Shuntaro Furukawa grew up playing the Family Computer, eventually realizing every teenager's dream of joining the company that made the genre-defining console. Now, as the next president of Nintendo Co., he has the chance to build a new franchise atop a hit product — the Switch.
It's a big generational shift. At 46, Furukawa is 22 years younger than outgoing President Tatsumi Kimishima — a former banker who oversaw the new hybrid console's debut last year. The Nintendo Switch, which can be docked to a TV or used as a portable gaming machine, is the Kyoto-based company's biggest bet in years. The company exceeded its own goals by selling 15.1 million units in the period, and forecasts 20 million shipments in the current year to March 2019.
Furukawa joined Nintendo in 1994, worked in global marketing and served on the board of partly owned Pokemon Co. He takes over as the strong results and outlook underscore Nintendo's confidence that it has worked out the Switch's first-year production kinks. The next step is attracting buyers from beyond the console's core base. While the company had a strong lineup of games last year to drive hardware sales, it only has one new big-name title — Super Smash Bros. — scheduled for release this year.