Since Tatsumi Kimishima took over the role as Nintendo’s CEO and president after the passing of Satoru Iwata, the man has been strangely quiet about Nintendo’s business plans for the future. We know he thought the Wii U would be a financial failure while he served on Nintendo’s board, but now that he’s the man in charge, what will he be doing to change Nintendo’s fortunes?
In the newspaper Mainichi Shimbun, Kimishima elaborated on his business plans for the company moving into 2016 and it’s bigger than what any of us expected. According to the article, Kimishima says he wants to surprise fans with new ideas instead of building on old ones. Details about the Nintendo NX will be revealed in 2016, but perhaps most interesting is Kimishima’s other plans.
Last year we learned that Nintendo and Universal Studios have partnered to build a theme park featuring Nintendo’s iconic cast of characters. In Kimishima’s statement, he says that the expansion and licensing for these endeavors is going well, but that he’s also looking into movies and TV anime for character licensing.
While this is traditionally a move away from the core gaming experiences that Nintendo is known for, Kimishima says that his company must experiment with new business models in order to be successful. He hopes to bring profits for the company to 100 billion yen, which is around $855 million. No time frame was given for that goal, but the amount of money is four times the profit from Nintendo’s financials last year.
Finally, Kimishima mentions Nintendo’s smartphone efforts and says they’re rolling along well, with the first app featuring Nintendo’s famous characters to be rolled out in March.
[via NeoGAF]
