It’s been announced by Nintendo that it’s first mobile app, Miitomo, will be coming to U.S. devices on March 31st of this year.
It’ll be available to play on iOS and Android devices. The game has proved to be somewhat successful in Japan with one million downloads in three days, however, Nintendo releasing a mobile game seems very surreal. Nintendo has been known for only developing software for its own devices and playing an official Nintendo game on a cell phone will seem like a strange experience.
Miitomo is a game heavily based on social interaction. Players create a Mii avatar and are able to buy new clothes and accessories with real life money. The Wii was Nintendo’s first step reaching out to a mostly casual market, and this mobile app is the next step in its mission. Although, it was a move mostly to appease Nintendo’s investors, and it seems like a strange one, it also makes complete sense. Although some journalists have already played the Japanese version of the game, it’ll be interesting to see how U.S. audiences react to the application.
Even though, when the game was first released in Japan, shares for the company fell 9 percent, the company has urged investors to give the app a chance to become profitable. This is Nintendo’s first step into a market it has completely neglected until now and it will take some time before Nintendo gets its bearings to see what works and what doesn’t. It’ll be interesting to see what will happen if Miitomo becomes a huge hit. Nintendo, as of right now, is focused on the causal mobile market, but what happens when they try to appeal to hardcore market in the mobile arena as well? We could possibly see Mario or Samus jumping into the action eventually as well.
