In an interview with Japanese business publication Nikkei, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata shared his thoughts on the company’s recent financial losses and also revealed that he’s considering the idea of mergers and acquisitions.
Regarding his mindset on Nintendo’s current troubles, Iwata shared, “Mr. Yamauchi (former President Hiroshi Yamauchi) often said ‘Shitsui-taizen, Tokui-reizen,’ meaning that we should act regally when things are bad, and be calm when things are going well. Were he alive now, he would tell me to carry an air of confidence.”
He elaborated: “We built up cash reserves when earnings were strong. Because the entertainment industry ebbs and flows in wild swings, Mr. Yamauchi insisted it is vital to have deep pockets. Without savings, we could not have recovered from a single failure in game systems. Even now, we can afford many options because of our robust financial standing.”
“We’ll change the way we sell products, by managing customer information via the Internet,” Iwata said, regarding the company’s strategy going forward.
“We’ll offer discounts to steady, regular customers. We’ll cultivate emerging markets and launch new businesses in health and other areas. In an emerging country, you can expand the user base only after you offer a product line different from advanced economies in pricing.”
Iwata added: “We should abandon old assumptions about our businesses. We are considering M&As as an option. For this reason, we’ll step up share buybacks.”
Of course, whether Nintendo plans on acquiring other developers involved in the development of traditional games or other kinds of companies entirely, is unknown. The last major acquisition Nintendo made in terms of adding an external game developer to its family was Monolith Soft, which was owned by Namco Bandai.
