum is key, “ Kimishima said. “When you have momentum, whether it’s a platform or software, sales increase. At this point in the Wii U lifespan, we’re looking at 10 million sell-through for the hardware itself, which is just about a tenth of what we sold overall for Wii.”
The Wii sold over 100 million units two years ago, and outsold the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3. In comparison the Wii U has only sold 10.73 million units during its lifespan. Kimishima stated that it is important for the 10 million people who own a Wii U to continuously have software and support, so they can continue to use their Wii U console.
“Of course we are working on NX and looking at the experiences we can bring to that platform,” Kimishima said. “But first our job at this point is to support the consumers who have purchased Wii U and make sure that they have software experiences available to them.”
While the upcoming console has not been discussed at length, Kimishima has promised that the NX will be dramatically different from the Wii and Wii U. The NX was originally announced back in March of 2015.