Pokemon GO gave investors mobile fever.
Nintendo recently held its quarterly financial briefing, which has been translated into English. Fans knew that things weren’t going to look that great. After all, the Wii U is pretty much retired at this point, and there aren’t any blockbuster games lined up for the holiday season. The 3DS will pretty much be carrying Nintendo until the launch of the Switch in March.
Be that as it may, the numbers still looked pretty discouraging. Wii U, 3DS, and Amiibo sales are all down compared to the same period last year. Again, given the circumstances, this wasn’t altogether unexpected, but investors still weren’t happy. They did notice one positive trend. Pokemon GO and Nintendo’s sale of its stake ownership in the Seattle Mariners baseball team kept the company afloat in an otherwise abysmal quarter. The “Pokemon GO” effect also drove a bump in 3DS sales and pre-orders for Pokemon Sun & Moon. That’s what they say, anyway.
Investors and reporters have been keen to point out that right after Nintendo’s reveal of the Switch home console, share value dipped about 10%. The Switch represents a risk, and investors think Nintendo should abandon the console scene altogether in favor of mobile. While it’s easy to see why that seems like a good idea, I don’t think any of us want to imagine a world where Nintendo only makes smartphone games.
So disturbed was I at the prospect of Nintendo being bullied into mobile, that I had to talk things over with our own “Canadian Mat” and express why I think this is the worst idea ever – even if it makes sense on paper. Check out our conversation below and be sure to weigh in and tell us what you think, either on the YouTube page or in the comments below.
3 comments
Pokemon Go was a fluke IMO… Investors didn’t want mobile when Miitomo was released. What if they don’t have another really good mobile game in them?
Also I’d like to add, fuck the investors who want mobile. Thr day Nintendo goes harder on mobile than its own consoles is the day I kill myself.
Well we know that in addition to Super Mario Run, Nintendo has Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem mobile games on the way, so I know those will do incredibly well, even if only in Japan. I don’t think that Nintendo will ever focus exclusively on mobile, but if they do develop a profitable mobile division that could be good for us – it could help Nintendo fund its risks in the console space and provide additional funding for really strong AAA games.