You may not have heard about it but a new president was named at Nintendo this week. His name is Shuntaro Furukawa and he took some time to speak to the media after the company’s 78th annual shareholder meeting held in Kyoto, Japan. The first thing Furukawa commented on was Nintendo’s mobile gaming business. The company’s goal is for their mobile game catalog to achieve a minimum of 100 billion yen in revenue. “[This] is going to be difficult, a challenge to be sure. We’ll keep producing original, creative games to realize that goal, however,” he said.
Furukawa noted that the Switch continues to be a strong seller and that Nintendo is working on a large catalog of software to maintain the system’s momentum. Nintendo sees India and Southeast Asia as regions where they can expand their business.
Curiously, the new president then commented on the venerable 3DS. He pointed out that the handheld has a number of advantages over the Switch such as a lower price point and a larger game catalog. As for a new handheld that would replace the 3DS, he said that Nintendo is “considering various possibilities.”
That does not necessarily mean that there will ever be a handheld to replace the 3DS but the new president did not rule out the possibility either. Furukawa pointed out the importance of Nintendo continuing to deliver fun products. “Having employees devoted to bringing smiles and surprises to the world is one of the company’s greatest strengths. I want Nintendo to continue to be a company that keeps entertaining and making people smile long into the future,” he said.
