Mario’s Mobile Plan Goes Down the Pipe

Nintendo has recently cut their expected Wii U system sales of the fiscal year from 9 million down to 2.8 million. They have also cut their expected sales of the 3DS handheld down from 18 million to 13.5 million (mind you this was a Pokemon year). The announcement of these figures resulted in Nintendo's stock plummeting just hours later. What's even more surprising, is Nintendo's refusal to market itself onto the smartphone market where they could potentially recuperate from their overall yearly losses.

In a Eurogamer report, Nintendo's President, Satoru Iwata, has come forward and said "The spread of smart devices does not spell the end of game consoles. It's not that simple... It doesn't mean that we should put Mario on smartphones."

Iwata advocates that putting Mario, Link, Pikachu and all the other famous Nintendo brands on mobile platforms, such as the iOS and Android formats, would only take away from the 3DS' handheld sales, and that the reduction in 3DS revenue would outweigh the profit they would gain from having Nintendo apps on the various smartphone markets.

Despite overall declines, unmet sales expectations and another loss for the overall year, Nintendo remains admirably defiant. On the other hand, the mobile gaming market is still booming at a near exponential level. With Apple's iOS App Store reeling in over 40 billion downloads since the store's creation in 2008, we feel that Nintendo could easily make a home on the smartphone market. Other gaming companies have been met with tremendous success on smartphones, such as Square Enix with their mobile versions of the Final Fantasy series; we would eagerly await any type of ports or apps Nintendo would ever throw our way.