With the arrival of Switch 2, Nintendo explains why it must surpass traditional gaming

In 2025, Mario Company launched the highly anticipated new system, i.e. Switch 2. But the company will not only rely on traditional hardware and games to find success. Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa reveals why Nintendo must push “beyond video games” to encourage people to interact with Nintendo.

As Nintendo's latest earnings reportFurukawa said Nintendo is leveraging theme parks, official stores, “visual content” and mobile experiences to “get an interest in our core business.” If in doubt, Furukawa stressed that the “specialized video game platform business” is Nintendo’s core business and is working to raise the people there.

“Looking forward, even if we transition to the Nintendo Switch 2, we have to raise the touchpoint beyond video games,” Furukawa said.

Executives said the content and experience of smartphones will play a “very important” role in the work, and Nintendo will continue to push in this area.

Furukawa said Nintendo's push to enter the mobile market has reached about 900 million cumulative downloads, noting that some of Nintendo's success in the smartphone business has emerged in countries and regions that do not support Nintendo's traditional gaming consoles.

“I believe this increases the chances of more people accessing Nintendo IP and characters,” Furukawa said.

Nintendo's Big Three mobile games today are Mario Kart Tour, Fire Emblem Heroes and Super Mario Run, Furukawa said, also mentioning Pikmin Bloom, which Nintendo co-developed with Pokemon Go Company Niantic. Nintendo shuts down Animal Crossing Online Service: Pocket Camp Transition to End of 2024 Make it a paid game called “Animal Cross: Pocket Camp”.

“While we cannot provide details about future app versions, we are continuing to develop new gaming apps,” Furukawa said.

Nintendo has it too Nintendo Music Appit was launched in 2024 and continues to receive updates to add new tracks. Furukawa often says that Nintendo’s goal is to use smartphone apps to “create opportunities for consumers to engage with the Nintendo game world and music even outside of dedicated gaming systems.”

“Forward, we hope to continue developing these types of programs, including integration with the game for individual championships,” he added.

Furukawa admits that for many, their first gaming platform is not a traditional gaming console, but a smart device. So, Nintendo is trying to get to know the people they are, assuming there is a day where they might choose switch consoles and games, except for anything they use and enjoy on their smartphones.

“We will continue to think about this topic,” Furukawa said.

Even before Furukawa was appointed president of Nintendo, the company admitted that more and more people were encountering Nintendo's first experience outside of the platforms Nintendo sold. For example, former President Tatsumi Kimishima said that through…games, fewer and fewer young people have discovered games about Nintendo. Instead, they are passing through such Officially licensed Mario toothbrush. he Say 2016 One can expect such licensing transactions to continue and possibly increase, and they actually have them.

Released in 2023, the Super Mario Bros. movie is probably Nintendo’s biggest non-game success story to date—it brought in over $1.3 billion in revenue at the box office. This is 20 highest-grossing movies in history and The first video game movie ever. There are also many Nintendo movies on the way, including Live Zelda movie and Super Mario Bros. Movie 2.

Then there is the attractions of Super Nintendo World Theme Park, which developed a lot when it opened in May at Universal Studios in Orlando. Anyone who has been to a grocery store or department store knows very well how many licensed Nintendo toys there are.

As for the Switch 2, the new console will be launched later this year. Nintendo will share more details about the system Nintendo Direct in April.