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Nintendo's Next President Sets Mobile Gaming Priority, Plans 'Game-Changing Hit' to Surge Business

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Nintendo's next president, Shuntaro Furukawa, will make smartphone gaming a priority when he takes the helm of the company this June. In a new interview with Nikkei, Furukawa said that he envisions a future where Nintendo's smartphone gaming arm can become a 100 billion yen ($910 million) business. In fiscal 2017, the segment including mobile games grossed 39.3 billion yen.

nintendo-on-app-store.jpg

To do this, Furukawa plans to increase the output of smartphone gaming apps for iOS and Android devices, as well as launch a singular app that surges in popularity. Outgoing Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima referenced Pokémon Go as an inspiration for this plan. Pokémon Go was a collaboration between developer Niantic and The Pokémon Company, which Nintendo has a joint investment in.
"From what I can see, smartphone games are the ones I want to expand the most," said Shuntaro Furukawa.

"The idea that something will emerge that transforms into something big, in the same manner as game consoles, is the defining motive of the Nintendo business," he said.
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When asked if any of the upcoming apps would adopt Pokémon Go's augmented reality gameplay, Furukawa said that he "can't say that there are any that are like that." It's also unclear if the plans for the singular, so-called "game-changing hit" would include existing Nintendo characters or be entirely original.

Nintendo has already begun adding on new developer partners besides DeNA to work on games with new characters, while DeNA continues outputting those with Nintendo IPs like the upcoming Mario Kart Tour. According to Furukawa, Nintendo is also gearing up to "expand cooperative ties" with its developer business partners down the road, further hinting at an increased output for gaming apps.

Smartphone games that have been confirmed by Nintendo include Mario Kart Tour and Dragalia Lost, both with vague late 2018 launch dates. These will follow Nintendo's previous titles Miitomo, Super Mario Run, Fire Emblem Heroes, and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp. In terms of unconfirmed mobile spin-offs, The Legend of Zelda could be the next big Nintendo IP to launch on iOS.

Article Link: Nintendo's Next President Sets Mobile Gaming Priority, Plans 'Game-Changing Hit' to Surge Business
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2018/05/02/nintendos-next-president-mobile-gaming/
So the new president is going to put the core business as a second. Not saying he's wrong - but he probably is, and I don't envision a Nintendo where it survives long in the mess that is the mobile games industry as it's main priority. Nintendo has stayed visible and relevant all these years by staying stubbornly unique in it's core businesses. They will lose a huge part of their individuality by fighting it out in the chaos of the app store or Android marketplace.

Especially since Nintendo on the app store was a novelty this year - in two years - not so much. Just another company putting out quick fix cash generators (so far anyway) - as apposed to more long term immersive experiences (which *may* happen). Mobile gaming should remain their side product and this guy doesn't sound very 'Nintendo' coming out with such statements. Dragalia Lost looks horribly generic - it doesn't have any 'N' about it.
 
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Come on Nintendo. Why don’t you release a couple of classic first party video games on iOS. While many use emulators on jailbroken phones and on Android, I would pay $5 per remastered title with higher res graphics. Donkey Kong Country on iOS would be a great start! Or perhaps a new Donkey Kong Country a la Super MARIO Run. IMO the original DKC is one of the best SNES games ever.
 
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moderngamenewb said:
Even if it's $10 per game, I'd definitely buy some old nintendo classic games if it made it's way to ios officially. Especially if it's a pay once, and no in app purchases
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That's all people have wanted for a decade now, since the App Store opened.

Classic NES/SNES games, ported over with no additional gimmicks.

Sell them individually, as packs, like all Mario games etc...

They'd make a killing.
 
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Danoc said:
I have yet to see a quality game from Nintendo on the App Store.

I will take them seriously when they make a console quality game on mobile, and not “mobile games”.
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Super Mario Run is actually really good. The remix mode they added is also fun when you don’t have much time to play. It’s not so easy to fully beat all the challenges and collect the last set of coins. It’s very polished and well worth the $10 I paid for it. Of course the console Super MARIO games are superior, but for their first attempt at a touch control phone game, it was a respectable effort.
 
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I have been saying his for years, but I think both Apple and Nintendo could benefit from a virtual console type app on the ATV. But only classic games, such as the games on the NES Classic edition.

I don't think it would cause a loss of sales with the switch, due to it only being retro console games. They could have a similar price structure to the classic console games on the Wii and WiiU.
 
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I would happily pay decent money for proper* Nintendo games on iOS.

*by proper - full, traditional games you can play with a MFi controller, offline etc.

They don't need to put current gen games on, limit it to 1 or 2 gens back and that'd be fine. Who is buying new GameCube or Wii games these days Nintendo? Probably far fewer than the amount you could sell on iOS. So why won't you?

That said, I really hope they make a N64 mini and GC mini in the mini NES/SNES style. Maybe that's what they're waiting to do first.
 
Planey28 said:
They’re already set with the Switch. I can’t see them expanding into ATV as it is a complete cannibalisation of their own product. Expanded iPhone games, sure.
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Good companies would canabalize their own product. Otherwise we would still all be carrying around iPods!


Oh and bring Mario kart! Multiplayer iOS! Holy ****!!$
 
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Nintendo will FINALLY stop being out of touch!?o_O Thank God!!!!!!:D
 
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moderngamenewb said:
Even if it's $10 per game, I'd definitely buy some old nintendo classic games if it made it's way to ios officially. Especially if it's a pay once, and no in app purchases
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Ha! I'd bet dollars to doughnuts, any and everything from Nintendo from this point forward will have an IAP component. They were disappointed with their ROI on Super Mario Run, but happy about Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem. I don't see them going back to buy once. From a gaming standpoint, why would they? Virtually all the money made in mobile gaming is IAP money.

I personally hate IAP and go out of my way to support devs who release pay once material. I fully understand I am in the minority. Just a guess, but Nintendo wants to reach the majority.
 
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69Mustang said:
Ha! I'd bet dollars to doughnuts, any and everything from Nintendo from this point forward will have an IAP component. They were disappointed with their ROI on Super Mario Run, but happy about Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem. I don't see them going back to buy once. From a gaming standpoint, why would they? Virtually all the money made in mobile gaming is IAP money.

I personally hate IAP and go out of my way to support devs who release pay once material. I fully understand I am in the minority. Just a guess, but Nintendo wants to reach the majority.
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I fear you are correct. :(
 
How’s about you make your company stop messing around and implement save backups for the Switch?
 
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69Mustang said:
Ha! I'd bet dollars to doughnuts, any and everything from Nintendo from this point forward will have an IAP component. They were disappointed with their ROI on Super Mario Run, but happy about Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem. I don't see them going back to buy once. From a gaming standpoint, why would they? Virtually all the money made in mobile gaming is IAP money.

I personally hate IAP and go out of my way to support devs who release pay once material. I fully understand I am in the minority. Just a guess, but Nintendo wants to reach the majority.
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On the plus side, the microtransacting in Fire Emblem Heroes is actually pretty unobtrusive, depending on how long your phone play sessions are and how frequently you summon new heroes. If you're playing the game casually, as I have since launch, you can progress at a pretty satisfying rate without paying a dime.

I can't really speak for Animal Crossing, as I got bored with the conceit of that game long before I ran into any sort of progression paywall.
 
Classic games on iOS would be fine. Wouldn't like to see any of their main titles go to to mobile phones or PCs, though. Would horribly cheapen a brand that's already making a killing selling hardware. I'm not just talking about cannibalization but the kind of brand self-destruct that happened with Sonic.

Actually, this did happen a little with Mario and Zelda early-on thanks to the CD-i, but they put a stop to that. There are three Zelda games that Nintendo never mentions anywhere.
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Lord Hamsa said:
Two words: Mario Kart

Seriously, I know it's a cannibalization risk for the consoles, but it would be an instant #1 in the App Store.
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Hard place to keep. Pokémon Go was an instant #1, but now it's kinda dead. They'd do this with Mario Kart, see some initially strong sales, then never see that again for the same game or the sequels.
 
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watches as people still complain that Mario run is online only despite people's phones being connected 99% of the time.
 
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Lord Hamsa said:
Two words: Mario Kart

Seriously, I know it's a cannibalization risk for the consoles, but it would be an instant #1 in the App Store.
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Get a switch.
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dontwalkhand said:
Good companies would canabalize their own product. Otherwise we would still all be carrying around iPods!


Oh and bring Mario kart! Multiplayer iOS! Holy ****!!$
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Sure. I agree. But giving 30% to Apple. Stuff that.
 
I don’t think there would be a lot of cannibalization with making games between mobile and the Switch.

I’m perfectly content to play games on my iPad, I have no desire to add a Switch to my electronics collection despite being really interested in some of the titles.

Even though money isn’t a tremendous hurdle for me I did not want to invest $400 to play the new Mario. I would have bought the game at full console price on my iPad in a heartbeat.

With Nintendo making very little on hardware, or nothing at all, doing a multi-platform release seems to be a no brainer. Especially with no physical media costs in production and shipping.
 
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