The Pokemon Company's CEO, Tsunekazu Ishihara has said he originally told Nintendo that the Switch wouldn't be a success, but now realises his mistake - and has offered some tiny hints as to how the Pokemon game for Switch will take advantage of the hybrid console.
Speaking to Bloomberg, Ishihara explained: “I told Nintendo that Switch wouldn’t be a success before it went on sale because I thought that, in the age of the smartphone, no one would carry around a game console. It’s obvious I was wrong."
However, he seems to put that success down to good games, rather than hardware: "I came to realise the key to a successful game is quite simple - software with absolute quality leads sales of hardware. Playing style can be flexible if the software is attractive enough.”
Ishihara announced a core Pokemon RPG for Switch at E3 this year, which will undoubtedly be one of the system's biggest games upon release.
Perhaps hinting to his own game, he continued: “Currently [Switch is] popular among the early adopters and there needs to be one more step to attract a wider audience. I see more potential in Switch, but one shouldn’t overestimate its potential.”
In a separate Bloomberg interview, Ishihara offered a few small hints on the thinking around making a mainline Pokemon game for the new console:
“With the Switch," he explained, "we see it as a chance to create Pokémon that goes deeper and with a higher level of expression. As a result, that makes it an extremely important platform [...] Right now we’re using 7 to 8 inch screens, but on a high-definition TV you can express a whole different world with graphics and sound.”
He also revealed that the company is applying a wider thinking about multiplayer: “Until now, games were made as one for one person, but now you can go home and play with everyone - so how do we tackle these themes, and how do we make sure it’s not complicated?” It's not entirely clear whether that thinking centres around the Switch console's innate social aspects (split Joy-Con play), or more familiar online play.
As for whether a new Pokemon game would come with extra peripherals (previous games have introduced the Pokewalker and game-linked Z-Ring toys), he said: “I can’t say that we’ll release accessories, but I’d like to think of that possibility.”
Some of that doesn't sound a long way away from the 5 things we want out of a Pokemon game on Switch - but it will likely be a fair old time before we find out for sure.
Joe Skrebels is IGN's UK News Editor, and thinks Ishihara is probably the only person allowed to tell Nintendo their console's going to fail without feeling unsafe. Follow him on Twitter.
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