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Nintendo's Mobile Push to Focus on Marketing Demos, Not Full Games

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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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Earlier this month, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata indicated Nintendo was looking into a new business structure involving "smart devices" after the company experienced its third consecutive annual loss in light of increasing competition from mobile platforms.

While that statement was interpreted by some as an indication of Nintendo's plan to develop game titles for iOS and Android, it appears that the company instead intends to use smartphones to market its existing handheld and console hardware and game lineup.

wiiu.jpg
According to a report from Japanese business newspaper Nikkei [Google Translation] (via Dr. Serkan Toto), Nintendo will introduce a free app that includes information on new games, including videos and character profiles along with some smartphone mini games.
But Nintendo will not simply put Mario, Pokemon or other games on smartphones. According to the report, Nintendo plans to use Android and/or iOS devices (not confirmed at this point) to market its console games.

To be more concrete, The Nikkei writes that Nintendo wants to use smartphones to expand its potential user base by spreading information about new game releases, i.e. by using video to introduce future titles. (This will probably happen through some kind of official Nintendo app.)
Click to expand...
Nintendo's mini games are said to be playable demos of console games, but full versions of the titles will only be available on Nintendo hardware like the Wii U and the 3DS. The idea is to give players a small taste of the gameplay in order to entice them to purchase content on the Nintendo platform.

Mobile devices from Apple and Android and more popular consoles from Microsoft and Sony have devastated Nintendo's earnings in recent years. According to a report from App Annie, consumer spending on games for iOS and Android is now 4x that of dedicated gaming handhelds and sales of the Xbox and PlayStation have far outpaced Wii U sales. Though Iwata has said that Apple is "the enemy of the future" he has stated publicly that he will not provide Nintendo's "precious resources" to other platforms.

Nintendo is expected to make an announcement about its new mobile app on Thursday.

Article Link: Nintendo's Mobile Push to Focus on Marketing Demos, Not Full Games
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/01/27/nintendo-marketing-app/
Xenomorph

Xenomorph

macrumors 65816
Aug 6, 2008
1,397
829
St. Louis
How about advertising on TV?

You know, the thing that MICROSOFT and SONY have no trouble advertising on?

I can honestly say I've probably seen 100+ ads for Sony/Microsoft for every one ad I've seen for Nintendo.

SHOW. THE. GAMES.

Stupid commercials of stupid kids bothering their mom and dad for a hip, new toy are dumb. Just show the game.
 
T

TC03

macrumors 65816
Aug 17, 2008
1,272
356
Slippery slope. Just a matter of time before Mario will be on iOS.
 
cmChimera

cmChimera

macrumors 601
Feb 12, 2010
4,273
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This is pretty much what I expected (though I doubt they'll actually be playable demos of console games. That doesn't make sense.), and is the best idea. Asking Nintendo to make games for smartphones is like asking Apple to license out iOS and OS X.
 
Sky Blue

Sky Blue

Guest
Jan 8, 2005
6,856
11
haha, wow. Yeah, that's going to stop the bleeding.
Nintendo are going to slowly, slowly circle the drain like BlackBerry.
 
I

Ichabod.

macrumors regular
Oct 1, 2012
122
1
The wall around Nintendo products is slowly cracking, hopefully this more is just easing them into smartphone distribution of their titles in the future.
 
maflynn

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,481
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Talk about missing the point. Its not that People are unaware of the Wii, but they've moved on. they would be better served to give consumers a next gen console like Sony and MS or put their games on iOS and Android. Doing demos to get people to buy them on their old consoles Wii and their failure of a handheld is only going to crash and burn
 
Z

Z400Racer37

macrumors 6502a
Feb 7, 2011
711
1,664
Idiots. Do these Executives even talk to their kids? How do they not know how completely futile this is? Just use the awesome hardware that already exists, and put your software on it.
 
Nevaborn

Nevaborn

macrumors 65816
Aug 30, 2013
1,086
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So instead of offering their games and some of the best franchises in gaming history to tens of millions of new gamers bringing them badly needed money to help fund development and scrap the Wii U they instead decide to ignore the wishes of gamers ( again ) and are simply going to have an advertising app. why the Hell would anybody download their app for information that you can just as easily get online.
 
robertpetry

robertpetry

macrumors 6502
Feb 12, 2009
478
135
St Augustine, FL
Laughing Out Loud here

That is an amazingly ignorant idea. Why the hell would I install a Nintendo app to watch a video of a game that won't play on my platform? Idiots.

They will be teetering on the brink in 12-24 months and then Apple can buy them cheap.

Heck, why wait Apple - I want you to buy Mario and Yoshi now, port games to the Apple platform and leverage Wii titles and technology into a new Apple Wii TV that works with my iPhone and iPad as controllers. All that IP could be bought cheaply. Yes their market cap is just shy of $19 Bil right now but it won't be up there in a year or two. Just wait till they half again the sales numbers for Wii U.
 
AngerDanger

AngerDanger

Graphics
Staff member
Dec 9, 2008
5,452
29,003
Mario themed Doodle Jump! Zelda themed Angry Birds! Pokémon themed Plants vs Zombies! The possibilities are endlessly underwhelming!
 
Last edited:
cmChimera

cmChimera

macrumors 601
Feb 12, 2010
4,273
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maflynn said:
Talk about missing the point. Its not that People are unaware of the Wii, but they've moved on. they would be better served to give consumers a next gen console like Sony and MS or put their games on iOS and Android. Doing demos to get people to buy them on their old consoles Wii and their failure of a handheld is only going to crash and burn
Click to expand...

You realize that the 3ds sold better than any console last year right? It sold 13.5 million units. It now has an installed base of over 40 million. Failure? It's literally slightly behind its predecessor in sales. Oh and its predecessor was the best selling console of all time.

And they aren't trying to sell the Wii, which was another huge success. They're trying to sell the Wii U, which has performed poorly. So they have one poorly performing console in like 10 years, and they should just quit. Seems legit.
 
robertpetry

robertpetry

macrumors 6502
Feb 12, 2009
478
135
St Augustine, FL
maflynn said:
Talk about missing the point. Its not that People are unaware of the Wii, but they've moved on. they would be better served to give consumers a next gen console like Sony and MS or put their games on iOS and Android. Doing demos to get people to buy them on their old consoles Wii and their failure of a handheld is only going to crash and burn
Click to expand...

The Wii U IS their next gen console. It was supposed to carry them for another 3-4 years!

Not going to happen. Too bad too. The Wii U is not bad for a family game machine. Think what Apple could do with those titles, motion technology and the rest of both ecosystems. It is a great marriage from a market positioning standpoint. Culturally, maybe not.
 
R

Rychy

macrumors 6502
Aug 14, 2007
377
42
Anyone that thought Nintendo was going to release their games on iOS was seriously kidding themselves.
 
nagromme

nagromme

macrumors G5
May 2, 2002
12,546
1,196
As much as I'd love to see yet another source of quality iOS games, John Siracusa (atp.fm) makes a pretty convincing case that Nintendo should, for the foreseeable future, stick to their Apple-like integrated hardware/software model that they are (often) very good at. Ditching hardware and making games for other platforms sounds like the kind of armchair craziness that told Apple they should get out of the hardware business! Maybe Nintendo becomes more and more of a niche, but I'd rather see a unique and profitable niche than yet-another-mobile-publisher.

Disclaimer: I have never owned a Nintendo product. But I might, and meanwhile I root for them!
 
kupkakez

kupkakez

macrumors 68020
Apr 4, 2011
2,061
1,254
Austin, TX
Horrible idea Nintendo. Just get over yourselves and let Mario and Pokemon be on iOS and Android. Playing a "demo" on my phone isn't going to make me run out and buy a Wii U. I want less devices, not more...
 
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