Iwata shares thoughts on third party support, won’t cut staff in lean times
Nintendo is still eager to build relations with third parties, without resorting to providing excessive financial support like it’s competitors, Satoru Iwata stated during the recent Financial Results Q&A. This statement reflects the sentiment that Nintendo as a whole holds, regarding being unique and not following or imitating competitors, with the biggest example being Nintendo’s ability to pump out strong first party titles without needing to rely on third party support.
One thing Iwata is counting on, from it’s rivals, is the rejuvenation of the games industry as a whole with the release of the new consoles later this month. The releases, Iwata said, should energise sales across the holiday season, even though he doesn’t see Nintendo having a dark future. The last 4-5 years saw Nintendo expand from about 4000 to 5000 staff members, with no intention of letting any go, despite the falling yen. However, the depreciated yen has contributed to a lower advertising budget in markets outside of Japan. The full Q&A can be found here.
Anything to worry about? Or still hoping for some more third party support? Let us know in the comments!
Need more third party support definitely.
I don’t know why Nintendo is called a ‘video game’ company, when it really could be called a bank.
Surely, one of its main source of income these days is from its investments – from the billions of dollars it made during the Wii era.
When it talks of depreciation of the yen then it should have hedging strategies in place to mitigate against currency fluctuations and its effect on their business.