Nintendo Says The Appeal Of 4K Gaming Is “Too Limited” To Get Into Now

It felt like the developers, execs and other talking heads at E3 2017 could barely make it through a sentence without making mention of 4K gaming. Between the continuing push for the PlayStation 4 Pro and the newly-unveiled Xbox One X, ultra-HD games were very much on everybody's mind.

The only company not hyping up 4K was Nintendo, because, well, they don't have a 4K-capable system. The Nintendo Switch can do 1080p, but 4K simply isn't possible on the system.

So, why has Nintendo forsaken 4K? Do they plan to support it any time soon? Don't count on it – in a recent interview with The Verge, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime deemed 4K too niche to be worth the company's time and effort:

"The Nintendo mission is to reach as many consumers as possible and to have them engage and have fun with our intellectual property. That's what we try and do. So inherently, we go for a more mainstream audience. Inherently, we want our products to be affordable. We want our products to be easy to pick up and experience, low learning curve. We want our IP to shine as we deliver these experiences.

That's the way we approach it. And so, what that means is, a sweet spot of $300 for the Nintendo Switch, a platform that has Mario and Zelda and Splatoon. Going against a more limited consumer pool, a higher price point, requiring investments in other ways — 4K TVs, what have you — that is a strategy that for us, candidly, is a bit too limited."

It's a hard point to argue against. Yes, more and more people are buying 4K TVs, but that's only because it's the main technology available now. Most people don't really care about the difference between 1080p and 4K. The number on the price tag is definitely more important than resolution.

You can check out WWG's latest Nintendo Switch coverage here.

[via The Verge]