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Furukawa says Nintendo Accounts will be used for services outside of gaming software

Nintendo said that user accounts will expand beyond gaming software during an investor Q&A.

Donovan Erskine

May 12, 2022 8:05 AM

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During a recent investor call, Nintendo leadership made some interesting comments about the company’s future hardware and software plans. Most notably, it expressed concern for the inevitable transition to whatever console succeeds the Switch. On that same note, Nintendo stated that its plans include expanding Nintendo Accounts to services that aren’t just gaming software.

Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa was speaking during a recent investor call where he talked about the company’s future plans, as translated by VGC. With more than 100 million Switch units out in the wild, it’s vital to the company that it makes the transition to whatever’s next as smooth as possible, citing the move from Wii to WiiU and DS to 3DS as examples of where it could have handled things better.

Furukawa says the company will prioritize making “long-term relationships” with its users. “While we will continue launching new software on the Nintendo Switch, we will also provide services that also use Nintendo Accounts and other IP outside of gaming software.” He doesn’t specify what these services will be, but it’s clear that Nintendo is looking to build upon the established system that its millions of users are already integrated with, rather than starting from scratch with the next major console release.

There are currently nearly 100 million annual playing users, and going forward, it is important to consider how we can maintain and expand on that number. This will also be essential when we consider our plan for the next hardware platform.

With the Switch celebrating its fifth anniversary this year, there has been no shortage of speculation around when Nintendo will reveal its next console, even if it’s simply a mid-life cycle upgrade for the Switch that offers convenient technical and graphical upgrades. However, The Big N could have something much larger up its sleeves for the future. Whenever we learn about what Nintendo is planning, you can bet that it’ll be right here on Shacknews.

Donovan Erskine

News Editor

Donovan is a young journalist from Maryland, who likes to game. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge Scream nerd and film fanatic that will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_