Nintendo confirms that its new development centre has been delayed to make it bigger

Nintendo has confirmed previous reports that it will be delaying the opening of its new development centre to make it bigger.

Last year the company successfully purchased the land next to its main headquarters in Kyoto, and announced plans to build a new development centre there.

The roughly 10,000 metre-squared site, which Nintendo purchased for ¥5 billion ($34.7 million), will be the home of its new building, tentatively named Corporate Headquarters Development Centre Building No 2.

The original plan was that the building would be 12 storeys tall and would be completed in 2027. However, Nikkei reported in August that Nintendo was considering delaying the completion date by a year or more to make the building bigger.

In a presentation as part of its financial results briefing for the second quarter of the financial year, Nintendo has now confirmed Nikkei’s report.

“There are plans to construct Corporate Headquarters Development Center Building No 2 (tentative name) adjacent to Nintendo headquarters,” Nintendo stated.

“We had initially announced that a 12-storey building would be completed in 2027, but we revised our original plan and decided to up-scale the building,” it explained. “As such, the construction is now scheduled to be completed in 2028.

“This second development center will play an important role in strengthening our research and development capabilities.”

Nikkei’s previous report claimed that Nintendo is anticipating a long-term increase of staff, and was therefore considering the addition of extra floors to the building, pushing the completion date back.

According to Nikkei, Nintendo hired 130 new graduates in fiscal year 2023, which it says is 50% more than three years ago.

The article quoted Nintendo president Shuntaro Furakawa as saying: “The development resources required per piece of software are increasing. We would like to maintain the level of recruitment of the past few years.”