Nintendo Is Looking To Develop More Original Game Series In The Future

Nintendo is doing big business these days, but the majority of its software success comes from intellectual properties that were created several decades ago. It's a strategy that has served the company well, but one that Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa wants to supplement by also focusing efforts on developing more original games.

"With the expansion of time spent at home, the range of 'entertainment' as an object of consumption is expanding," the president said to Nikkei, as translated by VGC. "Games are not a necessity of life. In order for customers to choose games in their finite time, they have to be interesting. Competition is tough, and I am not optimistic. I myself am looking at and studying various forms of entertainment. In the future, we will focus on creating new game series as well as long-sellers such as Mario and Zelda."

Nintendo's biggest hit of 2020 was Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the latest entry in a series that was introduced to the world in 2001. One-third of all Switch owners played the latest Animal Crossing last year, while the rest of Nintendo's best-selling games included old guard favorites such as Super Mario 3D All-Stars, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and Mario Kart.

Nintendo's upcoming games line-up also includes a number of new entries in established franchises, such as remakes of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl in the form of Pokemon Briliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, Mario Golf: Super Rush, and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD. Out of all those games, 2015's Splatoon is the youngest franchise on the block and will expand with Splatoon 3 in 2022.