The Japanese multinational Nintendo is interested in metavers and recognizes the comparisons with Animal Crossing.
Nintendo is looking into the metaverse
Shuntaro Furukawa, president of Nintendo, speaking at a Q&A session with investors this week talked about the potential of the metaverse. He stated:
“The metaverse is attracting the attention of many companies around the world, and we believe it has great potential. Also, when the metaverse is mentioned in the media, games such as Animal Crossing are sometimes cited as examples, and in that sense, it’s interesting to us.”
The metaverse refers to a more immersive vision of the internet, in which users socialize, play and even work together in 3D spaces. However, the exact definition of the term “metaverse” is controversial. For some, it is simply immersive experiences shared via virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR) headsets, while others see NFTs as the most important pillar of its design. It’s a nebulous term, in part because it may be years before we see a functional, completed metaverse.
In any case, while Furukawa seems to be positive about the potential of the metaverse, he said that Nintendo is not ready to start exploring the possibility just yet. The creator of Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda and other successful game franchises is not known for following trends, and Furukawa said Nintendo needed to define its own approach to the metaverse. He continued:
“It’s not easy to define what kind of surprise and fun the metaverse can bring to customers. As an entertainment company, we need to think about how to provide fun.”
In January, Microsoft, Nintendo’s main competitor, announced that it would acquire major game publisher Activision Blizzard for nearly $69 billion, and touted the deal as a first step to building “the metaverse.”
