Nintendo Building New R&D Facility

New facility to house 1,500 employees and become company's main R&D building.

2011-03-30 18:11 / Anoop Gantayat / 1 Comment

Nintendo will be investing over 12 billion yen to construct a new research and development facility in its home town of Kyoto, Nikkan reports today. Word of the new facility first broke in February 2009.

The new facility will be located in the Higashikujo Matsudacho area of Kyoto's Minami Ward. This will place it closer to Nintendo's main office, also located in the Minami Ward, than Nintendo's current Kyoto Research Center R&D facility, which is located in Kyoto's Higashiyama Ward.

In constructing the new building so close to its headquarters, Nintendo hopes to bring its workforce together to improve efficiency. Once completed, the new building will house 1,500 employees, primarily focusing on product development, andwill be Nintendo's main research facility.

Nintendo acquired the 40,582 square meter lot that will house the new building at the end of 2008. The lot was previously a golf range called Kyoto Minami Golf Garden.

The completed building will span seven stories -- one basement and six floors above ground. Its highest point will stand 41 meters off the ground. The first floor will be the entrance and will have meeting rooms. The seventh floor will have a cafeteria.

Nintendo hopes to begin construction in January 2012 with completion targeted for some time in 2013.