Nintendo expects at least one of its first party game to surpass sales of 30 million units every three to five years.
Speaking during an interview, legendary game designer Shigeru Miyamoto stated that Nintendo is a company driven by successful products. He further said that If the console maker can have one big hit every three to five years, it will be fine. In that sense, if all its employees think about “creating a big hit” every day, it will be fine.
According to Miyamoto, Nintendo is able to produce major hits because its development teams are actively aiming for them. He agreed that sales of 1 million units for a Nintendo first party title is not seen as a huge hit by the company. It’s only when a game sells about 30 million units that the console maker considers it to be a big hit.
Miyamoto mentioned that after working to make a project happen, if it breaks even, it would be considered a failure by Nintendo. He said that if there’s no profit and games are just breaking even, then it’s just “tiring”. He stated that he’s the people who worked with him on games would think that this isn’t what they worked for. He said that he doesn’t make things or do things just to get his money’s worth. He believes that everyone works hard everyday to make something that sells, becomes a big hit, and makes people say, “I can’t stop laughing.”
The legendary game designer further revealed that there are times when something catches the company’s attention and it feels that it might turn out well. He said that he can sense such things from the very beginning. However, if he is only thinking about greed or wanting to stabilize the company’s profits, he would overlook this. According to him, the most dangerous thing is to miss something that has the potential to grow. He believes that the good thing about Nintendo is that it has been good at nurturing those seeds.
