Nintendo has confirmed that it will be building a new, ¥12 billion research and development centre in its home town of Kyoto which will accommodate 1500 employees and become the company's main research facility. The facility was first mooted in 2009 after a 2008 land purchase, but Nintendo officially confirmed the scale of the project today viaNikkan (via Andriasang). The facility is due for completion in 2013. The new building would move Nintendo's research centre much closer to the company's main offices in Kyoto. The current R&D centre is already based in the city, but at much greater distance than the new site in the Higashikujo Matsudacho area of Kyoto's Minami Ward.