Nintendo Bunks Together Console And Portable Gaming Divisions
- $340 million investment
- New development facility in Kyoto
- Posted loss last financial year
The Wii U and 3DS are set to get comfy under one roof following Nintendo’s decision to unify its console and handheld divisions into a single entity.
- $340 million investment
- New development facility in Kyoto
- Posted loss last financial year
The Wii U and 3DS are set to get comfy under one roof following Nintendo’s decision to unify its console and handheld divisions into a single entity. This marks the biggest organisational change in Nintendo for nine years, and will happen in the next month.
According to Nintendo, this will speed up the development process, which could mean a quicker turnover of consoles, as well as slicker interaction between the company's portable and lounge-based gaming systems.
Nintendo is reportedly gearing to inject $340 million into the merged operation and will open a new development facility in Kyoto by the end of this year.
The company has been struggling of late, with both the 3DS and Wii U not performing as well as it would have liked. It posted its first ever loss at the end of the last financial year, dropping more than $530 million. In the first half of this financial year, sales were down 7 percent compared to the year before. Net income was also way down, so it has a lot to do if it wants to turn around its fortunes.
Hopefully the change will work well for Nintendo because the console gaming segment has new challengers coming to the space with devices like the Ouya console and new versions of the Xbox and PlayStation expected this year.
