Nintendo Co. said Thursday it will explore new businesses, including health care-related entertainment, while keeping its existing gaming platform as the main focus, after the video game maker's Wii U console flopped with consumers.
The new health-related business will start by March 2016, President Satoru Iwata said at a briefing on the company's strategy in Tokyo, without giving more specifics. Nintendo, the world's largest maker of video game machines, will also seek partners to expand licensing of its game characters such as Mario and Zelda and boost their use for nongame products.
Iwata is under pressure to find new profit drivers after customers shunned the Wii U, Nintendo's latest home-gaming machine, causing the company to cut sales forecasts and project an annual net loss. The executive said Thursday he won't abandon Nintendo's focus on both hardware and software, even as some analysts and investors have called for the Kyoto-based company to stop making the Wii U.
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