Nintendo president on impact of Mario movie on its business, planning “variety of visual content” for the future
Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa has commented on the impact of The Super Mario Bros. Movie on its business as well as what lies in store for the future.
Speaking during an investor Q&A this week, Furukawa stated that “the movie inspires interest in Mario games and has a positive effect on sales of Nintendo Switch hardware and software over the medium to long term.” He pointed to a growth in Mario merchandise and “a slight rise in activity for classic Mario titles that can be played through Nintendo Switch Online.”
Regarding the future, Furukawa teased plans for a “variety of visual content”.
His full words:
There has been a positive reception worldwide to The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and Mr. Miyamoto (Nintendo Representative Director and Fellow), who served as co-producer of the movie also appreciates the response. I have heard that many are going as families, and that some people have already watched the movie multiple times. The movie is an opportunity for people of all ages, from small children to seniors, to come in contact with our IP, and not just those already familiar with Nintendo and Mario. As an example of our strategy of expanding the number of people who have access to Nintendo IP, this has yielded a great result.
In terms of the impact on our business, in the short term, the revenues from the box office and secondary uses of the movie will be reported as sales in the current fiscal year (ending March 2024). But what is more important is that the movie inspires interest in Mario games and has a positive effect on sales of Nintendo Switch hardware and software over the medium to long term. In fact, we are already seeing a variety of positive effects. For example, sales are growing for Mario related merchandise, and there is a slight rise in activity for classic Mario titles that can be played through Nintendo Switch Online. In the long term, we think this will become a powerful touch point, turning people who have never really played games before into fans of Mario and Nintendo, and renewing the interest of people who used to play (on a Nintendo game platform) but are taking a break.
As for the future, we plan to pour our efforts into a variety of visual content, as we did last year with the consolidation of Nintendo Pictures Co., Ltd. as a subsidiary. We are very happy that this movie is a hit, but will remain focused on carefully developing and further expanding each IP while respecting its unique characteristics, just as we have done in the past. Through our strategy of expanding the number of people who have access to Nintendo IP, we want to bring people in contact with our characters and the worlds depicted in our games, with the goal of continually invigorating our core dedicated video game platform business.
