Nintendo talks business situation in Russia
Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa as well as the company’s Satoru Shibata discussed the current business situation with Russia during its 82nd Annual General Meeting of Shareholders last week.
Russian invaded Ukraine earlier this year. Following that, the payment provider for the eShop in Russia suspended transactions in Russian rubles, causing the store to be in maintenance mode since March 4. This, along with “logistical difficulties”, Furukawa said it is currently “not shipping any products, including physical products, to Russia.” Shibata did also say that the invasion and global inflation “have not greatly affected the progress of the Nintendo Switch business in Europe.”
Furukawa and Shibata said:
Shuntaro Furukawa
“Since the payment provider for Nintendo eShop (which operates the digital business) in Russia has suspended transactions in Russian rubles, the Russian Nintendo eShop has been in maintenance mode since March 4th. In addition, due to the suspension of Nintendo eShop operations and logistical difficulties, for the time being, we are not shipping any products, including physical products, to Russia. We will not discuss the specific amount of impact, but this issue has a negligible effect on our overall financial results since sales in Russia are only a small part of overall sales for the Nintendo group.”
Satoru Shibata
“Regarding business in the Russia region, we are giving serious thought to how to handle this going forward, in light of changing world affairs. In Europe, as in other regions, Nintendo Switch sales continue to be steady even entering its sixth year, and interest from consumers is high. While changes in the environment like the situation in Ukraine and global inflation do exist, these factors have not greatly affected the progress of the Nintendo Switch business in Europe.”
