For a company that revolutionized gaming, Nintendo is finally entering the digital age with its first mobile game. Unfortunately, it’s not a Super Mario Bros. app.
It’s called “Miitomo,” a free-to-play game that revolves around its popular Mii characters in what more closely resembles a messaging app than a platform or racing game. In the game, due out next March, players communicate with their friends using their Mii avatars, à la The Sims without the carnage, as seen here:
Miitomo will connected with user’s home consoles through its new cloud-based service and it’s being monetized through the sale of Mii accessories.
“You might dig up some previously-buried topics of conversation, learn about a surprising side of your friend you’ve never seen before, find things you never knew you had in common,” Nintendo’s president Tatsumi Kimishima said at press conference in Japan this morning.
Miitomo is the first of five smartphone apps Nintendo plans on releasing over the next two years. Yet, it’s weird that its first game isn’t an instantly recognizable brand that could quickly make Nintendo tons of money and have instant recognition, like Donkey Kong or The Legend of Zelda. For now, buying an Nintendo 3DS is the only way to play these titles while on-the-go.
Faced with uneven 3DS sales, Nintendo is slowly realizing that exporting its games to other platforms that it doesn’t manufacture might inject some revenue and life into the company.
Images via Nintendo.
More in Marketing
Bluesky uncovered: separating myth from reality in its post-election surge
Social media minnow Bluesky has emerged as a surprise winner in the wake of this month’s presidential race.
Incoming Trump administration puts potential breakup of Google’s Chrome in new light
Some in the ad tech ecosystem believe only a fine of hundreds of billions of dollars will prove an effective deterrent.
‘We need your trust’: As Trump returns to the White House, DE&I practitioners grapple with an uncertain future
As the picture of Trump’s return to the White House comes into clearer view, multicultural and diverse-owned agencies are grappling with an uncertain future.