Nintendo on game development resources, says “development will inevitably become longer, more complex, and more advanced”
During Nintendo’s financial results briefing Q&A this week, president Shuntaro Furukawa was asked to weigh in on the company’s game development resources. He was also asked how many resources have shifted to the new system following Switch.
Furukawa brought up how Nintendo has “continuously expanded our development resources over the past several years through the recruitment of recent graduates and mid-career hires.” Also, rather than pursuing merges and acquisitions, the priority is to focus on its own developers as well as external partners. Another interesting mark if that Furukawa mentioned “game development will inevitably become longer, more complex, and more advanced.”
His full comments are as follows:
Creating a successor to Nintendo Switch takes years of preparation, so of course many aspects must be taken into consideration in terms of software development resources. But we are also continuing to develop software for Nintendo Switch, and will announce more about our upcoming software lineup at the Nintendo Direct scheduled in June.
We have continuously expanded our development resources over the past several years through the recruitment of recent graduates and mid-career hires. We will continue to actively work to secure the necessary development resources to increase the long-term value of our IP and to constantly offer unique entertainment proposals. Although development resources could be expanded through M&A, first we will work within the company with our developers, who thoroughly understand and have built up the Nintendo brand over the years, to have them nurture talent who can drive Nintendo’s future development. In addition, many of our external development partners have gained a deep understanding of Nintendo’s way of thinking and game development methods over the many years of collaboration, and we would like to further strengthen our ties with such partners. The process of game development will inevitably become longer, more complex, and more advanced. It is vital that Nintendo offers consumers new and unique experiences through game development, so we will actively invest in expanding our development resources.
