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Satoru Iwata became president of Nintendo last week when Hiroshi Yamauchi resigned from the position after fifty-two years with the firm. Iwata served as Director and General Manager of the Corporate Planning Division of Nintendo for two years. Prior to joining Nintendo, Iwata was President of Hal Laboratory, where he coordinated software development and production of several Nintendo games. 


Iwata and Yamauchi recently discussed Nintendo's long-term vision at an analysts meeting in Tokyo. While Sony and Microsoft attempt to broaden the game industry's direction into new areas, Nintendo's strategy remains in the creation of innovative games to attract customers. "For the past few years we've been looking for new ways to surprise people, new ways for them to have fun." Development of games, Yamauchi explained, is becoming more and more time consuming and capital intensive. Nintendo is trying to decrease development time without sacrificing quality.

The most profound detail to come from the meeting may have been Nintendo's forecast that GameCube's installed base would near 50 million by March, 2005. Nintendo said it intends to manufacture 12 million GameCubes in this fiscal year. The firm anticipates a considerable number of PlayStation 2 owners buying GameCube as a second console. 

Iwata also discussed the ever-improving technology of game consoles, perhaps hinting at an expanding industry lifecycle. "We're reaching the limits of how far we can appeal to consumers by boosting the machines' performance or providing more compelling graphics and sound... If things continue, they may lead to the decline of the entire game industry."
Iwata went on to touch upon many of the subjects discussed at Nintendo's E3 Expo Conference. He reiterated Nintendo's focus on connectivity, cooperation, innovation, and a continued apprehension towards pursuing online games.

Nintendo's profits for the last fiscal year were $850 million, up 10% from 2000. Hardware price worries have depressed Nintendo's stock recently but the company's real long-term "sense of crisis" is in a hypothetical software price war. Iwata commented on Nintendo's immense cash holdings of $7.25 billion explaining, "This is a high-risk business. There may come a time when we would have to make intensive investments." 

June 6, 2002

Jim - News Contributor, GameCubicle


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