Nintendo General Meeting of Shareholders Recap

This evening, Nintendo is holding its 76th annual General Meeting of Shareholders in Japan. While there’s not a huge amount of information that we didn’t already know was shared, a few tidbits did come out. Special thanks to Cheesemeister3k and NStyles on Twitter for providing updates and translations.

Nintendo on increasing development costs.

Kimishima: Certainly, development costs have increased in the last 10 years. Let’s have each director answer.

Takeda: We’re using increases in productivity to make an appeal with the greatness of games instead of [hardware] performance.

Miyamoto: Breath of the Wild has over 100 staff, and over 300 people in the credits, spending over 5 years. Our current efforts will be helpful in the next production. The costs will be recovered by selling in large volumes, passing 2m sales.

A game is a hit in the domestic market if it reaches 300k sales, but we’re targeting worldwide sales.

Reviews on the Internet get around. Details get pointed out, so our staff is working more than is required.

Question: The WiiU is essentially being retired and the 3DS is past its peak, but aren’t your business forecasts unrealistic?

Kimishima: 3DS sales have passed 58m. We can profit by delivering software to this base. We believe Pokemon will do so.

We believe smart device titles will be profitable. We’re cautious about British EU exit effects, which may affect sales and profits if the yen continues to be strong.

Making movies, theme parks, and managing people. How will human resources be managed

For theme parks, we’re cooperating with Universal Studios. It’ll take some time before there are results, but please look forward.

Kimishima: We’re cooperating with DeNA on smart devices. While launching new projects, we’ll continue working with partners.

Kimishima: We’re in discussions with a partner to work on films together. People are a valuable resource; each needs to be trained, and the relationships with our external partners are also important.

Miyamoto: I’m Miyamoto, and I’m motivated to make movies. (The audience laughs.) Film is an interesting field, and are needed to help make Nintendo’s IPs unforgettable. The characters used only by Nintendo are precious across the world. For films we aren’t ready to talk about it yet, but we haven’t said that we’re making movies.

Miyamoto: We made short movies for Pikmin and Star Fox, but those were made mostly externally, and it was just me from Nintendo.

NX Manufacturing and labor costs

Hirokazu Shinshi: I’m in charge of manufacturing. Labor costs have shot up in the last 10 years in China and across ASEAN nations.

Manufacturing automation has long been practiced in Japan, and is now done in China.

While making the same product for a long time, the amount manufactured changes based on things like the Christmas season.

It’s easy to automate unchanging production amounts, but it’s difficult when they do change. We’re thoroughly communicating with our partners to make adjustments. As for the #NX, manufacturing is being prepped. We’re considering how much to automate.

Miyamoto on VR

Miyamoto: I heard VR was a hot topic at #E3, so I went to check it out. It was on display, but it wasn’t what I expected.

We’re also researching VR, so we have the core technology. Long play sessions are an issue. We want to release something that can be played for long periods, carries value, and is affordable. We want parents to feel at ease.

Nintendo on Breath of the Wild

Miyamoto: Normally we would’ve shown the #NX at #E3, but we didn’t. We’re worried about imitators if we release info too early.

We’re calling it “open air.” Creating realism with physics, you can go to the far-off
mountains without cutting away.

You’ll be able to have the same experience on the #NX.

Breath of the Wild had long lines (At E3).

Many people came to play Zelda. Normally, Day 3 isn’t this crowded.

Tickets ran out right away. Many people have high expectations for the game. We’re also working hard on the #NX version.

Q8. There was a change to the articles of corporation to add “manufacturing and sales of medical devices.” Please explain.

Kimishima: This is related to QOL devices, but it was added in anticipation of future business expansion.

Nintendo on physical smartphone controllers:

Shinya Takahashi: There are certainly physical controllers for smart devices, but Nintendo wants to make action games w/out them.

Kimishima on if Iwata Asks or something similar will return:

Kimishima: In regards to [Iwata] Asks, I don’t come from a game dev. background, so if I ask, it wouldn’t be interesting.

Miyamoto: Thank you for the last question. About Iwata Asks, even he said, “It’s gotten in a rut.” For now, we want to continue Nintendo Direct with Morimoto. We will do lots of new things.

Kimishima on Brexit:

Kimishima: Financial markets are in turmoil. For now, the yen is strengthening, causing our foreign assets to fall. We have @NintendoUK, and safety standards and personal information regulations from the EU may change under the UK. We’re watching it while we’re researching it, we don’t have anything concrete to discuss now.

Nintendo is researching VR. Nothing concrete to discuss at the moment.

Kimishima: Other companies’ VR presentations at #E3 became a topic of discussion. It has captured customers’ interest, and while we’re researching it, we don’t have anything concrete to discuss now.

Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem Mobile will be arriving on smart devices this fall.

Amiibo and download businesses will continue to receive focus. Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing come to smart devices this fall.

Nintendo IPs will be used at theme parks, on products, and in films.

Nintendo IP will be utilized in theme parks, character goods, and film contents.

Nintendo has hit 24.7 million sales while titles like Splatoon, Super Mario Maker and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess also did well.

There were no big #3DS hit titles, so sales were low. #WiiU #Splatoon, Mario Maker, Twilight Princess did well. #Amiibo hit 24.7m.

Nintendo has also reconfirmed that the NX would be coming in March 2017.

The #NX is due out worldwide in March 2017. The dedicated game machine business will continue to be core.

At the moment, the Q&A sessions have started. We’ll continue to monitor the event and update this article with new information as it’s released.

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