User blog:Astrogamer/Nintendo News - April 2018 Investor Meeting

Here's the breakdown on all the news that came out from the recent investor meeting. It will be interesting to see what Furukawa has planned for Nintendo though the effects probably won't be seen for a couple years. Nintendo's partnership with Cygames will also be worth watching seeing their work on Granblue Fantasy and other mobile titles.
 * 1) Nintendo leadership is changing. Tatsumi Kimishima is retiring from his role as President this June. He will still be on the board albeit as an advisory role. In his place will be Shuntaro Furukawa, the General Manager of the Corporate Planning Division. On top of that, Shinya Takahashi received a promotion in the board to a Senior Managing Executive Officer (though still retaining all his previous positions). Yoshiaki Koizumi and Takashi Tezuka are joining the board of directors as an Executive Officer. Satoru Shibata is becoming a Director and a Senior Executive Officer, as the General Manager of the Marketing Division and Licensing Division on the board but no longer the President of Nintendo of Europe. It is currently unclear who will replace him at NoE. Former Senior EO and General Manager of Licensing, Susumu Tanaka is retiring  to be a Corporate Adviser. Additionally, Hajime Murakami is becoming an Executive Officer and the General Manager of the Finance Adminstration Division.
 * 2) Sales of the Nintendo Switch are surpassed their expectations at 15 million units shipped for 2017 fiscal year. This forecast had already been increased from 10 million last year andr and 14 million earlier this year so, that is especially good. Software also surpassed the forecast of 53 million by 10 million to reach a total of 63.51 million for the fiscal year (68.97 million for lifetime). It's important to note that digital-only software does not count for this total. The forecast for next year is 20 million Switch units and 100 million pieces of software.
 * 3) The 3DS sales were less stellar. Though the forecast for 6 million 3DS was met at 6.4 million, 3DS software sales failed to meet the forecast of 40 million, only reaching 35.64 million. This was likely due to numerous landmark titles besides Pokemon failing to break out. The forecast for next year is only 4 million for hardware and 16 million for software
 * 4) The next big talking point is early successes of the Switch's 2018. Nintendo considers Labo off to a good start though it seems they do not have any clear numbers yet. Additionally Kirby Star Allies and Bayonetta 2 are off to amazing starts. Kirby has a sell-through of over 1 million, rapidly exceeding its predecessors and almost selling out. Bayonetta has outpaced the original, selling almost 400k in the time it took Bayonetta 2 on Wii U to sell almost 300k.
 * 5) The next highlight was Nintendo's digital business. Digital Sales have greatly exceeded Nintendo's previous best in 2015 with this year selling over 60 billion yen in revenue, pushed by downloadable versions of retail games and add-on content on Switch. Numerous indie titles are also selling well with Stardew Valley selling nearly 1 million and Overcooked exceeding 500k. Rocket League was another noted success. The game news function on the switch was also highlighted as a way to engage users
 * 6) The so-far announced titles that will support the Switch's forecast are  Mario Tennis Aces and Super Smash Bros. They have seen with 1-2-Switch and ARMS that wide variety of unique experiences have helped expand their userbase. They also noted that Splatoon 2 has been increasing their sustained active player base with the Octo Expansion as a plan to capitalize on it. Nintendo also noted that the tournaments for Splatoon and ARMs have attracted a large active audience and they will continue to support it. They also note the support of third parties like the success of Skyrim. As a final note on Switch, Nintendo said they will announce the first details of Nintendo Switch Online in early May.
 * 7) For their mobile games, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp has been noted for its large female playerbase and commericials will be starting in Japan. Super Mario Run has been maintaining 20 million monthly active players and Fire Emblem Heroes has been growing especially  overseas. They wish to expand their mobile efforts to expand their audience. The big thing they also reported is the partnership with Cygames starting with Dragalia Lost. Both companies will manage the game. Mario Kart Tour is reconfirmed for release this fiscal year
 * 8) The final topic is Nintendo's E3 plans for E3 2018. On top of dating the Splatoon 2 tournament and the Super Smash Bros. tournament for June 12, they will have a video presentation in the morning of June 12 with Treehouse Live coverage continuing for the rest of the week.

Changes in Management

Nintendo Investor presentation