Credit: It has been nearly three years since Nintendo ( NTDOY ) released its Wii U console. In that timespan, the company has only sold about 10 million units worldwide, making the Wii U the slowest selling console in Nintendo's history and leaving fans desperate to see what the Japanese video game giant would do next.
To this day, we know very little about Nintendo's next step in the console market, however, some news from the company on Monday may indicate the direction it is heading. A new US patent filed by Nintendo shows the company securing the rights to a console system with no disc drive, meaning that it would rely on a network connection and downloadable games and applications.
Within the patent filing, Nintendo describes the device: "An example system includes an internal hard disk drive storing a program and/or data, a communication unit transmitting/receiving a program and/or data via a network, and a processor executing a program stored in the hard disk drive to perform game processing. The example system is not provided with an optical disk drive for reading out a program and/or data from an optical disk."
The language within the patent is interesting because Nintendo has chosen not to name the device at all. This means that it very well could have nothing to do with the company's top-secret project, codenamed "NX".
Besides the name, the details about Nintendo's NX are a mystery. Before his untimely death in July, former Nintendo President Satoru Iwata announced the NX console project, saying that it will incorporate a "brand-new concept."
The patent also makes mention of the device having its own display unit, giving some weight to rumors that have speculated a mobile/console hybrid device. Nintendo teased this idea with the Wii U, putting a display on a controller that allowed gamers to play games within a certain range of the console unit.
Currently, Nintendo has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). While sales of the Wii U were disappointing, the company has been supported by its rather successful handheld 3DS. Although Nintendo may benefit from China relaxing regulations on console sales, it will be difficult to break into that struggling economy right now. In short, Nintendo needs to make sure its next console is a roaring success.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
