‘Nintendo scales back ambitions with smartphone games’

Nintendo would change its mobile strategy; it would focus less on the smartphone market and more on its own Switch console. The company would be less enthusiastic about the smartphone games due to disappointing sales and the limitations of the interface.

Nintendo’s enthusiasm for the smartphone market has been dampened by disappointing sales from its mobile games and limited options for making money. This is claimed by Bloomberg, which also writes that Nintendo has difficulty with touchscreen interfaces and believes that its games work best with its own controllers.

That Nintendo is no longer so enthusiastic about the smartphone market, was already apparent at the beginning of May from statements from Shuntaro Furukawa, president of the company. He said in an explanation of the quarterly figures that while Nintendo continues to develop new apps, “it does not necessarily continue to release many new applications for the mobile market”. According to him, the apps should primarily bring players into contact with Nintendo games, citing as an example that Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp can bring new Animal Crossing: New Horizons players. He also said he didn’t expect a big increase in mobile sales. In 2018, the CEO was still fully committed to smartphone games.

A few years ago, Nintendo bet big on the mobile market, promising to release two to three new games a year. One of the most successful games is Super Mario Run, which has over 400 million downloads. According to Bloomberg, Nintendo does not want techniques in its games that force players to spend a lot because of the reputational damage this can cause. At the time, Nintendo would have focused mainly on the smartphone market because of the moderate sales of the Wii U. Because the Switch is a great success, that need would no longer be there.

Super Mario Run