Nintendo on how it approaches collaborations and partnerships
During Nintendo’s 79th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, an investor brought up the fact that “major corporations have announced new developments in the video game business this year” and how “Nintendo will be facing off as a rival with these types of corporations”. This person wanted to know about any Nintendo policies or guidelines regarding competition or collaboration with other companies.
President Shuntaro Furukawa fielded the response here. The basic idea is that Nintendo interested too interested in “large-scale collaborations.” But the company will “actively consider partnerships that would increase the value of Nintendo IP, such as our game characters and worlds.” Working with Line and DeNA on Dr. Mario World and Mario Kart Tour respectively are examples of this.
Below are Furukawa’s full words:
We consider it to be a very good thing that so many companies are entering the games business and that the industry is thriving. In this environment, we believe that the most important factor in overcoming stiff competition is to create value in our products that is unique to Nintendo.
Regarding collaborations, our basic stance is that we do not intend to actively pursue large-scale collaborations. We will, however, actively consider partnerships that would increase the value of Nintendo IP, such as our game characters and worlds.
Many of our existing collaborations with other companies are related to smart-device applications. In the near future, we plan to work together with LINE Corporation to release the Dr. Mario World application on July 10. We are also working with DeNA Co., Ltd. on the development of Mario Kart Tour, to be released this summer.
