With Miitomo, Nintendo made its first splash into the mobile application pool. The title is more of a social app than a game, but it’s going to be the first of five titles releasing between now and March 2017.
At a recent investor Q & A, Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima talked about how important smart device games will be for Nintendo’s future business model. When asked “how serious” Nintendo is, Kimishima offered that if Nintendo’s seriousness isn’t already evident then “it means that information issued from our company is not accurately conveyed.”
Here’s Kimishima, continuing as it relates to the future of Nintendo and smart device gaming.
“As we have reiterated, we want to grow smart device gaming as one of the pillars of Nintendo’s revenue stream. As for shifting managerial resources in that direction, we have very capable developers who are working on development of games for smart devices, as you already know. Of course, Mr. Miyamoto, our Creative Fellow, is also supporting the business for smart devices from a company-wide perspective. To explain the level of engagement of Mr. Miyamoto, he is having specific talks with developers of games for smart devices on what would be desirable overall. In that sense, what you see from the outside may be markedly different from what we see on the inside. As I have said, we want this to be one of the pillars of our business. Our level of engagement has not lessened, so I hope you will understand that.”
Miitomo is the first step, it seems.
We already know that Nintendo is working on titles using the Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing IPs in the mobile space, but what’s next? They’ll certainly need to be more game than social media if Nintendo truly aims to compete in the mobile space.
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