As Nintendo gears up for its next console generation, the hardware and software guessers have focused on patent leaks and rumor mills, looking for any juicy hints and scraps as to the company’s future. Maybe we’ll get a crazy controller, a hybrid home/portable device, or a few retro-throwback features.

But if you want to understand the Nintendo of the future, the writing is already on the wall, and that wall is a very public one, revolving around social media and player interconnectivity. Nintendo is rapidly redefining its take on being a “family friendly” entertainment company, setting the table for a very weird Nintendo NX generation.

Forget the Wii’s “blue ocean” strategy of winning over new players with gimmicks. Nintendo may very well be eyeing an even more intense way to capture new fans’ minds and hearts with fully interconnected, online-focused products that will need constant tending by and public responses from a company that came to prominence in a much more conservative era.