Up until recently Nintendo had shown no interest in the mobile market and, as a matter of fact, the company said numerous times before that they had no plans to develop games for the mobile niche. This is no longer the case, and although Miitomo – the company’s first application to hit iOS and Android – is not a fully-fledged game, it marks Nintendo’s first step into the realm of mobile apps. Now the question is whether or not launching Miitomo was a good idea or profitable endeavor, and as fresh reports reveal that Nintendo’s mobile app reached 1 million users in less than a week of availability, the answer becomes very clear.
As a company, one could say that Nintendo is somewhat set in its ways, not only in terms of how it approaches the console gaming market but also in regards to how it handles YouTube copyright and other aspects of its business. This is the reason why Nintendo’s announcement of Miitomo last October came as a surprise, but as it turns out, the company’s decision to finally join the mobile market might have already paid off. Following the application’s release on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store in Japan last week, Nintendo recently took to Twitter to announce that the application has already been downloaded by more than 1 million users in less than a week of availability. Since its release, the application became the most downloaded free application in the App Store in Japan, and after the user base surpassed the 1 million mark, the company’s shares rose by 8.2%, representing the largest increase since February 2015.
For those of you who may be wondering, Miitomo is a free-to-use social messaging app sprinkled with casual gaming aspects, allowing users to create a cartoonish Mii avatar based on a real selfie captured with the smartphone. The avatar can be further customized with various facial characteristics, character voices, and clothing. The interactive part consists in answering a variety of endless questions in regards to the user’s likes and dislikes, sharing the Mii avatar on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and connecting with friends and their Mii avatars to answer their questions. Although the application is currently available only in Japan, Nintendo plans to release Miitomo in 15 additional countries – including France, Germany, and the U.S. – by the end of March.