Iwata: Smartphones and tablets have changed the industry

Not content with admitting for the first time that 3D ain’t all dat”, Nintendo boss Saturo Iwata has also confessed that smartphones and tablets HAVE changed the games industry.

Although not as much as many observers believe, of course.

I don’t think this is a central factor,” he told The Independent when asked if Nintendo was feeling the heat from the extra competition offered by Apple.

I think it’s much more about our lack of ability to release software in a timely matter that will motivate people to go out and buy our gaming hardware.

But obviously smartphones and tablets have changed the environment that we operate in and we can no longer offer some kinds of games experiences that couldn’t also easily be offered on a smartphone, so we need to differentiate and offer something exclusive.”

We’ve seen this in the past, as personal computers became cheaper people were saying ‘we don’t need more home consoles then do we?’ Then, with the advance of mobile phones, people were questioning the need for dedicated gaming machines and now with smartphones again.

Under the conditions I mentioned earlier, I think if we can offer exclusive entertainment that cannot be replicated on other devices then we’ll have the chance to survive.”