As many will tell you, it’s not just about having money, it’s about how you use it. In today’s gaming industry, that’s more important than ever, and you can usually tell what developers/publishers use it well…and which don’t. Nintendo is absolutely one who uses it well more times than not, as the success of the Switch over the last eight years will tell you. However, we’re now on the precipice of the Switch 2 era, and a slide from the latest financial briefing raises a certain question about what The Big N is spending its money on.
As you can see below, the R&D expenses for Nintendo have continually gone up since 2017, and have taken even bigger jumps in the last few years. The gap from 2023 to 2024 can easily be attributed to the Switch 2 and its development, but why is it projected to be even higher this year?
The answer might have to do with software. In a Q&A during the financial briefing, Shuntaro Furukawa noted that the “innovation of the Switch 2” lies in its ability to allow developers to push things even further than before on their systems. R&D doesn’t just have to be...
