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 Nintendo's logotype, used during most of the division's existence | |
 Exterior of the Nintendo headquarters in Kyoto, Japan, which housed the division until 2014 | |
Native name | 任天堂企画開発本部 |
|---|---|
Romanized name | Nintendō Kikaku Kaihatsu Honbu |
| Company type | Division |
| Industry | Video games |
| Genre | Video game development |
| Predecessor | |
| Founded | September 30, 2003 in Kyoto, Japan |
| Founder | Satoru Iwata |
| Defunct | September 16, 2015 |
| Fate | Merged with Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development |
| Successor | Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development |
| Headquarters | Kyoto , Japan |
Key people |
|
| Parent | Nintendo |
| Divisions | |
Nintendo Software Planning & Development Division,[a] commonly abbreviated as Nintendo SPD, was a Japanese research, planning and development division owned by Nintendo and housed inside the Nintendo Development Center in Kyoto, Japan. The division had two departments: Software Planning & Development Department, which primarily co-produced games with external developers; and Software Development & Design Department, which primarily developed experimental and system software. The division was created during a corporate restructuring in September 2003, with the abolition of the Nintendo R&D1 and Nintendo R&D2 departments.
The group had the task of independently developing innovative games, assisting other development teams on projects, and managing overseas production of first-party franchises.[1] Both SPD and SDD departments were divided into four separate groups, which worked concurrently on different projects.[2]
In September 2015, Nintendo SPD merged with Nintendo's other software development division, Entertainment Analysis & Development (EAD), becoming Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development.[3][4]
History
In 2003, then-Nintendo president Satoru Iwata created the Software Planning & Development division, appointing himself as its general manager. The goal of the newly created division would be to focus on co-producing and supervising external second-party video game development, with the goal of relieving the Entertainment Analysis & Development (EAD) division, and its general manager Shigeru Miyamoto, to focus on internal development. Although that was the division's primary focus, it also went on to develop some video games titles internally.[5][6]
On June 27, 2013, deputy general manager Shinya Takahashi replaced Satoru Iwata as general manager of the division, gaining a seat in Nintendo's board of directors in the process.[7] A year later, on June 18, 2014, all of Nintendo's internal research and development divisions, including the SPD division, were moved from the Nintendo's headquarters in Kyoto to the newly built Nintendo Development Center, just 300 meters from the old building. By centralizing all of its developers in the new building, Nintendo hoped they would deeply interact with each other, regardless of which division and field they were working on, creating a synergy between hardware and software development.[8][9]
On September 16, 2015, the division was merged with Nintendo's internal software development division, Entertainment Analysis & Development, becoming Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development (EPD). As Shigeru Miyamoto retired as general manager of the EAD division and went on to become a Creative Fellow, former SPD general manager Shinya Takahashi took his place as general manager of the newly created EPD division, thus supervising all video games developed at Nintendo. The new division accumulated all of its predecessors roles as both developing video games internally and co-producing them with external developers.[3][4]
Structure
The General Manager of the Nintendo Software Planning & Development Division was Shinya Takahashi, assisted by both Keizo Kato, the Assistant Manager and Kensuke Tanabe, the Executive Officer. The division was split into two different departments: the Software Planning & Development Department, which was split into four separate groups, which was supervised by Deputy Manager Yoshio Sakamoto; and the Software Development & Design Department which was split into three separate groups, supervised by Deputy Manager Masaru Nishita. All of the groups worked concurrently on different projects.[2]
Software Planning & Development Department
Production Group No. 1
The Production Group No. 1's primary focus was the development and production of video game software and software applications for Nintendo home and handheld consoles, as well as software for peripherals developed for said consoles, both internally and in cooperation with second-party developers. The group manager and main producer was Nintendo-veteran Yoshio Sakamoto. The group is responsible for developing and producing games in the WarioWare, Rhythm Heaven, Card Hero, Tomodachi and the mainline Metroid series.[10]
Notes
Production Group No. 2
The Production Group No. 2 was led by manager and video game producer Hitoshi Yamagami. The group was primarily responsible for co-producing and supervising video games published by Nintendo and developed by third-party developers from Japan.[35] They're responsible for producing and supervising games in the Pokémon, F-Zero, Legendary Starfy, Fire Emblem, Dr. Mario, Endless Ocean, Fossil Fighters, Style Savvy and Xenoblade Chronicles series.
In addition to co-producing games, the group also supervised the development of Drill Dozer, developed by Game Freak.