Nintendo’s New President Shuntaro Furukawa: “I Expect To Say What Needs To Be Said”

Nintendo’s newly appointed president Shuntaro Furukawa talked about his experiences of growing up with the Nintendo Famicom, and how he plans to lead the company forward, in a press conference today. [Thanks, Bloomｔberg!]

During the press conference in Osaka, Furukawa talked about bringing out Nintendo’s full potential, and said he would balance Nintendo’s traditions: originality and flexibility.

He also talked about bringing Nintendo out of status quo: “I grew up playing the Famicom and come from that generation. Now as a member of management with Super Mario’s creator Shigeru Miyamoto, I have a lot of respect for him. On the other hand, with this new job that can’t just be it, so I expect to say what needs to be said to run the company.”

Here are some key figures Nintendo shared during the press conference:

• Operating profit was 21.1 billion yen in the latest quarter, compared with analysts’ average projection for 20.2 billion yen.
• Nintendo forecast 20 million Switch shipments for the year, up from 15.1 million in the prior period.
• Switch software titles totaled 63.5 million in the latest year, exceeding the company’s forecast for 53 million. Nintendo expects to sell 100 million in the coming year.
• As of the end of March, Switch owners had on average bought 3.9 titles per console, a figure Nintendo estimates will rise to 4.5 in a year.
• Annual revenue from smartphone games rose 62 percent to 39.3 billion yen. Income primarily attributed to Pokemon Go fell to 10.3 billion yen from 20.3 billion yen a year ago.

Current president Tatsumi Kimishima will step down, and Shuntaro Furukawa will be formally appointed on June 28, 2018.