Nintendo on handling mobile, expanding IP recognition, importance of Nintendo Accounts

The following comes from a Time interview with Nintendo president, Tatsumi Kimishima...

On approach to mobile...

“Nintendo has talked for years about increasing the gaming population, but to further that goal, we want to increase the population who has access to Nintendo’s IP first and foremost. Of course the smart device business is not a simple business, it is a highly competitive business, and so for us just to take our IP and drop it into the smart device business, in that existing red ocean, I believe would not be a very successful strategy to take. We want to increase the population of those people who have access to our IP, and we also need to make the way they access our IP as simple as we can or as easy as we can. And that’s how we’re going to make the smart device business successful.”

On getting Nintendo's IP in front of more people...

“What we really want to do is we want people to want to interact with our IP and so we want to increase the frequency with which they encounter our IP, whether that’s through them parks, or merchandize with our IP, or just images and visual interactions with Nintendo IP.”

On making sure My Nintendo/Nintendo Account works to tie everything together...

“And so of course we need something to connect all of this together, and this is where My Nintendo as well as the Nintendo Account system comes in,” he says, describing Nintendo Account as a strategy to unify all of Nintendo’s properties across pretty much every platform, from Nintendo’s own devices to tablets and smartphones to PCs and beyond. My Nintendo, a crucial subset of Nintendo Account and the company’s full-on rethink of its recently retired games-focused “Club Nintendo,” will still be a rewards program, but with far broader scope.

“So for My Nintendo, of course you’ll get points in traditional ways like through the purchase of software, but we’re also looking at nontraditional ways of getting points just by accessing our content, wherever you may find it. And you’ll be able to use those points in some way or other to get benefits at places like theme parks, or perhaps when purchasing merchandize. There will be opportunities for these points to benefit the end user.”

“So again, we’re looking at really strengthening the connections between My Nintendo and the Nintendo Account system, as well as—and this is I think probably our number one overall goal—connecting all of our Nintendo IP within this framework and allowing our customer base to have access to our IP via this, and gain benefits from that access and that connection. I think that will be something that no other company has to offer. It’s very important for us to establish both of these things, but in order for people to create a Nintendo Account, we must first make them want to do so. Connecting all of these areas, we will establish an account and global membership services that support people across the full range of growing Nintendo experiences.”