If such “rich experiences” were actually the only uniqueness, home consoles would lose their meaning when battery-operated portable devices become capable of reproducing similar rich experiences. On the contrary, and this is something which started to be discussed when Wii made its debut in 2006, bigger screen TVs were entering our living rooms around that time, which enabled people to use their living rooms for a more broad range of purposes. More specifically, living rooms had morphed into play areas where people could move their bodies. This is one of the unique entertainment features that home console systems, not handheld devices, were able to realize.
With this as an example, even such a distinction that “home console machines provide rich experiences but handheld devices cannot” will change as time goes by, and I believe that there will always be unique experiences that only home consoles can realize. Nintendo has to make efforts to offer the public something only our home console systems can achieve. There are also a number of restrictions with home consoles such as you have to be in front of a TV set, all the players must get together in one place and you cannot play if someone else is watching a TV program. I feel that an increasing number of people, who are playing with a variety of games, are saying, “I used to be able to start home console games rather casually, just whenever I felt like playing with them, but nowadays, because I am used to the easy-to-start handheld game devices, I have to have a rather strong determination to start playing with home console games.” I understand that the situation surrounding home consoles is changing. Home consoles have to provide something unique to users that is only possible on home consoles in addition to the “rich experiences.” For example, we must focus on what kinds of unique entertainment can be created when a home console can reproduce its images on a large monitor screen which can be viewed by several people at the same time. I think that in the mid and long term, the mission of home console machines will change in this fashion.” - Iwata