Nintendo Explains Why They Are Working With Tencent To Bring Switch To China

Nintendo has published their Q&A investors session for fiscal year ending March 31, 2019.

During the session, one question an investor asked was why did Nintendo choose to work with Tencent to bring Nintendo Switch to mainland China, and whether Nintendo forecasts the new Chinese business as a “pillar” for their earnings.

Shuntaro Furukawa, President of Nintendo, explained working with Tencent will help to magnify the scope and further increase the success of Nintendo Switch in China. Tencent is a Chinese conglomerate strong in the network communications and video game industry.

Furukawa added that Nintendo had its own Chinese subsidiary, iQue, release Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS in China, but they were not very successful in the Chinese market. Thus they hpe by teaming up with Tencent, an industry giant in China, they would achieve better success with that.

On the topic of whether the Chinese market will become a huge market for Nintendo, Furukawa reminded investors that the North America, Japan, and Europe markets became strong pillars for Nintendo as they were developed for over 30 years. Furukawa recognizes China is a market with huge potential, but it wouldn’t be easy to achieve such growth for the Chinese market in a short period of time.

Furukawa also reiterated they were unable to determine the official launch window for the Switch in China until regulatory authorities approved its release.

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