Nintendo kills Game Boy!
In a move that may leave Nintendo fanboys crying, the company plans to kill the Game Boy once and for all. That’s not to say Nintendo is deserting the portable market. No, Nintendo will cease the use of the “Game Boy” brand, replacing it with the newer “DS” brand for future handhelds.
The DS was once seen as the baby of Nintendo’s three pillars: the home console, the Game Boy Advance, and the DS, but the newer portable has shown enough success to become Nintendo’s only portable.
George Harrison, Nintendo’s Senior Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Communications, told GameDaily Biz of their plans to phase out the iconic device.
“This year in our marketing you really won’t see much push against Game Boy itself, so it will kind of seek its own level. It’s hard to say in the future if we will ever bring back the Game Boy trademark”
The Game Boy Advance will see itself out of the market on its own terms, but it wasn’t easy for Nintendo officials to make such a decision.
“It was a big risk for us to actually pass on it and call the new product the Nintendo DS, but it was part of Mr. Iwata’s philosophy that if we’re going to make a radical difference and try to reach a new audience, then we have to change the name…”
Although Nintendo has no plans to revive the brand, it wouldn’t be surprising for the company to release a Game Boy product in the far future, sparking nostalgia in the even the most lighthearted fanboys.
Does Nintendo’s decision hurt your heart? Or are you happy to see Game Boy go? Drop some English in the comments below.
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5 Responses to “Nintendo kills Game Boy!”
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July 17th, 2007
I’m a bit sad Nintendo will no longer make games for the Advance, but I’m not surprised. For the last few months we’ve seen a disappointing slurry of unoriginal and franchise releases (movie this, TV that). There are a couple of decent-looking games in the works, but none of the inventiveness we’re seeing on the DS. There are no more “Warioware Twisted”s.
It’s time for Nintendo to move on from “Game Boy”–expect no gamepak slot on the next DS. (But do expect built-in motion sensors and Bluetooth. Only shh, you didn’t hear it from me.)
August 24th, 2007
[...] That brings up an important question: Who the hell is buying the Game Boy Advance? That thing is long dead with, and even Nintendo has declared the "Game Boy" brand dead. [...]
August 27th, 2007
Its a bit horrible reading them say “seek its own level” it feels like a poor abandonded dog thats out there all buy its self and not part of the group any more…
Well at least Game Boy you can be happy that I would always choose you over a PSP. *sniff, all of the happy memories*
October 5th, 2007
[...] Surprisingly, people are still buying the Game Boy Micro. Who buys those things? Even Nintendo declared the Game Boy dead! [...]
May 5th, 2008
Game Boy is dead the same way the NES,SNES,N64,and the GCN(Nintendo GameCube)are dead.But they will live on.The NES,SNES and the N64 live on in the Nintendo Wii’s Virtual Console feature.As for the GameCube you can play it on the Wii right out of the box.In the case of the Game Boy you can play the Advance generation of games on your Nintendo DS/Lite right out of the box too. RIP Game Boy 1989-2008