Nintendo on conducting business with urgency, says hardware transitions “are not an easy task”
During a Nintendo financial briefing this week, one investor brought up how “external factors such as the introduction of new hardware by competitors and the rise of mobile gaming have impacted” its business. With new types of entertainment coming through, president Shuntaro Furukawa was asked to comment about the “kind of risks need to be considered going forward”.
Nintendo is doing better than it ever has before, but that doesn’t mean the company is resting on its laurels and conducting business with urgency is a priority. Furukawa said that hardware transitions “are not an easy task,” and he acknowledged how “we never automatically assume that our current position is solidified.” The overall goal seems to be “the importance of continuing to implement initiatives that encourage people to feel familiar with Nintendo in areas other than dedicated video game platforms, increasing the number of consumers who are fans of Nintendo IP over the long- term, and maintaining our relationship with these consumers.”
Furukawa shared the following
Every day, we conduct our business with a great sense of urgency. Generational transitions of platforms for the dedicated video game business are not an easy task. Since we have often experienced hardship in the past following a good-selling platform, we never automatically assume that our current position is solidified. Furthermore, as you mentioned, our business is constantly subject to fierce competition. When we take a broader perspective and look at entertainment as a whole, our competitors are not just other video games but also various other forms of leisure, making it a very tough industry. All this makes it even more important to continue offering unique proposals that make our brand an appealing choice for consumers. For us to keep offering unique entertainment that can be enjoyed by consumers all over the world, we believe the best strategy at this time is to continue pursuing our integrated hardware-software dedicated video game platform business. While we are working on all kinds of research and development projects and initiatives based on this belief, Nintendo products are different from basic necessities in that consumers will quickly lose interest if they are not fun. For this reason, we recognize the importance of continuing to implement initiatives that encourage people to feel familiar with Nintendo in areas other than dedicated video game platforms, increasing the number of consumers who are fans of Nintendo IP over the long- term, and maintaining our relationship with these consumers.
