Nintendo Unlikely to Adopt VR or 4K Tech

Nintendo is well-known by gamers and journalists for marching to the beat of their own drum. It’s arguable how true that actually is, Nintendo might be more innovative and risk-prone than your average game studio, but they’re certainly not afraid to follow the crowd when they see a benefit to it, but it is undeniable that Nintendo oftentimes sees what appears to be the wave of tomorrow and thinks, “No thanks, not us.”

Case in point: VR and 4K. Nintendo has dabbled in VR in Japanese Arcades, but as far as wide-spread adoption of the technology, Nintendo has so far been quiet. Likewise, while Sony and Microsoft are excitedly pursuing 4K graphics, we haven’t seen Nintendo chasing that particular rainbow. And speaking to Les Numériques (via Game Informer), head of Nintendo France Philippe Lavoué reiterated why: the Big N just doesn’t see a future in it.

Specifically, he doubts that VR is viable for the mainstream and that unless it comes out in a complete package, there won’t be much demand for a single peripheral. Same goes for 4K: since not enough people are adopting it, it’s better to remain accessible to the masses than impressive to the elites.

"If we do the same thing as everyone else, we're sure to die, since we are smaller than they are. With the Switch, we have the benefit of allowing for different uses adapted to the lives of our users."

It’s hard to argue his point about VR: it’s barely a year and a half old, now, and there’s already talks about the bubble bursting: with the economy the way it is, it’s hard for the average gamer to justify the $700-average price tag for that silly headgear. 4K, on the other hand, might be as inevitable as HD once was, so Nintendo’s failure to adopt it early might leave their games looking ugly… but then, that just means they can do what they do best: remakes!

But hey, you can’t deny they don’t do it well.