Nintendo Puts Sleep Tracking Device to Rest Indefinitely

The Japanese video game creator announced this week that its non-wearable health tracking device dubbed Quality of Life would be put on hold. Apparently, Nintendo puts sleep tracking device to rest indefinitely because the firm is not convinced that the gizmo would make a big splash among health-conscious consumers.

The announcement was made during a Q&A session, when Nintendo’s chief executive and president Tatsumi Kimishima provided more details on the latest financial report. The plan to build a health tracking device was first unveiled by Nintendo in 2014.

The idea was to develop a fitness gizmo which would be not related to videogames in any way, but it could track sleep and fatigue day and night. The device was also supposed to give you reports on your health status in an interactive, very Nintendo-like manner.

According to the first reports, the gadget was slated to hit the shelves early this year but President Kimishima told shareholders that the company is no longer interested in the project for the moment. He said so even though one of the shareholders was curious to learn how far the project has progressed.

Kimishima noted that currently a ‘sleep-and-fatigue-themed’ tracker has minimal chances to morph into a product. The initial plan was to launch it in late March 2016. Still, the company didn’t ditch the plans to do more research and develop new products under the Quality of Life brand. Its CEO told investors that Nintendo is considering expanding into the field in the coming future.

Nintendo hoped that it could gain a competitive edge if it rolled out a non-wearable device. The health-technology market is already a very crowded place were there is little room for innovation.

The Japanese firm’s sleep tracker would have been quite simple to use– you would only need to go to sleep for it to learn that you are at rest. Next, the device would have uploaded the information to a cloud storage service from where it would have grabbed valuable health-related data and suggestions as feedback. For instance, if the device would have sensed that you have sleep problems, it would have suggested for you to exercise more or avoid certain types of foods and beverages.

Yet, this is not the first time the Japanese videogame creator thinks about a health tracker. It has already rolled out the Wii Fit series for its consoles, which had integrated fitness trackers and exercise suggestions. The products have sold in more than 40 million units.

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