The English translation of Nintendo’s financial results Q&A session are now online and we’re seeing some interesting information from investors and responses from Nintendo’s president, Tatsumi Kimishima. While the actual financial news for Nintendo was grim for this quarter, the Q&A session focused on Nintendo’s upcoming plans with mobile.
We already know that Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem will be the next two franchises that Nintendo brings to mobile, with the Animal Crossing game said to hook into a “dedicated gaming system.” Investors are curious about Nintendo’s plans with their new mobile apps as one of the questions asked Tatsumi Kimishima to better define Nintendo’s mobile plans, especially in relation to Shigeru Miyamoto’s role in developing these titles.
If people are “not sure about how serious we are” about smart devices, it means that information issued from our company is not accurately conveyed, and I have to reflect on that. As we have reiterated, we want to grow smart device gaming as one of the pillars of Nintendo’s revenue stream. As for shifting managerial resources in that direction, we have very capable developers who are working on development of games for smart devices, as you already know.
Of course, Mr. Miyamoto, our Creative Fellow, is also supporting the business for smart devices from a company-wide perspective. To explain the level of engagement of Mr. Miyamoto, he is having specific talks with developers of games for smart devices on what would be desirable overall. In that sense, what you see from the outside may be markedly different from what we see on the inside. As I have said, we want this to be one of the pillars of our business. Our level of engagement has not lessened, so I hope you will understand that.
It’s interesting to see Kimishima re-iterate time and time again that Nintendo is committed to their focus on the mobile market, as to date they’ve only released one smartphone app and the next game isn’t slated to release until this fall. It seems as though investors are getting antsy about Nintendo’s mobile plans.
