We have to wonder if whether in the next few years will Nintendo ever succumb to the pressure and eventually start releasing their games onto mobile devices? We guess only time will tell, but in the meantime while the company is steadfastly refusing to port its games onto mobile, they do have plans for mobile apps, which is what Nintendo’s President teased.In an interview with Nikkei (via IGN), Nintendo’s President Satoru Iwata revealed that the company had a mobile app in the works, and yes it is definitely not what you think it is. The app isn’t so much about games, but rather an extension, if you will, of Nintendo’s existing IP like the Mii characters. In fact based on its description, it sounds like a social app of sorts.
According to Iwata, “For example, some Nintendo game consoles incorporate Mii, which creates a digital avatar to represent players. It would be fun for players to use their Mii characters as icons on social media. We are currently developing an application that will allow users to do that. The app will be announced around the time our full-year results are released.”
This seems to be in line with Nintendo’s mobile strategy which is to use mobile to promote their games and franchises, as opposed to actually releasing the game itself. For example the Puzzle & Dragons mobile game was allowed to use the Mario character, which presumably only served to promote Mario. Recently Iwata also considered the idea of bringing existing mobile games onto Nintendo devices like the Nintendo 3DS handheld console.