Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa has revealed his admiration for the “great potential” which exists in the metaverse.
In his statement, made during the Q&A portion of its financial results briefing, Furukawa laid the foundations for a unique “Nintendo approach” to the metaverse.
“The metaverse has captured the attention of many companies around the world, and it has great potential,” he said.
“When the concept of the metaverse is introduced in the media, games like Animal Crossing: New Horizons are sometimes brought up as examples. In that sense, the metaverse is of interest to us.”
Nintendo’s interest in the metaverse comes as no surprise. Rival gaming company Epic Games are well underway with their virtual and augmented reality metaverse experience.
Epic Games secured $1 billion USD funding for the metaverse project last year, with some solid financial backing from Sony.
Nintendo, however, are taking a more cautious approach to entering the metaverse, as opposed to tech giants Meta, Microsoft and Apple who have all invested in the Web3 phenomenon.
Furukawa clearly stated that they’re not working on anything right now, but reading between the lines, Nintendo’s transition to the metaverse feels inevitable.
“At this point in time, there is no easy way to define specifically what kinds of surprises and enjoyment the metaverse can deliver to our consumers,” Furukawa said.
“As a company that provides entertainment, our main emphasis is on ways to deliver fresh surprises and fun to our consumers.”
He continued: “We might consider something if we can find a way to convey a ‘Nintendo approach’ to the metaverse that many people can readily understand, but we do not think that is the situation at the present time.”
Animal Crossing: New Horizons (2020) is Nintendo’s own social simulation game developed for the Nintendo Switch, and illustrates the exciting possibilities gamers could be enjoying in the metaverse soon.
In this game, the player can develop their own desert island with the ability to customise the island and build intelligent animal communities with the space.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons was the best selling game of all time in Japan and has been used for social gatherings such as weddings, graduation ceremonies and even virtual protests.
Games like this capture the spirit and magic of metaverse and it seems perfectly natural that these Nintendo experiences will soon be enjoyed in the metaverse.
Just imagine the possibilities when Nintendo takes the essence of this social simulation concept and transitions to the metaverse.
