Nintendo eyeing new business ventures in medicine, restaurants, and IP

By Imad Khan May 18, 2016

nintendo medical eating ip — Miki Yoshihito/Flickr

The world might be seeing a very different Nintendo in the coming years, one that’s making medical devices and hamburgers.

Nintendo recently revised its Articles of Incorporation to allow for new business ventures in medicine, IP licensing, and “eating establishments.”

According to the document, Nintendo has laid out the groundwork to diversify its portfolio. Under proposed amendments, Nintendo underlined new areas where the company wants to expand. This includes “development, manufacturing and sale of medical devices, and health devices;” “development, manufacturing and sale of computer software;” and “management of an investment in eating establishments.”

Nintendo has tertiarily explored medical devices before with its Quality of Life initiative. Back in 2009, the late Satoru Iwata unveiled the Wii Vitality Sensor. It was a device that monitored heart rate, and had some interesting gameplay potential. Sadly, the device never saw the light of day. Some products from the Quality of Life initiative did reach consumers’ hands, things like the Wii Balance Board and the Wii U Fit Meter.

Licensing Nintendo’s broad and incredibly popular IP seems to be the most profitable route of action. Springing of The Legend of Zelda or Metroid into a movie franchise could drive a lot of ticket sales. And as NeoGAF member Like the hat? mentioned, spinning Nintendo IP off into a Chuck E. Cheese competitor would make loads of money.

It’s not entirely certain how Nintendo would enter the restaurant business. It could possibly create a different company under the Nintendo umbrella. While it may sound odd, it’s not uncommon for Japanese companies to have hands in multiple pots. For example, game publisher Konami has businesses in health clubs and real estate. Sony, too ,has business in television channels in India, as well as life insurance.

The new articles will go into effect on June 29, which so happens to be the date of Nintendo’s 76th annual General Meeting of Shareholders.

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Imad has been a gamer all his life. He started blogging about games in college and quickly started moving up to various…

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