During today’s investor Q&A session with Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, some interesting new information about the mysterious “Quality of Life” platform that Nintendo mentioned last year has surfaced. One of the investors asked Iwata to comment on the current internal structure at Nintendo and what Iwata plans to do to make sure these divisions are operating in sync with one another. Iwata answered the question by mentioning the consolidation of its handheld and home console divisions, as well as Mr. Miyamoto’s software division and his own System Development Division.
The System Development Division at Nintendo is responsible for the network, system software, OS, SDK and more, which Iwata mentions that he currently runs. While that tidbit of information is interesting in itself, Iwata also mentioned a fourth division that reports entirely to him. This division is called the QOL Business Development Department and it functions outside of the previously three mentioned divisions. Instead of the developers being close to one another and able to worth together, Iwata stated that everyone in this division reports directly to him and only to him.
The QOL (Quality of Life) project, however, is slightly different. As we had to create a new project and new business model, we formed an independent team called the QOL Business Development Department. In other words, we created a permanent project team in the form of a new department. People assembled from four divisions to create this department and it reports directly to me. I think that is all I can share with you about the development structure at this moment.
When the announcement of the QOL platform happened last year, many people were afraid that Nintendo would be abandoning its video game pursuits to chase after the health start-up crowd, where products like FitBit and other health monitoring bracelets and accessories have become extremely popular across the globe. Instead, it looks like Iwata is operating this division independently of its current game business.
We’ll likely see more about the QOL platform at E3 this year, but the fact that Iwata has created an entirely new division to manage and develop this new product shows that Nintendo is dedicated to continuing to create games despite this new endeavor.
