Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development

Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development Division, (任天堂企画制作本部) abbreviated Nintendo EPD, is the largest division within the Japanese video game company Nintendo. The division focuses on developing and producing video games, mobile apps, and other related entertainment software for the company. Nintendo EPD was established in September 2015 after merging their Entertainment Analysis & Development and Software Planning & Development divisions.

History
The division was created on September 16, 2015, after the consolidation of two of Nintendo's former software divisions, Entertainment Analysis & Development (EAD) and Software Planning & Development (SPD), as part of a company-wide organizational restructure under Nintendo's newly appointed president, Tatsumi Kimishima.

The division assumed both of its predecessors' roles, focusing on the development of games and software for Nintendo platforms and mobile devices; it also manages and licenses the company's various intellectual properties, alongside producing and supervising development for external studios.

Shinya Takahashi, former general manager of Nintendo SPD, has the same title in EPD, with Yoshiaki Koizumi, Katsuya Eguchi, Eiji Aonuma, and Hisashi Nogami as deputy general managers, and, Kensuke Tanabe, Yoshio Sakamoto and Takashi Tezuka as senior officers. The others had been in such positions since the division's formation, and Aonuma, Tanabe, and Nogami were promoted into higher positions within the division in 2019. By 2023, Takahashi and Koizumi were promoted to more senior positions, with Takayuki Shimamura being named deputy general manager and Aonuma and sound designer Koji Kondo named senior officers.

Structure
Mainly located in Kyoto, the Nintendo division works similarly to its two predecessors before the merger and is divided into many groups. It has ten production groups responsible for development or production of games, each of them having their own managers, producers and project leads working on specific series and focus, with them using the pool of talents in the division for each project. In the overall division, the general manager, deputy general managers, and senior officers oversee different aspects in those production groups. There are currently 10 production groups in Nintendo EPD, and the known groups in the department are:


 * Production Group No. 2 oversee and produce games developed by external studios and published by Nintendo, such as the Kirby, Xenoblade Chronicles, and Fire Emblem series.
 * Production Group No. 3 develops the main The Legend of Zelda series.
 * Production Group No. 4 develops casual and experimental games such as 1-2-Switch, Nintendo Labo, Ring Fit Adventure, Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain, Jump Rope Challenge, Game Builder Garage, Nintendo Switch Sports and Everybody 1-2-Switch!
 * Production Group No. 5, with group manager Aya Kyogoku, develops the Animal Crossing and Splatoon series.
 * Production Group No. 6 oversee and produce games developed by external studios and published by Nintendo, such as the Paper Mario, Metroid Prime and Luigi's Mansion series.
 * Production Group No. 7 co-develops 2D Metroid games with Mercury Steam.
 * Production Group No. 8, also known as Nintendo EPD Tokyo, develops 3D Super Mario games.
 * Production Group No. 9 develops the Mario Kart series and Arms.
 * Production Group No. 10 develops 2D Super Mario games and the Pikmin series.
 * Smart Device Production Group, with group manager Hideki Konno, develop smartphone games alongside other EPD groups as well as produce games by external studios.