Nintendo has an interesting history with esports, as while Nintendo does host tournaments every so often, the company still hasn’t fully embraced the competitive scene. That said it seems things may be changing according to comments made during Nintendo’s Annual General Meeting of Shareholders last week by president Shuntaro Furukawa.
Furukawa acknowledged that competition can help to “share the gameplay experience with a broader audience” and generate interest for games/characters. He then noted that more tournaments will be held in the future, but did not specify what he meant.
We believe that formats like e-sports where players compete against each other in front of many people are a way to share the gameplay experience with a broader audience. Nintendo has a history of holding game tournaments, and while this was before the pandemic, we held the final stage of the national elementary school Smash Bros. tournament and the Splatoon Koshien 2020 Kinki Regional Tournament during the Nintendo Live 2019 event in Kyoto in October 2019. We felt those tournaments were well-received, not only by the audiences onsite, but also those watching online.
Game tournaments can motivate people who own the game to keep playing and they can generate interest in Nintendo games and characters in people who do not own the game. We will continue to hold game tournaments and other such events going forward by carefully monitoring the situation surrounding the pandemic.