Earlier this week, Nikkei published an extensive interview with Nintendo’s President Shuntaro Furukawa, where he shared his thoughts about various aspects of the gaming industry.

Recently, some new translations from the interview have surfaced online. In this batch Furukawa shares his thoughts on innovation and adopting new technologies to enhance the gaming experience, as well as the “sense of danger” that is always present given that games are not “life essential products”.

You can check out full translations here, or read some of the highlights below:

On New Technologies

Furukawa: “New technologies are getting adopted first in games in this world. After many years and months, people who played video games [grow up] from children to parents. It’s the result of how gaming – which was only done by children in the past – has expanded to a broader generation.”…Games that give many people experiences [that make them say] ‘I did this for the first time, but this is so interesting’ have the power to change even people’s behaviours.”

The “Sense Of Danger”

Furukawa: …Games are not life-essential products, so it wouldn’t be strange for customers to leave them someday; that’s what I had always been told about ever since I joined this company. I always have that sense of danger and feel like it’s the fate of game and entertainment businesses. In that meaning, it’s a very harsh business.

There’s a flood of methods to play, and the time-stealing competition revolving around consumers’ limited [available/free] time is getting fiercer. Games are dealing with that competition while having to continue producing innovations from hereafter.

Innovating Games With New Technology

Furukawa: The most important thing when a new technology appears is how the quality of users’ gaming experience changes. It’s very important for games themselves to be interesting, new, and able to give surprises. Regardless of the technological environment, those who develop games first create contents that they think consumers will want to obtain and play. After that, if there is a technology that is useful for that, they’ll adopt it.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.