Lively discussion was the order of business during Nintendo’s 74th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, which was held on June 27. The consolemaker released the English translation of that meeting yesterday, giving the public a glimpse inside the gloriously weird world that Nintendo created for one afternoon.
Most questioners kept things professional by asking about company President Satoru Iwata’s health (he had to skip the meeting for medical reasons), offering congratulations on the launch of Mario Kart 8, and praising Nintendo’s E3 Digital Event. But I think the highlight of the Q&A was definitely the shareholder who told Nintendo executives that all this talk about video games made him angry:
I do not understand video games and I even feel angry because, at Nintendo’s shareholders’ meetings, the shareholders always discuss things relating to video games or such childish topics as “what the future of video games should be,” while I, for one, was flabbergasted that Mr. Iwata continues to hold his position although he had said that he would resign if the company’s performance were bad. I hope that Nintendo’s shareholders’ meeting will become an opportunity where the shareholders discuss the company’s business operations from the viewpoints of capital gain and dividends.
Sensing an opportunity to vent some frustration, Senior Managing Director Genyo Takeda sarcastically referred to the question as a “valuable opinion” before passing it to Tatsumi Kimishima, General Manager of Corporate Analysis & Administration. Kimishima refrained from calling the investor stupid, but he very obviously pointed out that video game discussion occurs at shareholder meetings because Nintendo is a company that makes video games: “As an entertainment company, it is also very important for us to inform our shareholders about the kinds of entertainment Nintendo offers, including video game content.”
Aside from that lunacy, the afternoon was saved when another shareholder straight up asked for free games:
Would you please give us something related to Nintendo as a shareholder perk? I do not think hardware systems should be given to shareholders due to their high costs, but games like “Tingle’s Balloon Fight DS” and “Game & Watch Collection,” which were presents to Club Nintendo members, could be good options.
Kimishima came through again by diplomatically telling the questioner that they’re going to stick with dividends for now.
Of course, neither of these responses can hold a candle to Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick’s takedown of the investor who asked about Grand Theft Auto V in 2009 (more than two years before it was officially announced): “We’re not going to announce it. We’re not going to announce when we’re going to announce it. And we’re not going to announce the strategy about announcing it or about when we’re going to announce it either, or about the announcement strategy surrounding the announcement of the strategy. Any other questions?”
Nope, that covers it.
