Mario and The Legend of Zelda creator, Shigeru Miyamoto has revealed in the latest issue of Japanese magazine, Famitsu that Nintendo’s stable of IP’s may be expanding.
“We’ll have Mario Kart 8 out next Spring, and at that point, we’ll have the whole lineup in place, so I think it’s about time we brought out a new franchise” says Miyamoto. “I can’t give out details, but that is the title that has been keeping me very busy lately.”
This isn’t the first time that speculation has arose on Miyamoto preparing a new Nintendo IP, though this is the first time that he has directly admitted it. The Associated Press reported in January of 2012 that Miyamoto had started work on a new IP, and in a separate interview, Miyamoto discussed his desire to make a shooter-esque franchise, though a family-friendly one, as he felt modern shooting games placed too much emphasis on violence.
Judging by Miyamoto’s addressing of the Wii U lineup, it seems that the mystery game he’s talking about is likely planned for Wii U. Could this be the long-awaited killer app title to turn around Wii U’s fortunes? One thing is sure, if he is pursuing his shooter-themed dream project, it would award Nintendo one of the only genres that their IP’s have yet to touch. Nintendo does have a semi-shooter in Metroid, though it’s more of an adventure game franchise than a shooter franchise in most respects.
Wii U has already seen several new IP’s published by Nintendo. These include Deluxe Bundle pack-in offering, Nintendo Land, music-themed party game, Sing Party, and comedic sandbox game, LEGO City Undercover. Another new Wii U-exclusive IP, The Wonderful 101, is debuting on September 15th, developed by PlatinumGames. Next year will also see the console debuting a possible new IP from Monolith Soft, simply addressed as ‘X’ at this point, assuming it’s not a sequel to Monolith’s excellent Xenoblade Chronicles on the Wii.
What kind of new IP would you hope to see from Nintendo? Do you think the right all-new franchise could go a long way to boosting slow Wii U sales? Would you rather Nintendo spent resources on established IP’s instead of new ones? Feel free to leave your comments below, Nintendo faithful!
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