🎄

Nintendo’s First Mobile Game Won’t Be Available Until March ➝

Jon Russel, writing for TechCrunch:

The company, which partnered with Japanese mobile games specialist DeNA back in March, had originally aimed to out its first title this year. That isn’t happening now, according to Nintendo CEO Tatsumi Kimishima, who — speaking at an investor meeting live-blogged by the Wall Street Journal — said that more time is needed to promote its mobile debut. That first game was revealed to be Miitomo, in which user-created avatars connect with others. It will be free-to-download with optional add-ons available via in-app purchases.

That’s hardly an electric opening launch — Nintendo’s share price dipped 7.5 percent right after the reveal — and it isn’t likely to appeal to mainstream mobile games worldwide like, say, a Mario game, but there will be more to come.

This is a little disappointing, but should have been expected. Say what you will about the Wii U’s poor sales compared to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, but Nintendo has dominated the handheld gaming market for over twenty five years. And it’s only natural for them to be a little hesitant to develop games for a competing platform.

Previous:
Next: