“To avoid any misunderstandings, we have never said that we will produce a movie.”
☆ NintendObs Event – Nintendo’s 2016 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders.
Question:
Nintendo has begun making greater use of its IP, and there are even reports about your plans on producing movies. Putting aside the question of money, how do you plan to get the people for this? What is your take on human resources for engaging in new projects like NX and the use of your IP?
Answer:
Kimishima:
First let’s talk about the video business. It’s less a venture into the movie business, and more a question of how we can utilize the Nintendo IP in video content as part of the broader effort to put our IP to practical use. If anyone wants to partner with us, we’ll hold discussions. The fact that there are many interested parties is something we’ve already mentioned. People are our most valuable management resource, and it is important to give employees opportunities to develop their skills and achieve personal growth. But when it comes to business in a completely new field, it is essential that we build relations with external partners. To talk about the commercialization and expanded use of our IP, let me hand the discussion over to Senior Managing Director Mr. Miyamoto, who is involved in both planning and production.
Miyamoto:
Video content is a really interesting area for us. Going forward, it is extremely important for Nintendo to move beyond the limits of game systems and make good use of its character resources in order for Nintendo not to be forgotten. Nintendo has a variety of characters. That one company has all the rights to so many characters is something that is recognized as unprecedented. To avoid any misunderstandings, we have never said that we will produce a movie. We have talked about our expansion into video and other areas, but we are not saying anything official about the details. What I can say is that video is one of the business areas where Nintendo is making good use of its IP. Three years ago I created an about 20-minute video content of Pikmin’s short movie, and just recently I made a 15-minute PR movie for Star Fox Zero. These were made in association with video production companies. We can make video content by mostly leveraging the knowledge and capabilities of outside companies. For the production of those two short films, I was basically the only person from Nintendo involved. Nintendo needs to make a lot more products, but when a company gets too big, it faces continual problems nurturing its employees. Besides video content, we have begun to provide Nintendo characters for theme park attractions through a basic agreement with Universal Parks & Resorts. By working on development with others outside of Nintendo, I am working actively to expand the number of Nintendo products. These projects will take time to bear fruit, but they are something to look forward to.
Kimishima:
Let me add something about the resources that Director Miyamoto talked about. We have a business tie-up with DeNA Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “DeNA”) for smart devices, and that involves leveraging DeNA’s know-how for our own business. We will launch various projects in the future. Advancing projects like these will require the involvement and support of our partners and not just our own human resources.
— The 76th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders
Source: Nintendo JP.
At NintendObserver, the comments are on Discord.
Click on Community to learn more. 🙂
…
…Wanna play? Buy a Wii U.
And if you’ve already got yours, here are all the games already available on the platform. 😀
