Nintendo starts health business to improve your quality of life
The company also indicated that it plans to stay the course in gaming, despite its recent troubles.
Nintendo is looking toward your quality of life and trying to find a business model in it, the company's president, Satoru Iwata, said Monday.
In a public letter, Iwata said that due to the changing "business environment," Nintendo has "decided to redefine entertainment as something that improves people's quality of life ('QOL') in enjoyable ways and expand our business areas. What Nintendo will try to achieve in the next 10 years is a platform business that improves people's QOL in enjoyable ways."
So, what exactly does Nintendo have planned? It's hard to say. Iwata's letter is painfully short on details, but he did say that Nintendo will create a new business outside of video games that has "health as the theme for our first step."
Nintendo and Iwata are under fire after continued trouble standing out in the gaming space. The company's Wii U sales are far below expectations and software sales are down. Nintendo has even endured declines in its mobile business.
Despite calls for Nintendo to dramatically change its strategy or modify its hardware strategy, it appears the company is staying the course, with Iwata saying that "we believe that we can capitalize the most on our strengths through a hardware-software integrated platform business, and therefore this type of dedicated video game platforms will remain our core focus."
Again, Iwata was loath to provide details on his game plan, but he offered up some hope for Nintendo fans, saying that the company "will continue to provide products and services which pleasantly surprise people."