Nintendo Focused on Expanding the Reach of Its IP

By Adam Bankhurst

Nintendo is focused on expanding the reach of its IP by “actively leveraging the worldwide ubiquity of smart devices and on [its] IP expansion business, which includes theme parks, video content, and character merchandising.”

During Nintendo’s financial results briefing, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa discussed how Nintendo has evolved its strategy of “gaming population expansion” during the Nintendo DS and Wii era to its new focus to “expand the number of people who have access to Nintendo IP.”

Nintendo’s “gaming population expansion” strategy was adopted due to a preconceived notion that “games were only for a select group of fans,” and it wanted to ensure everyone could game, “regardless of age, gender, or gaming experience.”

Nintendo obviously found great success with these two consoles, but with the advent and mass adoption of smart devices, Nintendo began to change its focus and redefine its strengths.

Instead of focusing on bringing everyone into their hardware ecosystem, it decided to expand its offerings to reach a much wider audience that was evolving in tandem with technology.

These factors have caused Nintendo to organize its initiatives into three pillars – dedicated video game business, mobile business, and IP expansion business.

The first pillar, dedicated video game business, is supremely important to Nintendo and its “core business will continue to be the integrated hardware-software video game platform business.”

Its focus is on the Switch, which has sold over 32 million units since its launch in March of 2017, and Nintendo Switch Online, which has surpassed over eight million subscribers.

The second pillar, mobile business, is important because Nintendo wants “to use the overwhelming volume of smart devices to increase the points of contact between Nintendo IP and consumers all over the world.”

This push has seen such titles as Super Mario Run, Fire Emblem Heroes, and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp be released and will see the debut of the recently delayed Mario Kart Tour and Dr. Mario World later this year.

Lastly, the IP expansion business will allow Nintendo to reach an even wider audience that may not have heavily engaged with video games before.

This “expansion” includes the Super Mario Bros. animated film, Universal Studios Japan’s Super Nintendo World, and the launch of the first official Nintendo shop in Japan.

These three pillars and the focus on expanding its IP will hopefully lead to a successful 2019 for the company that will see such titles released as Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Animal Crossing for the Nintendo Switch, and Yoshi’s Crafted World.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN who appreciates this strategy and just hopes to one day be living in a Nintendo world. Is that so much to ask, he wonders? You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst.