A Nintendo already took the iconic character Mario from consoles to smartphones with titles like Super Mario Run e Mario Kart Tour. However, due to less than encouraging results and issues related to the company’s philosophy, we should no longer see new sympathetic plumber games on mobile devices — at least not in the short or medium term.
In an interview to VarietyNintendo’s game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, known as the “father of Mario”, said that “mobile apps will not be the main way of future Mario games”. This speech is not exactly new, as the company has been reducing its investments in the area since 2021, in addition to having discontinued the Dr. Mario World last year — but it undoubtedly builds on that trend.
The revenue from mobile games that was not very encouraging in relation to Nintendo’s console games was certainly one of the reasons for this decision to be taken. To give you an idea, while Super Mario Run spawned US$60 million of revenue in its first year and Mario Kart Tour was a source of US$300 millionthe game Mario Kart 8 has already spawned $3 billion for the company. Another factor that showed influence was the company’s philosophy regarding games.
First and foremost, Nintendo’s core strategy is a hardware and software integration experiment. Control intuitiveness is part of the gaming experience. When we explored the opportunity to make games for smartphones — which are much more common and generic devices — it was challenging to determine what the game should be. That’s why I took on the role of director for Super Mario Run, so I could translate Nintendo’s hardware expertise into smartphones.
Miyamoto, however, recognized the merits of mobile games, in terms of being able to reach more people precisely because it is a more comprehensive device.
He did not comment on other Nintendo games for iOS and Android such as Animal Crossing: Pocket Campconcentrating his comments on Nintendo’s lack of interest in new games in the Super Mario franchise for smartphones, as well as for us to continue waiting for the next releases in order to follow Mario’s future steps.
Something important that may also have been one of the factors that influenced the lower than expected numbers of mobile games are their differences in relation to games that can be played on Nintendo consoles. Super Mario Run, for example, only uses the character’s image and symbols, but it doesn’t have as much continuity with the rest of the franchise.
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via GamesIndustry.biz