Nintendo wants to develop new franchises

Nintendo Chairman Shuntaro Furukawa says he wants to continue supporting old franchises while investing in creating new intellectual property rights.

(Feature image: Nintendo)

Nintendo has made good money for a long time and the company is still considered one of the biggest players in video games today. However, the majority of the company’s revenue and brand awareness rests on franchises that were created decades ago. It’s a strategy that has served Nintendo well over the years, but the company’s current president, Shuntaro Furukawa, thinks it is now time to refine that strategy by seriously resuming efforts to create new intellectual property rights.

(Image: Nintendo)

As the time one spends at home expands, the scope of entertainment as an object of consumption is expanding. Games are not a necessity in life. For customers to choose games in their limited time, it must be fun. The competition is fierce and I’m not optimistic. I myself watch and study many forms of entertainment. In the future, we’ll focus on building new gaming franchises as well as long-term sellers like Mario and Zelda, ”Nintendo Chairman Shuntaro Furukawa explains in an interview.

Famous franchises are the power of Nintendo

Nintendo’s already well-established franchises still do well in terms of sales, which isn’t the problem. Just last year, Nintendo’s biggest success was Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the latest installment in the Animal Crossing series. At the end of 2020, a third of Switch owners have been noted to have played Animal Crossing since its release. This represents a massive amount of sales for Nintendo, once again, thanks to the franchise that was built in the past and updated.

(Image: Nintendo)

Additionally, the best-selling games on the Switch since its release are also part of an established series or franchises. We find Super Mario 3D All-Stars and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. So Nintendo has no difficulty selling its games built from its oldest intellectual property, but the company still wants to innovate in the future. This change should of course please many Nintendo fans who want Nintendo more than anything else to invest in new IPs and who beg to be surprised.

The following games announced by Nintendo will be based on well-known franchises, which means it will likely take some patience before you can see anything real new from Nintendo.