In 1/29, Bloomberg Japan has conducted an exclusive interview to Nintendo's CEO, Hiroshi Yamauchi. The following are a number of points which have been made clear from the interview.

Square not to be contracted-

While the market predicted that Nintendo and Square will regain their relationship due to the recent announcement through the investor's meeting held by Square, Yamauchi quotes-

"There has been no contract with Square, and there is no consideration given to contracting with them in the future".
"Everyone is free to say whatever, but there is no consideration given to contracting. Possibilities in the future are low as well."

Nintendo and Square's relation seemed to have broken since 1996, when Square discontinued from distributing software to Nintendo and switched to SCEI.

Sega already contracted-

As to the past report of the New York Times rumored Nintendo and Sega to merge, Yamauchi emphasized again that the report was inaccurate. In addition, Yamauchi also commented that "there is no possibility of merging with Sega", even if Sega discontinues their Dreamcast console manufacture line and restructures their company.

However, Yamauchi also comments that he has acknowledged Sega to be developing for the Game boy Advanced, and that the "contract has already been signed" for Sega to supply software for the machine.

Yamauchi's Comments to Microsoft

Commenting to Microsoft and Bill Gates entering the videogame market, Yamauchi stated Microsoft's success to be difficult, quoting;

"The world acknowledges Bill Gates as a great business man, but he too is human; there are things that he does not know. And that would be games. A person who doesn't know Sumo, can't Sumo with a Yokozuna."

"The results should become apparent in about a year."

Nintendo's future plans

Yamauchi states that Nintendo has received Orders for 2.7 million shipments of Game Boy Advanced. Nintendo themselves will be creating 4 titles for the portable machine, which itself has 1.4 million orders in total. Yamauchi analyses this situation as "perhaps because there is nothing else that sells" at the current time.

In the 4 titles announced, Pokemon is not included. Yamauchi comments "Unfortunately, the development didn't make it on time. Hopefully it will be released around summer." Capcom and other major game publishers are also scheduled to release games simultaneously for the GameBoy Advanced.

Nintendo is scheduled to ship 1 million Game Boy Advanced machines within March and prepare for the July release in North America. 24 million - 25 million are scheduled to be shipped within the fiscal year.

In relation to Pokemon, Yamauchi notes that "Pokemon Center" will be making their debuts in New York and London this coming Christmas. Both Pokemon Centers are scheduled to be managed by newly founded subsidiaries, and will feature goods unavailable in other retail stores.

Yamauchi plans to retire from CEO this year, but has no candidate for his successor. The structure of Nintendo is currently being changed to prepare for Yamauchi's resignation.

Copyright Square, 2001