Pokemon CEO Weighs In on Nintendo Switch Success, Breath of the Wild's Impact

The Nintendo Switch is on fire (not literally, at least not anymore). Ever since it release, the Big N has been back into the platform fight in a big way with more and more third party developers flocking to the hybrid console. After the Wii U's shortcomings, many were skeptical when it was first announced but luckily, Nintendo was prepared from that. Surprisingly enough, however, is that it was the Pokemon CEO himself that was among those leery about the next generation of Nintendo.

Pokemon CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara recently sat down in an interview with Famitsu. He spoke of a lot of things regarding Nintendo but what was most surprising was that he was not expecting the Nintendo Switch to do well - at least not at first. Luckily, the hybrid console was able to sway him when The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild took the gaming world by storm.

When speaking on how much an impact The Legend of Zelda had on the platform, he also weighed in on other titles such as Super Mario Odyssey:

"Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Super Mario Odyssey as well as other titles also had great timing and is helping widespread adoption. On top of that there are games like Nintendo Labo that include elements you don't normally see in games, so it's the ideal environment for a platform. I think this is a great opportunity for us to introduce new games and bring new experiences that will earn even more fans."

But before the ball got rolling after a few releases hit the shelves, he wasn't convinced that the gaming community was ready for what Nintendo was offering:

"I don't know if this has the ability to persuade the people who said a year ago that the Nintendo Switch wouldn't sell [laughter], but up until that point a machine that integrated both handheld functionality and a home console was unheard of, so to be honest it was hard to know how it would sell. I didn't see it selling. However, the overwhelming fun of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild made it popular. I think that had a big impact."

We're happy to see that both Ishihara-san's perception was able to change, as well as many, many others. The Nintendo Switch continues to sell incredibly well with new games being added constantly. Between new titles and fan-desired ports, this is only the beginning of the Switch legacy!

via Famitsu, translation by Nintendo Everything