Nintendo Switch “everybody… will be amazed”, Nintendo relationship “to last two decades” – NVIDIA
A NVIDIA Q3 2017 results earnings call transcript reveals a question and answer briefing with different industry analysis experts. One part of the interaction relates to the overall growth in gaming revenues. NVIDIA Executive Jen-Hsun Huang had some interesting things in relation to the Nintendo Switch and the relationship NVIDIA and Nintendo could expect in the future. Huang is confident that Nintendo & NVIDIA will work together for two decades, and that when Nintendo picks an architecture the company tends to stick with it for a long time. Hence Huang expects Nintendo & NVIDIA to have a long relationship, possibly two decades. This of coarse would provide NVIDIA a stable customer.
This might be good news for the Nintendo Switch, which Huang says – “when everybody sees it and enjoys it, they’re going to be amazed by it”. See part of the transcript below.
David M. Wong – Wells Fargo Securities LLC
Thanks very much. It was really impressive that 60% growth in your gaming revenues. So does this imply that there was a 60% jump in cards that are being sold by online retailers and retail stores or does the growth reflect new channels through which NVIDIA gaming products are getting to customers?
Jen-Hsun Huang – NVIDIA Corp.
…I guess you could also say that Nintendo contributed a fair amount to that growth. And over the next – as you know, the Nintendo architecture and the company tends to stick with an architecture for a very long time. And so we’ve worked with them now for almost two years. Several hundred engineering years have gone into the development of this incredible game console. I really believe when everybody sees it and enjoy it, they’re going be amazed by it. It’s really like nothing they’ve ever played with before. And of course, the brand, their franchise and their game content is incredible. And so I think this is a relationship that will likely last two decades and I’m super excited about it.
Some Nintendo fans may take this interaction as good news. A dedicated authority in high-end graphics like NVIDIA Corp is claiming the Switch will amaze people when they see it. He’s also hinting that Nintendo is likely to be a dedicated force in the hardware business for the foreseeable future. So much for Nintendo going 3rd party and not having it’s own console/handheld system. If the graphics on the Switch match the PS4 it may have something to do with using a custom NVIDIA Tegra processor (maybe a supercharged Tegra 4). What do you think of NVIDIA’s opinion on the Switch and the future of Nintendo?
