Remember Nintendo's purported sleep-monitoring device? Yeah, the one the company filed a patent for not too long ago? Well, according to a couple analysts, there's a good chance the product will never see store shelves, as Nintendo opts to focus on mobile games and its new NX platform.
According to IDC's research director for gaming, Lewis Ward, it's quite likely the Big N has shelved its plans to enter the Quality of Life market for the time being. "I think it’s been pushed to the back burner," Ward Fortune. "It’s supposed to be released in the U.S. by the end of March [2016], but I haven’t heard anything."
Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter also weighed in on Nintendo's mysterious plans for QOL, making it clear he doesn't think the company will see its vision through to completion. "I think it’s probably dead, just like the Wii Vitality Sensor was before and they didn’t tell anybody," he said.
Why would Nintendo abandon the project after making such a big deal about it during an investors' meeting several months back? With Iwata's passing, there has been a change in leadership over at the company. Couple that with plans to work with DeNA to make mobile games, the impending launch of a brand-new console with NX, and theme park rides at Universal, and you've got one full plate.
"They have been completely invisible as a company since [Iwata] got sick," Pachter continued. "The whole point of helping with lifestyle was getting people to buy more Nintendo devices—and I think they’re hurting so badly in devices that they’re trying to [stop] the hemorrhaging there. … I would say they’re probably focused on just getting their mobile initiative working. That’s far more important than [QOL]."
Do you think Nintendo should put the kibosh on its plans to release a Quality of Life device? If it means more games for gamers, I'm all for the company leaving it on the cutting room floor.
