Nintendo has now outlined a plan to prevent disastrous damage to the company’s internal developments if an earthquake were to strike its headquarters in Kyoto, Japan.
Earthquakes are unfortunately more commonplace in Japan than they are in some other parts of the world. Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Tourism claims that up to 18.5% of the entire planet’s earthquakes happen in the land of the rising sun. That could have a knock-on effect on how various businesses function, including video game development.
During a recent Annual General Meeting at Nintendo, a question was asked during a shareholder Q&A session. The question was regarding what plans Nintendo has in mind, in the event of a natural disaster that affects Nintendo HQ.
Shuntaro Furukawa, president of Nintendo, provided some details on what the company has in mind. He said, “Even if our business continuity is hindered by a natural disaster, such as an earthquake, or by some dangerous infectious disease which is highly contagious and could cause a serious medical condition, we have a documented response plan and have implemented various proactive measures so that we can restore operations as quickly as possible.”
Furukawa continued by saying that in the event of a disaster, Nintendo would “convene a disaster response committee headed by the president that will act to confirm the safety of our employees, protect the integrity of company property, and secure personnel and communication systems for the recovery effort.”
When it comes to game development, Nintendo’s president also reassured shareholders that the company makes backups of its data. He goes on to explain, “backups are regularly made for critical information like the data for games currently in development. This allows us to restore the data as soon as possible should something happen.”
Kyoto is unfortunately a location that is more prone to receiving earthquakes, but Nintendo may be thinking about the long-term future in this regard. Earlier this year, Nintendo revealed plans to create a new 12-floor development center that expands upon its headquarters.
