Nintendo held a brief meeting earlier this evening to disclose its latest financial information. While they didn’t exactly drop any bombs, there were more than a few announcements of interest, including our first details on Nintendo’s upcoming foray into the mobile gaming market.
First things first, the company shared a few sales figures. More than 21 million amiibo have been shipped in their first year, and the Animal Crossing cards are flying off the shelves so fast that it’s causing supply problems, which should come as no surprise to anyone who’s read a single headline in the last twelve months. On top of that, Super Mario Maker passed one million in sales in just three weeks, a major win amidst flagging Wii U sales. It was also confirmed that there will be multiple games coming out this holiday season that have yet to be announced.
Nintendo also shed some light on its long-awaited account system, the aptly-named Nintendo Accounts. Players can register using their Nintendo Network ID, Facebook, Twitter, Google or e-mail accounts, and will utilize cloud storage to share game data, such as save files, friends lists and purchases, across consoles, handhelds and smartphones. By simply buying and playing games, players will be able to earn points that can be redeemed for everything for goods of both the digital and physical variety.
The main event of the evening was the reveal of the company’s first smartphone game to come out of their partnership with DeNA: Miitomo, which will revolve around using Miis to connect with other players. Details are a bit vague at the moment, but we do know that the game will be free to download with optional in-app purchases. Nintendo’s CEO, Tatsumi Kimishima, explained that Miis in Miitomo will even communicate with each other on their own, a feature aimed at helping players who might otherwise be a bit socially anxious.
Not everything was good news, however. In order to ensure that it has enough time to properly polish and market Miitomo, Nintendo delayed the release of their first mobile game, formerly set to be released by the end of the year, to March 2016. However, Mr. Kimishima reaffirmed that several four more mobile games featuring more of Nintendo’s vast library of IPs will be on the market by March 2017.
Additional details on Miitomo are scheduled to be disclosed following the holiday season, so be sure to stay tuned.
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