Whether you’re a fan of it or not, mobile video game development is big business. Nintendo has obviously been developing games on smartphone devices for some time now, and as revealed in its latest fiscal year earnings report last week, its mobile income for this period reached 51.2 billion yen (an 11.5% increase year-on-year).
In a follow-up conference call which has now been translated, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa explained how the company is currently focused on the operation of the six existing applications and is “continuing to develop” new applications, but is not yet at a stage where it can announce any new information. Surprise, surprise!
As for the future, Furukawa says the company may not necessarily continue to release as many new applications for the mobile market. Here are his exact words, courtesy of Nintendo’s Q&A summary:
Considering how we will position our mobile business in the future, we are not necessarily looking to continue releasing many new applications for the mobile market as much as we are looking at the continuation of our mobile business as a way to make active use of Nintendo IP (game characters, worlds, and so on) in the interest of maximizing the entirety of Nintendo’s business. For us, the direct purpose of releasing mobile applications is to bring games that use Nintendo IP to the large install base of smart devices worldwide, bringing more consumers into contact with the worlds of Nintendo games and also bringing ongoing services to fans of individual Nintendo IP on mobile platforms.
Furukawa cited Super Mario Run, Mario Kart Tour and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp as examples of games that had reached a very large number of consumers, allowing more individuals to come into contact with the world of Nintendo.
Do you play any of Nintendo’s mobile games? How important do you think its mobile business is moving forward? Leave a comment down below.
