Nintendo has been having a rough time financially since the monstrous success of the Wii, with Wii U sales struggling mightily worldwide. President Satoru Iwata has stated that the company needs to be redefined going forward if it wants to get back on the right track.
Speaking to Diamond.jp and translated by Siliconera, Iwata spoke at length about what Nintendo is and should be, and referenced some discussions that were held after the passing of the famous game maker's last president, Hiroshi Yamauchi.
"Surely, a lot of people around the world must think 'Nintendo is a company that is just for video games,' about us, and I believe that there are more and more of our own employees who've begun to think like that," said Iwata.
"Some employees that are in charge of making things, are often kept in positions where they have to think of how they can make the game in front of them more fun, so I don't think it can be helped if others outside of our company think like that."
Many would argue that Nintendo's unwillingness (or is it inability?) to move along with modern times and incorporate contemporary features seamlessly in its hardware and software has put them in this undesirable financial situation. The Wii U was not been marketed well, in my estimation, creating confusion about what the product even is. Will Nintendo branch out to more forms of entertainment?
"So, even if the fact that our focus is videogames won't be changing, I felt the need to take this occasion to say 'Nintendo is a company that can do whatever they want'," Iwata continued."This subject came to light when Yamauchi passed away, but I felt 'our surroundings are greatly changing. We need to redefine what Nintendo must do, from this point on.' However, I felt that saying 'Nintendo will do anything,' was also the wrong idea for the company."
"Lately, the words 'QOL' (quality of life) have come up," says Iwata. "Entertainment is there to improve people's quality of life. After your basic needs, there's entertainment. However, when it comes to 'improving people's quality of life,' I didn't know the difference between us and household appliance makers."
"At the start of this year, I finally figured that 'improving people's quality of life with fun,' with emphasis to the 'fun' would be perfect for Nintendo. And that's when I decided to use this as a focus during the financial results meeting in January and wrote the manuscript for the presentation," he finished.
It's a bit of a mixed message, but it seems that, despite the preference to stick to gaming only, Iwata is saying that Nintendo could change its tactic at any time, if it thought that was for the best. Hopefully, for the legendary company's sake, it does not get left too far behind while making that decision.
