Nintendo: introducing Miitomo, a F2P communication app (out in March 2016)
Miitomo
During the usual meeting with investors, which always follows the presentation of the latest financial results, Nintendo revealed its very first application for smart devices: Miitomo. It’s a Free 2 Start communication app that the company will use to push forward the My Nintendo mebership service.
The main “character” of Miitomo is you, or rather your Mii. You start by creating it, and then it starts asking you various questions. The answers to those questions are then shared with your friends. Of course, only people registered as Friends will get the answers, which will not be shared with anyone else.
Miitomo is a bit a special: instead of users pro-actively sending messages (like you would using just any instant-messaging system), it uses the answer you give to your Mii’s question as “friendly communication starters”. For example, if you answer that you like fishing, one friend can reply saying “me too!” and you start chatting about your favorite fishing spots, etc.
For Nintendo, the “friendly communication starters” allow people who are less willing to send message to easily participate. Also, Tatsumi Kimishia explained that the app would allow people to learn surprising things about their friends, things they usually do not discuss together. The goal is to have people deepen their friendship with their friends.
Here’s various slides Nintendo used to explain Miitomo to investors:
Miitomo will launch in March 2016, several months later than initially planned (it was supposed to launch this year). With over 200 million Mii created all around the world, Nintendo believes that many people understand the appeal of Mii (which is why they used it for the app in the first place).
Smart device business
Tatsumi Kimishima also talked about Nintendo’s objectives for their smart devices business:
- using smart devices to maximise the amount of people having access to Nintendo IP
- make profits from the smart device business (which isn’t just a way to advertise Nintendo IP)
- create a “syngergetic effect” on Nintendo’s traditional gaming platforms (in other words: get people to play games on those after trying out the mobile offerings)
He also reiterated that Nintendo wouldn’t exclude any IP for its mobile applications. As for the planning, even though the first one was delayed to March 2016 (in order to “further improve the application and to optimize the overall smart device business”), the company is still aiming for approximately 5 titles by the end of 2016-17 (Fiscal Year, ending March 31st, 2017).
Also, Nintendo reiterated that all applications will be released globally, but the country in which they are launched will depend on the IP used.
Source: Nintendo