Nintendo Committed to Mobile, Considering Developing Smartphone Controllers

At their annual shareholders meeting, Nintendo reaffirmed their commitment to develop for mobile and announced they are considering developing controllers. “Physical controllers for smart device applications are available in the market and it is possible that we may also develop something new by ourselves,” said Shinya Takahashi, Nintendo’s general manager of entertainment planning and development. However, Takahashi went on to say that Nintendo’s games are “not impossible” without a controller.

With the generally positive reception of Nintendo’s first mobile venture, the social media/communication/Mii app Miitomo, Takahashi said that “we will make applications, and not just action games.” Miitomo has been downloaded more than 10 million times and is a success for Nintendo’s first mobile app. Takahashi continued:

What stands out most for us in terms of the response we have gotten from releasing an application on non-Nintendo platforms is the opportunity for people around the world who do not have access to Nintendo platforms to experience Nintendo’s Mii characters with Miitomo. The different responses of various age groups in each country have also been very interesting to learn about. Releasing applications for non-Nintendo platforms is one challenge for us, and we will try all kinds of things as we continue this challenge.

Tastumi Kimishima, President of Nintendo, said they are “planning to release around five titles (including Miitomo) by the end of next March.” Two of these titles have already been announced: spin-offs of Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem. Pokemon GO is not included in this, as it’s being developed outside Nintendo, by Niantic. Read a transcript of the full shareholder meeting here.