Nintendo “taking a flexible approach” with coronavirus situation, operating “under the premise that the effects will be long-term”
During a conference call held for Nintendo’s financial results, president Shuntaro Furukawa was asked about how the entertainment industry may change even after the coronavirus ends, and what strategies the company has in place.
The big takeaway is that Nintendo is “taking a flexible approach”, and is operating “under the premise that the effects will be long-term”. Furukawa gave one example by noting that “there have been cases where the marketing of products did not move forward as we had planned”. Nintendo ultimately can’t be constrained – whether it’s a change in work environment or different initiates.
Here’s the full exchange:
Considering the potential for lifestyles to change significantly even after the end of the situation with COVID-19, do you think that the entertainment industry will also change? What are your strategies and positions regarding this?
At this point, we cannot fully predict the effects of the situation with COVID-19, so we are working on a variety of activities under the premise that the effects will be long-term. For example, there have been cases where the marketing of products did not move forward as we had planned, so we are taking a flexible approach in thinking about what we can do under these circumstances. Whether it’s with employee working practices or the variety of initiatives undertaken by the company, we believe that it is very important to respond flexibly, without being constrained by any conventional approach.
It would be presumptuous for me to talk about the entire entertainment industry, but people around the world are in the difficult position of having no choice but to stay at home right now. We often describe Nintendo as “an entertainment company that brings smiles to people all over the world,” and (under this situation,) we think every day about what we can do that is unique to Nintendo. Even if we anticipate that many things will change, no one really knows what those changes will be at this point. For this reason, I think that we as a company and I personally will have to be flexible to adapt to whatever potential scenarios arise in the future.
