Unfortunately, Nintendo doesn’t have much of a footing in China. That doesn’t mean the company isn’t interested in seeing a larger expansion in the country, however.
Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima said last week that the company can’t expand its business to China alone, and has to resolve many issues. Currently, there are “several ongoing discussions to figure out how to do so.” No contracts have been signed, but Nintendo’s “desire to get that done as quickly as possible has not changed.”
With past mobile apps, Nintendo has taken the lead on development. The likes of Super Mario Run, Fire Emblem Heroes, and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp have been handled by its own internal teams while DeNA has handled the back end.
With Dragalia Lost, which has come out of a new partnership with Cygames, the approach has been a bit different. Cygames designed it initially, and Nintendo “got involved at the planning stage and are now developing the game together.”
Listings on the Japanese eShop reveal that Hamster is bringing two more classic games to Switch next week.
On the NeoGeo front, the sports title Super Sidekicks 2: The World Championship will be available. Hamster will also release its latest shooter Arcade Archives Terra Cresta.
Both games are slated for May 10 worldwide. Pricing is set at $7.99 / €6.99 / £6.29 each.
Source: Switch eShop
While Switch is undoubtedly Nintendo’s focus right now, 3DS continues to be sold and software is still being made. In fact, the company said last week that 3DS titles will continue to be made in 2019 and beyond.
When asked if 3DS can coexist with Switch during the Q&A portion of Nintendo’s financial results briefing last week, president Tatsumi Kimishima indicated that this is still the case. One reason for that is due to 3DS’ price point and “ample software lineup”, which are attractive points for parents.
Hiroshi Yamauchi was Nintendo’s president for over 50 years. During his lengthy tenure, Yamauchi was known for some interesting philosophies, including how “the president of Nintendo needs to be a little unusual.”
One investor brought this point up during Nintendo’s financial results briefing last week. Current president Tatsumi Kimishima was also asked about the criteria he used to select Shuntaro Furukawa as the next president.
Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima reiterated the company’s thinking when it comes to mobile apps during the Q&A portion of the company’s financial results briefing last week.
Kimishima highlighted two points. By releasing mobile apps, Nintendo wants more people to be exposed to its IP, and have them “achieve a synergistic effect” with its dedicated gaming platforms. The other goal is for mobile to be a pillar of revenue.
Nintendo exceeded its forecast for the previous fiscal year by selling 15.05 million units. For the coming fiscal year ending March 2019, the company hopes to sell another 20 million systems.
Current Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima was asked about that goal during the Q&A portion of its financial results briefing last week. He spoke about the need to get Switch “into the hands of consumers who have never played a Nintendo platform before, and to those have played before, but not recently.” Kimishima also mentioned that “in order to sell more units than we did last fiscal year, the software lineup we have planned is meant to attract people including those who have not been playing video games recently.”
Last week, Tatsumi Kimishima announced that he’s stepping down as Nintendo president. Though it was initially surprising, it was somewhat expected. Kimishima was always intended to be more of a temporary replacement for the late Satoru Iwata, who passed away in 2015.
Kimishima spoke more about the decision to step down during the Q&A portion of Nintendo’s financial results briefing last week, stating that his primary role was to guide Switch to a successful launch and change Nintendo’s “directorial structure to speed up decision-making and execution on a variety of projects that members of the management team were considering at the time.” Kimishima said of retiring as president, “With the breadth of projects we are working on, now is the time to transfer power further to new people and to promote a generational shift to bring stronger momentum to Nintendo through these changes.”
Assuming he’s approved in a couple of months from now, Shuntaro Furukawa will be promoted to president of Nintendo. He’ll be taking over for Tatsumi Kimishima, the current president.
At Nintendo’s financial results briefing last week, Furukawa was asked about his goals at the company. He pointed to maintaining Switch’s momentum, expanding mobile efforts, looking at projects like Super Nintendo World and movies, and “how we can lay down new pathways that positively enhance our dedicated video game platform business.”
Nintendo surprised everyone with the announcement of its partnership with Cygames last week. In addition to purchasing some stake in the company, Nintendo is teaming up with the mobile developer on the brand new smartphone title Dragalia Lost.
During the Q&A portion of its latest financial results briefing, Nintendo was asked about the partnership and how it may differ from what has been done in the past with DeNA. Aside from reaffirming its commitment to DeNA, current president Tatsumi Kimishima explained that working with Cygames was needed to expand its lineup of mobile apps.
