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Nintendo should have quit hardware race 'about 18 months ago', claims PopCap's David Bishop

3DS not cutting the mustard

Nintendo should have quit hardware race 'about 18 months ago', claims PopCap's David Bishop
Though the company faced similar calls during the respective runs of Nintendo 64 and GameCube, there were few within the industry suggesting Nintendo should pull out of the hardware business when both Wii and DS were at their height.

However, speaking during a panel session at the London Games Conference, PopCap senior designer David Bishop said, following Nintendo's recent $923 million half year loss, going software-only might be the best way for the company to recover.

A matter of time

Indeed, Bishop went as far as to suggest Nintendo should have pulled out of the hardware race "about 18 months ago" - his response to senior VP of global e-commerce at EA David DeMartini's suggestion that it would be "premature" to rule out Nintendo in the face of increasing competition from Apple.

Bishop's comments come as stats released by Flurry suggest Nintendo DS software sales are currently being decimated in the US by the rise of iOS and Android, with its share of the revenue pie halving during the last two years.

Some Nintendo investors have called for the company to develop software for the likes of iPhone in recent months following 3DS's less than stellar start, though Nintendo itself expects to ship 16 million units in all during the handheld's first full financial year.

[source: Edge]

With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font.