Nintendo's New President Plans To Create More Smartphone Games

Nintendo’s new president, Shuntaro Furukawa, says that he plans on expanding the company’s presence in the mobile market. Furukawa believes that Nintendo could turn its smartphone game operations into a 100 billion yen business.

“From what I can see, smartphone games are the ones I want to expand the most,” Furukawa told Nikkei. “The idea that something will emerge that transforms into something big, in the same manner as game consoles, is the defining motive of the Nintendo business.”

Furukawa, who will effectively be Nintendo’e president this June, believes that they could replicate the success of “Pokémon GO.” However, Nintendo currently has no plans to create a similar type of game that features augmented reality technology. “I can't say that there are any that are like that,” Furukawa said when asked if any of Nintendo’s upcoming smartphones games will be like “Pokémon GO.”

Furukawa was announced as Nintendo’s next president just last week since the Japanese gaming firm’s current president, Tatsumi Kimishima, 65, is set to retire this June but will assume an advisory role. Furukawa, 46, represents a youth movement within Nintendo and has been with the company since 1994. He has also been on the board of the Pokémon Company since 2012.

Nintendo has seen some success in creating smartphone games thanks to titles like “Super Mario Run,” “Miitomo,” “Fire Emblem Heroes” and “Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp.” Most recently, the company confirmed that it was bringing “Mario Kart” to mobile phones by the end of Nintendo’s 2018 fiscal year.

Furukawa’s desire to expand Nintendo’s reach in the mobile market seems to be a continuation of what the company has been doing in the last year. Back in December, it was reported that Nintendo was looking to partner with new developers to start making more mobile games.

The company is also currently working on a new RPG for mobile devices called “Dragalia Lost,” which is being developed by Japanese studio Cygames and will be released sometime in mid-2018. Cygames represents one of Nintendo’s new partners for creating mobile games and Furukawa hints that Nintendo may also continue to expand its cooperative ties moving forward.

Although Furukawa appears to be very focused on the mobile market, the upcoming president hasn’t forgotten the importance of the Nintendo Switch console. Furukawa said that he wants to introduce the Switch more widely, especially in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. The Switch is currently available in 50 markets.