• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
  • We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.

New Nintendo CEO Furukawa: “Nintendo should focus on things that only we can provide"

ggx2ac

ggx2ac

Sales Heaven or Sales Hell?
Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,504
Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/nintendo-names-new-ceo-after-success-of-switch-1524729597

From WSJ, details from the quarter results.

I'm posting details on the new CEO, the financial results can be seen from other threads.

Shuntaro Furukawa's work background.

Mr. Furukawa joined Nintendo in 1994 and has worked mainly in finance, including an 11-year stint in Germany.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Kimishima had been eyeing Furukawa as successor for a while.

At a news conference Thursday, Mr. Kimishima described his successor as someone good at building consensus among all employees rather than relying on a few "geniuses." He said he had been eyeing Mr. Furukawa for years as a future CEO.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

A quote:
Nintendo "should focus on things that only we can provide," said Mr. Furukawa. "Otherwise Nintendo would lose a reason to exist."
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Enthusiastic game player, recent favourite game is Golf Story:

Mr. Furukawa has often briefed investors and analysts about the company's financial results. While he hasn't developed game consoles and software himself, people who know him said he is an enthusiastic game player.

Asked what games he liked, Mr. Furukawa said a recent favorite is "Golf Story," a role-playing sports adventure game developed by a small studio in Australia.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

One analyst's input on Furukawa:

"I have to ask him many numbers-related questions, but there have been so many times in the past when I ended up spending so much time chatting about games," said Hideki Yasuda, an analyst at Ace Research Institute.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Furukawa hopes to bring Switch to a wider audience and to make smartphone games a revenue pillar for the company which Kimishima couldn't fully achieve:

Mr. Furukawa said he hoped to bring the Switch to a wider audience and pointed to Nintendo Labo, a do-it-yourself kit of cardboard gizmos such as a fishing rod and a piano that work with the Switch. He also said he wanted to turn smartphone games into a revenue pillar for the company, a goal Mr. Kimishima said he wasn't able to fully achieve during his time in office.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

What Kimishima plans to do after stepping down:

Mr. Kimishima said he would remain at Nintendo as an adviser and assist the new CEO along with Shigeru Miyamoto, who created many of Nintendo's famous franchises such as "Super Mario" and "The Legend of Zelda." Mr. Miyamoto holds the title of fellow.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
 
Empyrean Cocytus

Empyrean Cocytus

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
18,707
Upstate NY
The more I hear about Furukawa, the more I like him. The fact that he's a passionate gamer really helps. Focusing on what "Nintendo can only provide" has both worked and failed for them in the past though, so we'll have to wait and see.
 
DNAbro

DNAbro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
25,903
Hmm interesting about him trying to build up the mobile business more. I'm guessing more aggressive monetization in Nintendo's mobile games and more of them.
 
TubaZef

TubaZef

Member
Oct 28, 2017
3,565
Brazil
He's pretty young compared to the previous ones. Also, the first CEO that grew up with video games, which is still something rare, not just for Nintendo. Can't say if that's good or bad, but I'm curious to see how this will affect Nintendo.
 
Skittzo

Skittzo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
41,037
I wonder if we'll see him doing presentations in Directs or E3, since he apparently speaks English fluently.
 
Madsenpai

Madsenpai

User requested permanent ban
Banned
Apr 19, 2018
477
Innovative hardware and software is what Nintendo does best. They can't compete with Sony and Microsoft if they go mainstream. So the decision is true imo.
 
Rushoff

Rushoff

Member
Oct 28, 2017
203
I hope that by doing Nintendo things he doesn't mean focusing mostly on gimmicks as Labo.. while I understand the need for those and so on, I would prefer them not focusing mostly on such projects.
 
Muu

Muu

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
1,970
46 seems really young for the position. I was worried looking at his credentials from Nintendo's release, but perhaps that's unfounded seeing as he seems to be saying the right things about what makes Nintendo Nintendo. Will be interesting to see how he steers the company down the road.

Rushoff said:
I hope that by doing Nintendo things he doesn't mean focusing mostly on gimmicks as Labo.. while I understand the need for those and so on, I would prefer them not focusing mostly on such projects.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Waggle, gimmicks and more 3D of course
 
Empyrean Cocytus

Empyrean Cocytus

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
18,707
Upstate NY
InsaneTiger said:
Exactly. Play to your strengths.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

The problem is that those strengths haven't always worked when looking over the grand scheme of the industry, mainly because what "Nintendo can provide" isn't always what gamers want. It failed with the GameCube and its lack of online play. It worked with the Wii and motion controls and the DS touch screen. It failed again with the 3DS's 3D and the Wii U gamepad.

I'm not saying they shouldn't do what they do best, which is innovate and supply incredible games, but at least gauge your audience before you make the jump. Labo will be a big test of this.
 
It’s Reyn Time!

It’s Reyn Time!

Member
Oct 26, 2017
1,382
That's got to be pretty awesome for the Golf Story devs to hear, to have their game be the first one which pops to the mind of the CEO of Nintendo.
 
Adder

Adder

Member
Oct 28, 2017
384
Spain
Great mindset there. And the soft transition Kimishima-Furukawa is pretty cool as well. Kimishima did indeed a great job. And completely agree with Furukawa: hopefully this means bringing back some ips such as Advance Wars.
 
Geg

Geg

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,546
Rip all the people who just want Nintendo to make another PS4/Xbox One
 
TheMisterManGuy

TheMisterManGuy

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,766
Nintendo said:
I just got some hope when I heard about a new CEO.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

A new CEO isn't going to change that. Nintendo has a very stern and deeply rooted creative ethos instilled by greats like Yamauchi and Iwata. Their entire corporate motto literally translates as "Create Something Unique". Getting rid of that completely is not going to be easy. It may even be impossible.
 
Skittzo

Skittzo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
41,037
Nintendo said:
I just got some hope when I heard about a new CEO.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

They pick people they want to expand their business, not crater their business.

In no world would a traditional, powerful console from Nintendo give them any bit of success. It would probably be the end of the company. Look at how much money Sony lost from the PS3, Nintendo can't afford to lose that much money when they have few other business segments to make up for those losses.

It's not happening.
 
Horror

Horror

Banned
Nov 3, 2017
1,997
I'm only interested in knowing his policies and ideas related to third-party relations, most notably western publishers.
 

Deleted member 1003

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
10,638
Empyrean Cocytus said:
The problem is that those strengths haven't always worked when looking over the grand scheme of the industry, mainly because what "Nintendo can provide" isn't always what gamers want. It failed with the GameCube and its lack of online play. It worked with the Wii and motion controls and the DS touch screen. It failed again with the 3DS's 3D and the Wii U gamepad.

I'm not saying they shouldn't do what they do best, which is innovate and supply incredible games, but at least gauge your audience before you make the jump. Labo will be a big test of this.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
True enough. Play to your strengths but be willing to adapt and stretch.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.