Nintendo says it’s increasing ad expenses to promote Switch and target those who don’t usually play games
Nintendo is increasing its advertising expenses for the upcoming fiscal year. President Shuntaro Furukawa was asked about the approach during a financial results conference call, to which he responded by saying the company is looking to target those who don’t usually play games. The move is especially necessary as Switch is now in the middle of its life cycle.
Furukawa also shared an interesting tidbit. Nintendo “will potentially reach a situation in which we need to spend more for advertising now than we did when the hardware was first launched,” he said.
Here’s the full exchange regarding Nintendo’s ad expenses:
Your forecasts for sales units of Nintendo Switch hardware and software this fiscal year are both lower than the actual results for the previous fiscal year, so why are you planning to increase advertising expenses by around 9 billion yen?
We consider advertising to be a very important activity for building awareness of our products. Especially now that Nintendo Switch has entered the middle of its life cycle, it is important to pursue activities that also create better awareness of our products for people who do not normally play games. We believe that we will potentially reach a situation in which we need to spend more for advertising now than we did when the hardware was first launched. On the other hand, spending money on advertising does not necessarily lead to greater sales, so we must carefully monitor the effectiveness of the advertising and spend money where it is needed.
