Nintendo is exploring the possibility of getting into virtual reality, despite saying just last year that the technology isn't fun.

The surprising news came out of a bleak quarterly earnings announcement, in which Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima worked to reassure investors with the promise of the company's move into mobile games and the yet-to-be detailed NX console.

Nintendo's third quarter revenues and profits dropped compared to the same period last year and 3DS and Wii U sales were down.

Kimishima told investors that the company's first mobile game was on track to release in March and that the next one would not be a communication app and include a well known intellectual property, according to Bloomberg.

"Our second game will not be a communication app. We are going to pick some intellectual property that is very well known to everyone," Kimishima said. "There are plans for new businesses in the works."

Kimishima also reassured investors that work on the NX console remains on track and the company is exploring the possibilities of virtual reality.

Last year, Nintendo said that the NX would be detailed sometime in 2016.

Word that Nintendo is now possibly considering virtual reality could mean that the company is not as far along into the development of the NX as previously thought. Kimishima did not address when the NX would be officially announced or detailed this year.

Interest in VR is likely recent given Nintendo of America's comments on the technology just last summer.

"We have knowledge of the technical space, and we've been experimenting with this for a long, long time," Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime told Polygon at E3. "What we believe is that, in order for this technology to move forward, you need to make it fun and you need to make it social.

"I haven't walked the floor, so I can't say in terms of what's on the floor today, but at least based on what I've seen to date, it's not fun, and it's not social. It's just tech."

This seeming shift in interest in the technology could be driven by the continued increase in virtual reality gaming which is being driven by the upcoming releases of the PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift and Vive headsets.