On Nintendo’s New Smartphone App Miitomo
During his inaugural investor’s meeting as the newly-minted President of Nintendo, Tatsumi Kimishima held the distinct burden of unveiling Nintendo’s very first smartphone game. Only it’s not a game. It was already announced over a year ago. And it shows the Kyoto-based entertainment company is still comfortable forging its own path, especially when counter to the ever-present din of popular opinion.
Miitomo will launch on mobile devices in March 2016. How the app works exactly is still unclear. As described by Kimishima to investors, it is a “free-to-start communication application.” This is not quite the goliath predicted by analysts or enthusiasts when pondering how Nintendo would launch their first foray into the mobile space. Odds-on favorites were Mario or Donkey Kong. Less mainstream hopes hinged on Advance Wars or WarioWare. Some wanted an older IP to be dusted off and re-introduced to the public, perhaps a StarTropics or Mach Rider. Game business analyst Dr. Serkan Toto teased his followers with inside knowledge of the unknown app: “Expect the unexpected,” he tweeted out on October 2nd. But the answer had already been given.
On October 30th, 2014, Satoru Iwata, then-President of Nintendo before his untimely death this past July, explained in a Q+A session following his investor’s briefing presentation the company’s early smartphone plans. “The application under development,” Iwata said, “is one that utilizes Mii on smart devices.” At this time, Nintendo had yet to announce their collaboration with DeNA and their full commitment to delivering games using their famous characters onto mobile. But as early as January 2014, Iwata announced plans that Nintendo was working on a way to leverage smartphones as a way to connect with their customers. The seeds of that thought, Miitomo, will finally poke through the soil over two years later.
And the people were underwhelmed. Since the official announcement, Nintendo’s stock has dropped nearly 10% as of this writing. The Wall Street Journal asserts the lowering confidence is due to the app’s release being delayed; Nintendo had previously stated their first mobile offering would be available by the end of the calendar year. But others are flummoxed by the lack of recognizable faces: Tech in Asia’s headline states “With no sign of Mario, Nintendo’s first mobile game looks ‘disappointing’.”
The prevailing notion was that Nintendo on mobile would look like Nintendo on their own consoles; that is, a company that delivers accessible, polished, easy-to-learn but difficult-to-master games. But for all the chatter about how they should release Super Mario Bros. on iPhone and rake in the mega-bucks, these armchair analysts forget the reason Nintendo has succeeded for so long: A careful, deliberate, and integrated approach to building hardware and software.
The Nintendo 64 had an analog stick to accommodate Super Mario 64’s freedom of movement. Wii Sports was built around the Wii’s remote. Even the GameCube’s c-stick, that small yellow nub that was kind of a right joystick but not really, was basically an accommodation for Luigi’s Mansion and its sweeping flashlights. With Nintendo’s late move into mobile, the hardware is not their own. But their central design philosophy hasn’t changed: The software will match the hardware. And Miitomo looks to fit the way people use their phones.
Notice that verb: “use.” People play on their game consoles. But more often, they use their phones. Your iPhone 6 or Galaxy 5 is a supplement to what you’re really doing: Grocery shopping or waiting in line or sitting at a restaurant, shamefully ignoring your tablemates. Statistics show that ‘Games’ are the most popular category on Apple’s App Store, yes. But these are different to the Nintendo style of game found on their home or portable consoles. Successful smartphone games require an extended engagement over many months. Most popular console games can be defeated over a weekend. It’s folly to assume the mere sight of Mario would equate to a lasting engagement; more likely, players would expect one kind of game and get something very different, causing disappointment and an immediate, lasting negative association with Nintendo on mobile.
Instead, Nintendo has chosen—in my novice opinion, very wisely—to go with a character even more popular than the mustachioed plumber.