Now You’re Playing with Power – Former Sony Boss Thinks Nintendo Has Lost its Identity. But Have They?

Everyone’s got something to say about Nintendo recently. The Switch 2 has both caused excitement and ruffled feathers. Between some issues arising regarding the messaging on game pricing or the decision to make the Welcome Tour a paid game and not a pack-in, I doubt Nintendo was expecting the reactions they got. Add to that the problems that tariffs have presented, and The Big N is probably a bit annoyed at how things have shaken out.

But in a recent interview with Easy Allies, Former Sony Boss Shuhei Yoshida seems to believe that Nintendo has stepped outside of its focus and, well, here are his words:

“In a sense, I think Nintendo is losing their identity, in my opinion. For me, they are always about creating some new experience, like designing hardware and games together to create something, [an] amazing new experience.”

Look, the man was doing this for 30 years. BUt i’m not entirely sure nintendo has lost their identity

Far be it from me to say he’s wrong. Shuhei Yoshida has been doing this longer than I’ve been alive. But I will say that I disagree they’ve lost their identity. Just looking at the Switch 2, if you’re talking about putting hardware and games together, mouse control is the new experience. How many times have we seen people talk about how mouse and keyboard is the superior experience for shooters, specifically when it comes to multiplayer?

If this works the way it should, the Switch 2 instantly becomes the cross-play console. Call of Duty, Marvel Rivals, maybe even Battlefield all gain a brand-new audience because of mouse controls on a console. That’s the leg up they have over Sony and Microsoft with the Switch 2. So, yes, you beef up the processing power so it can at least stand up with those games, and that’s the thing everyone focuses on because the console itself hasn’t really changed. But the real change is right there. They showed it with Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, and by all accounts, it operates beautifully.

I get the sentiment on its face if you just look at the physical side of it, but I do think that the very thing we’ve come to know Nintendo for since the analog stick was introduced with the Nintendo 64 is still there. They just didn’t make that the big focus of the show. Now, if you want to criticize them there, I’m with it. That is where I think the messaging is muddy. Using the Joy-Cons as a mouse should be way more of a focus, given what it could mean for console gaming in the future.

They have to be tired of the heavy lifting THOUGH, right?

But another question that arises is this: Why is it on Nintendo to innovate? Let’s say the mouse controls weren’t a thing. This argument would still exist. But why isn’t Sony shifting something with the next PlayStation? What about Microsoft? Nintendo pulls off analog sticks, everyone’s on it. Nintendo pivots to motion controls, we get the PlayStation Move and Xbox Kinect. And that’s not even mentioning the fact that everyone is still chasing the Game Boy. Nintendo evolves that into the Switch, and now portable console-level gaming is hitting.

They’ve been innovating, they’ve been at the forefront of quite a bit in gaming. Maybe it’s someone else’s turn. But in the meantime, I’ll be grabbing my Switch 2 whenever I can get my hands on one and working on running lobbies with the mouse controls. And when everyone else starts coming out with their own console mouse, we can revisit this.