Nintendo fans wondering why the company hasn’t debuted many fresh franchises in recent years may finally have their answer.
While the recent era of Nintendo has seen the birth of Splatoon (2015) and ARMS (2017), brand-new IPs from Nintendo have been rare compared to sequels and spin-offs. Splatoon and ARMS saw varying levels of success, the former becoming a flagship series with competitive and casual appeal, while the latter offered a more experimental fighting game experience that never reached the same level of popularity.
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That trend continues with the arrival of the Switch 2. So far, most of the announced first-party titles lean heavily on the company’s biggest mascots: Mario, Donkey Kong, and Kirby. For many fans, this raises the question of whether Nintendo has lost interest in creating new worlds, or if there’s a more deliberate reason behind the company’s strategy.
Nintendo doesn’t need new ideas
According to former Nintendo software developer Ken Watanabe, there’s no mystery. In a new interview with Bloomberg, Watanabe explained that Nintendo doesn’t invent new franchises unless gameplay demands it.
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“New franchises haven’t come out simply because there’s no real need to make them,” he said. “When Nintendo wants to do something new, it’s basically about the gameplay mechanics first — about creating a new way to play. As for the skin or the wrapper, they don’t really fuss over it. They just pick whatever fits that new gameplay best.”
Watanabe pointed to Splatoon as a prime example. The game originally used familiar Nintendo characters during development, but only introduced the squid-like Inklings once it became clear that they best communicated the mechanics without lengthy explanations.
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That approach ties back to a wider company philosophy. As former hardware planner Shinichiro Tamaki explained, “Nintendo strongly believes communication with players should happen only through the product itself.” For Nintendo, gameplay clarity comes before building out new brands or universes, meaning new IPs only appear when absolutely necessary.
