Nintendo to Release 2 to 3 Mobile Games a Year

Fire Emblem Heroes was released recently to… acclaim? Critique? It was released, marking it the second mobile game that Nintendo has officially released, the first being Super Mario Run. Like it or not, Nintendo’s future on mobile devices is cemented, and while it seems like their mobile Animal Crossing game is still a long way away from being released, we can expect even more titles coming from the big N in the near future.

My proof? A recent Q & A between Nintendo and investors addressed their mobile ambitions, and Nintendo made it clear they had every intention of releasing at least 2 or 3 mobile games every year. According to Shinya Takahashi:

"We were sure that Pokemon GO (Not actually a Nintendo release) would have some impact, but its extreme popularity and the incredible impact it actually had on the sales of Pokemon software for dedicated video game systems surpassed many people's expectations. It is possible to provide applications that feel related to the dedicated video game systems even if they do not have any direct connections. I believe that smart devices, particularly bigger ones like tablets, are easy for smaller children to use which makes it easier for them to experience Nintendo's IP (intellectual property), so we have been planning to create synergy between smart devices and our dedicated video game systems."

Shigeru Miyamoto added:

"we will continue to make use of smart devices in order to increase the amount of people who experience Nintendoʼs IP, and, though the Nintendo 3DS and, soon, Nintendo Switch will remain our most important business, we will continue to expand the smart-device business since it has gradually begun to contribute to Nintendo's business as a whole."

So the goal, extensively, isn’t merely to sell games on mobile devices, it’s to use them almost like advertising platforms to get people to pay attention to future releases. Alright, there are worse strategies out there.