The former president of Nintendo made big statements about the future. And what turns out? They were all correct.
Nintendo is gaming giant beyond imagining. Virtually everyone has played a console from the Japanese company at one time or another. But did you know that Nintendo not only makes consoles, but can also predict the future?
Not quite, of course, but they came pretty close. Footage has surfaced of a speech that former Nintendo president Satoru Iwata gave during game conference E3. That was over 20 years ago and Iwata made and some interesting statements about the future.
Nintendo predicted the future at E3 in 2004
We need to take you back in time for a moment. The year is 2004. The Nintendo DS is a mega-success and the Wii does not yet exist. There is just plenty of talk about a new “revolutionary” console Nintendo is working on. The code name for this thing? The Nintendo Revolution.
At the famous game conference E3, Satoru Iwata gives a speech. In it, he shares his vision of the future. He is critical of the game market, speaks highly of his own company and says some generalities. Did the best man say anything meaningful about the future? We can now listen back to that properly thanks to a video.
Someone named Adam Doree has jacked up the old footage from 2004, from a resolution of 320 by 240, to full 1080p and 60fps. So now it’s as if the speech was given today.
Here’s what Nintendo thought about the future
Satoru Iwata talked a lot about innovation in 2004. According to him, that would be the key to the future. In fact, he said Nintendo’s innovation will be the reason their consoles will always be different from Xbox or PlayStation. Today with the Nintendo Switch 2 on the way, this statement seems to be true.
Iwata was even very critical of Microsoft and Sony: “I don’t think the next-generation consoles that Sony and Microsoft are considering have a future.” According to Iwata, consumers would much rather have a console that is fun to use as opposed to one with super much computing power. “Nintendo will continue to be revolutionary,” Iwata said about that.
One of the true classics (Image: Nintendo)
The Nintendo Wii was not talked about much yet, but looking back on this speech, it is clear that Iwata was referring to this new console. The Wii was the best-selling console for its time. And even if you look at the other best-selling consoles in the world, Nintendo’s are very high on the list. The Nintendo Switch still stands head and shoulders above the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.
