It all sounds like a foolproof plan. However, there is the threat of new hardware from Sony and Microsoft coming along and creating the same problem. Iwata doesn't see this being the case. "My impression is that the things that happened with Wii v 360 or Wii v PS3 won't happen again," he says. "If they decide to increase the spec numbers, will the consumers be able to realise the difference enough so that they can understand it's much superior to today's machine? And also, if they beef up the processing power, that simply means much more work for software developers to take advantage of those spec numbers. So I have to ask the question if that type of differentiation really makes sense. But I think further arguments must wait until probably next year, when they have finalised and disclosed whatever they are thinking about for the next generation of consoles."