Nintendo’s newly appointed president Shuntaro Furukawa talked about his experiences of growing up with the Nintendo Famicom, and how he plans to lead the company forward, in a press conference today. [Thanks, Bloomｔberg!]
During the press conference in Osaka, Furukawa talked about bringing out Nintendo’s full potential, and said he would balance Nintendo’s traditions: originality and flexibility.
He also talked about bringing Nintendo out of status quo: “I grew up playing the Famicom and come from that generation. Now as a member of management with Super Mario’s creator Shigeru Miyamoto, I have a lot of respect for him. On the other hand, with this new job that can’t just be it, so I expect to say what needs to be said to run the company.”
Here are some key figures Nintendo shared during the press conference:
- Operating profit was 21.1 billion yen in the latest quarter, compared with analysts’ average projection for 20.2 billion yen.
- Nintendo forecast 20 million Switch shipments for the year, up from 15.1 million in the prior period.
- Switch software titles totaled 63.5 million in the latest year, exceeding the company’s forecast for 53 million. Nintendo expects to sell 100 million in the coming year.
- As of the end of March, Switch owners had on average bought 3.9 titles per console, a figure Nintendo estimates will rise to 4.5 in a year.
- Annual revenue from smartphone games rose 62 percent to 39.3 billion yen. Income primarily attributed to Pokemon Go fell to 10.3 billion yen from 20.3 billion yen a year ago.
Current president Tatsumi Kimishima will step down, and Shuntaro Furukawa will be formally appointed on June 28, 2018.
