Third Nintendo Health And Fitness Platform In The Works

Nintendo’s next console will focus on improving peoples’ lives and health, said Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata. “What Nintendo will try to achieve in the next 10 years is a platform business that improves people’s [quality of life] in enjoyable ways,” Iwata stated at a media briefing for investors on Thursday.

The device will run software similar to “Wii Fit” and “Brain Age,” self-improvement games and applications that have proved to be very lucrative for Nintendo. Wii Fit, which launched in 2007, sold moe than a quarter-million units within the first week of its launch. The game has sold 22.67 million copies as of March 2012 and is the sixth-best-selling Wii game of all time.

Iwata claimed that the focus is to develop a platform that’s not just a gaming machine but one that’s centered on “quality of life” apps. “As those who are already suffering from illness can seek medical care, our new business domain would… enable people to monitor their health,” Iwata said. “However, what is generally good for health requires some kind of effort to be made by the individual, and… it is sometimes difficult to stay focused and engaged, and it is not uncommon to give up after a few days.”

Iwata stated he will choose a “small, select team of developers…release some application on smart devices this year that is capable of attracting consumer attention and communicating the value of our entertainment offerings.” His goal is to drive buyers to Nintendo platforms, which would increase the brand’s sales of paid games.

Iwata also stressed that Nintendo would not place its games on smartphones. “Many people say that releasing Nintendo’s software assets for smart devices would expand our business. However, we believe that we cannot show our strength as an integrated hardware-software business in this field, and therefore it would difficult to continue the same scale of business in the medium to long term.”

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