Discussion point: Why is Nintendo right to be cautious with mobile?



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After years of denying any interest and avoiding the problem, Nintendo has become a fully engaged mobile developer. Yes, the fact that the company's mascot appeared in its first game was a strong sign of the gravity of the taking of the mobile platform, but that only tarnished the torch: its current and future software range shows that the experiments worked and that the Kyoto society jumped completely into the mobile pool. Business is booming.

Nintendo's road to mobile development was a bit rocky. Miyamoto was disappointed Super Mario Run and cites its fixed cost model and some aspects of its design as errors. The game underperformed internal expectations, but hits like a turn-based drummer. Hero of the fire emblem and action RPG Dragalia lost have been extremely successful – enough to make up for the losses as Miitomo, the lifestyle … social … thing that Miitomo was.

As former president of NOA Reggie Fils-Aimé explained last year, it took time to determine what would work for society in the mobile space:

Domestic system games, if transplanted to a mobile device, would not be transferred as well. We had to work through monetization … to make money. And we needed to find solutions to be effective on platforms and markets that we did not own ourselves. It took a long time.

It looks like the company is still learning, but Nintendo has been good at leveraging the hardware of other companies, and with the mobile audience surpassing the market for dedicated video game consoles, that's all. as well.

Although its development is unrelated to the recent publication Pokémon Rumble Rush or Pokémon GO, the company benefits greatly from the association of the brand with the monster success of the latter and its link with Pokémon: Let's go Pikachu and Eevee Directly feeds the mobile audience into its dedicated hardware ecosystem (though, with 3DS finally entering this good night, Switch owns this ecosystem for itself). This game has integrated the mechanisms of Niantic's mobile hit in a bid to attract players to Switch's mobile, but as Reggie has mentioned, Nintendo's goal is to dispose of its intellectual property on a variety of media and feed them mutually.

Next mobile project of Nintendo, the next Mario Kart Tower, went into a closed beta on Android devices this week and first impressions leaked revealed the first details. This is an "autopilot" in much the same way that Super Mario Run is an autopilot: you just have to steer with your finger and tap to use the items you picked up. Choosing the right combination of character and kart gives you an advantage over specific tracks that seem to come from the main games. Reports that the multiplayer mode may not work as expected indicate that it will not be offered enough same curse experience as the main inputs, operating in much the same way as the Toad Rally mode in Super Mario Run and using a driver-controlled driver to "represent" a friend's profile. That said, it seems to be acting from a relatively complete version of the karting rider offering k-style portrait thrills with a single figure, but with the common hierarchies, rewards and leveling required for mobile games.

Beyond the possibility of bringing Mario Kart within reach of a larger number of people, the way Mario Kart Tour will feed directly to the main series is less obvious than with Pokémon Go. To some extent , this seems less important – more people interacting with intellectual property alone is enough. It seems that the company has learned a little faster in the mobile sector than in the online space, and it quickly understood the systems that run the most profitable mobile games, as evidenced by the heroes of Fire Emblem, Dragalia Lost and Crossing animals: pocket camp. Mario Kart Tour seems to offer players many opportunities to save money, even if these systems do not work very well with Nintendo's sharp and friendly image for families and know it very well. You might imagine that one of the goals is to link the two areas of the software business – one platform driving consumers to the other -, perhaps keeping these separate branches has benefits .

Anxious to avoid the bad reputation associated with the worst microtransaction mechanisms, his mobile partners said they were told to limit player spending, a strange position for any company with shareholders. More drastically, while Belgium is taking action against "win-win" payment mechanisms in gaming (caused by the backlash of EA's cluttered object box systems), Nintendo has recently announced that its Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem applications would be removed from the country. in August, while future applications using similar systems will simply not be marketed there. Because these mechanisms are so deeply embedded in these games, it highlights the potential pitfalls ahead if other countries take steps to limit microtransactions.

Fire Emblem Heroes has been a resounding success, but can we expect everything to cross significantly with the upcoming Fire Emblem: Three Houses?
Fire Emblem Heroes was a resounding success, but can we expect everything to go significantly with the next Fire Emblem: Three houses?

In a mobile ecosystem often characterized by waves of low quality clones and clickers, Nintendo has an established brand and reputation to protect. It's a double-edged sword. On one side, any game launched with the Nintendo name attached is immediately recognized and cached, but it will bear the brunt of any criticism if public opinion or, worse, governments turn against them. the kind of games he offers under his brand, which could in turn infect his other concerns. From this perspective, it is advantageous for society to keep its mobile efforts isolated from its complete material offerings.

The benefits of console software may seem strange compared to the money that some companies earn with free games

However, when you look at the huge amounts of money to be won, you can easily understand how investors may not see things getting blurry when Nintendo's president, Shuntaro Furukawa, discusses the additional potential of dedicated equipment over others. ways to bring Nintendo games to consumers. This does not mean that shareholders are unhappy with Switch's performance, but as we sometimes see about some of their dumb questions, it's understandable that the huge profits generated by mobile services are attracting the attention of the dollars. Hard earned by dedicated hardware reports, as stable as it is. The benefits of console software can seem strange compared to the type of money that some companies earn with free games. kings candy Crush Last year, mobile series players spent an average of $ 4.2 million a day. Every day. The logical question in the minds of some investors – especially those who are not players – must be: "Why worry about this messy console deal?" A constant influx of mobile hits could do the same amount of business, right?

Nintendo is however a prudent company. one who has built an inheritance over the years and who is used to total control of the owner of the platform. Following the Belgian ban and political rumors surrounding boxes of loot from around the world, his cautious approach is not unjustified. As a family brand, in Disney's image, jeopardizing its reputation for a few million (or billions) easy is a lot to ask. The entrance to the mobile pool has taken a big step forward. It will take some time before seeing dives full of clarity. We can all imagine incredible ways for mobile versions of their larger IP addresses to interact with Switch games, but keeping them separate is the answer. safer bet.

So we're waiting to see what will happen in the months and years to come in the loot chests and payment mechanisms to win, but we will continue to see the company deploy its IP addresses on mobile devices, but we imagine that they only have conservative cross-cutting links to their counterparts based on Switch. It will be fascinating to see if the links between Pokémon Go and Pokémon sword and shield Expand the Link Let's Go Pikachu / Eevee, but our instinct tells us that it will be a similar configuration.

What's next in the pipeline? To arrive at the beginning of the summer is a puzzle Dr. Mario World, an IP address that integrates naturally into the mobile space. The details are rare at the moment, but it's easy to imagine how it could work on mobile. Beyond that, that's what everyone guesses. After the launch of Switch, the Wall Street Journal announced that a Zelda game was being prepared for smartphones, but we have not heard a cry since. What form could it take? An appropriate downhill Zelda with dungeons timed or unlocked? A match of three rupees hosted by Tingle that somehow transfers the currency on the next console Zelda? We would play there.

Other franchises are more mature for a mobile iteration. The puzzle games would seem obvious, but we have not seen a Nintendo brand yet Picross mobile game. Something like Game Freak's Jockey pocket card could work very well. Mario Kart Tour seems to show that runners can also work. So, what about "F2P-Zero," a mobile return for the extremely fast franchise on which we all want Nintendo to work again …

"Spend 300 gems to get energy!"

Well, the IP address of the company may not be entirely appropriate on the mobile, but it seems that the intention is to increase investment in the mobile sector. So we can hope to start seeing a wider variety of genres happen on our phones. This might be a cause for serious console gamers, but perhaps we can console ourselves for the fact that Nintendo is so slow to adopt new trends. It will take a long time before the company abandons the dedicated equipment.

Would you like more interaction between the output of the mobile console and the Nintendo home console? Do you think that the company is being too cautious when it comes to protecting its brand? Share your opinion in the comments.

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